img

Polisario's Delegation Holds a Meeting With UNSG Envoy Horst Kohler in Berlin

(MENAFN - Morocco World News) Rabat – A delegation of the , led by the separatist group leader, Ibrahim Ghali, held a on Thursday in Berlin, Germany with Horst Kohler, the Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations for Western Sahara.

The news was announced by Moroccan news outlet Le360, which quoted an unidentified source from Germany.

The meeting came only a few days after Kohler addressed invitations to the relevant parties to the Western Sahara conflict to separate talks to be held in Germany in January and February, the daily press briefing issued by Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman for the United Nations Secretary-General on Tuesday 23 said.

The Moroccan government, according to a source quoted by Moroccan newspaper Akhbar Al Yaoum, seems 'reluctant' to meet with Polisario. Many Moroccan political observers believe that this is not the 'appropriate time' for such an invitation.

told Morocco World News on January 24 that 'the process of negotiations could not be successful without a powerful meditation.

'The UN mediation alone is not enough knowing the lack of real pressure on Polisario and Algeria to look for compromise and [a] win-win agreement,' he added.

The political analyst added that if Morocco sits at the same table with the separatist front, which has been claiming independent statehood, it would be a 'diplomatic and political error, because it will give the separatist group the legitimacy they cannot afford and will enrich their hope to get regional and international support.'

The Moroccan government has not made any statement about whether it would accept Kohler's invitations for negotiations with the front.

Kohler has also sent invitations to Mauritania and Algeria, which has been supported the front and its claim for independence. Algeria has been also providing the separatist group with military equipment, which were used in live ammunition near the Guerguerat buffer zone.

Polisario has been breaking a ceasefire agreement signed with Morocco in 1991 as part of the peace process to end the four-decade-long conflict. The separatist front has been carrying out illegal armed maneuvers and threatening the future of peace talks regarding the conflict.

'The provocative actions and military maneuvers carried out by the Polisario front with the recent support of Algeria near Guerguerat confirms the lack of the willingness to reach a just and mutually acceptable solution,' El Fellah added.

The political analyst told MWN that Morocco cannot accept Kohler's invitation to negotiate with Polisario at this time. 'At the level of the international community, this [move] would give the impression that Morocco knuckles under the Separatist group's recent maneuvers in Guergarate.'

Mustapha Salma Oueld Sidi Mouloud, a Polisario Front dissident and a former police chief in the Tindouf camps said in a Facebook post earlier this week that Polisario's strategy in Guerguerat is a losing battle.

The Polisario dissident said that the front can never dare engage in open war in the buffer zone.

'Any military action carried out by Polisario in those areas is totally a suicide,' a truth that Polisario, Morocco and MINURSO are 'fully aware of,' he said.

MENAFN2701201801600000ID1096395585