Informed sources in Tindouf revealed that members of the Polisario leadership are distraught after the UN envoy Christopher Ross insisted to hold meetings with Sahrawis opposed to the separatist thesis upheld by the Polisario, especially those living in exile in Mauritania.
A meeting between the UN mediator and Mustapha Salma Ould Sidi Mouloud was thus very disturbing to the Polisario.
The Sahrawi dissident who was banished from the Polisario-controlled Tindouf camps because of his support for the Moroccan autonomy plan for Western Sahara, had a long discussion with Christopher Ross.
However, the meeting that upset the Polisario leadership most was certainly the one that gathered the personal representative of the UN Secretary General and a delegation of the “Khat Chahid” dissident movement.
Christopher Ross met for more than two hours a delegation of the dissident movement led by Mahjoub Salek, the general coordinator of the Executive Committee.
He was accompanied by Mohamed Mbarek, head of “Khat Chahid” section in Mauritania. And what was bound to happen did happen. The Polisario leaders’ fears to see the UN mediator heed his interlocutors’ claims proved well founded. Exchanges between both sides were actually frank and edifying, especially regarding the difficult living conditions of the Sahrawi populations parked in Tindouf.
The Polisario leader, who was personally pinning great hopes on the regional tour of the UN mediator, has been deeply disappointed. Now, the whole Polisario leadership knows what to expect. The very fact that Christopher Ross wanted to listen and to talk personally with Polisario dissidents and opponents, means that he is fully aware that the separatist front is far from representing all Sahrawis.
