De Mistura holds in Sahrawi refugee camps meetings and talks to "deepen" consultations

Shaid El Hafid (Refugee Camps), 3 September 2022 (SPS) - The Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary General for Western Sahara, Staffan de Mistura, began Saturday a two-day visit to the Sahrawi refugee camps as part of "deepening consultations with the parties concerned", with the aim of reaching a solution to the Sahrawi issue.

Arriving at the refugee camps at dawn, De Mistura met during the first day of visit, the delegation in charge of negotiations composed of the Sahrawi Minister of Cooperation, Fatima al-Mahdi and the representative of the Polisario Front at the UN, Sidi Mohamed Omar, headed by the head of the political organization in the Polisario Front, Khatri Addouh, before meeting face to face with the Sahrawi Prime Minister, Bouchraya Hammoudi Bayoun.

The Italian-Swedish diplomat also met with representatives of Sahrawi youth and a delegation of Sahrawi women, an opportunity to highlight the reality experienced by the Sahrawi woman, especially the repression and abuses they suffer in the territories occupied by Morocco, as well as their role in the struggle for freedom and self-determination.

In this context, the secretary general of the National Union of Sahrawi Women (UNFS), Chaba Seini, indicated that during this meeting, the Sahrawi women expressed their deep concern about the fate of the Sahrawi people who "are still waiting for the intervention of the United Nations to resolve the conflict and decolonize the last colony in Africa, Saying that Sahrawi women remain committed to the right of the people of Western Sahara to self-determination and independence, "Forty-five years of waiting in a state of refugee is an unacceptable thing," she said. "The UN was supposed to supervise the organization of a referendum on self-determination in Western Sahara," she added, stressing that "this situation has become unbearable because of the stubbornness of the Moroccan occupier and its policy of headlong rush".

On the program of the second and last day of his visit, the UN personal envoy will meet, on Sunday, the Sahrawi President, Secretary General of the Polisario Front, Brahim Ghali.