Sahara: Weakened at AU, Algiers Seeks to Mobilize its Last 'Friends', its Disappointment is Great (Africa Intelligence)

"Algerian FM Sabri Boukadoum visited the few still pro-Polisario capitals in Africa in the hope of finding room for maneuver on the Sahara issue. His disappointment is great," notes the website. If the Algerian minister succeeded in having two points referring to the Sahara in a joint statement issued following his visit to Pretoria on January 12, the case was different in other African capitals, reveals "Afrique intelligence". After his visit to Pretoria, the Algerian minister made a stopover in Angola on January 13 and 14, where he met his counterpart Tete Antonio and President João Lourenço, "but the tone was clearly not the same", notes the publication, adding that "no mention of the Sahara issue was found in the final communiqué, while Angola was deemed pro-Polisario a few years ago". The website underlines "the same absence of mention of this issue" during the visit in Kenya of the Algerian top diplomat. The website highlights the achievements of the Moroccan diplomacy within some countries which were resolutely pro-Polisario and which, today, have changed their position. This is the case with Nigeria, which has "slowly repositioned itself towards a kind of neutrality" on the Sahara issue, including at the AU, the source explains.