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Rabat – Horst Köhler, the personal envoy of the United Nations Secretary General for Western Sahara, is expected to visit Morocco on Sunday as a part of an official regional tour intended to launch talks on ending the four-decade conflict over the Western Sahara.
Köhler, who took office on September 8, will travel to Rabat before heading to Algeria and Mauritania, reported South African news outlet The Citizen.
During the Fourth Commission of the UN General Assembly held in New York on October 10, Omar Hilale, Morocco’s ambassador to the UN, said that Köhler will visit to Western Sahara to kick-start negotiations. Köhler held a set of meetings and discussions with the involved parties for eight days after taking office.
The new UN envoy told Antonio Guterres, the UN Secretary General, of his intention to visit the region to “re-launch the political process in a new spirit and a new dynamic,” stated Guterres’ spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric.
“This intention was expressed by the new UN envoy for Western Sahara during meetings last weekend in New York with Antonio Guterres, senior UN officials, representatives of parties and neighbors, member states and the Commissioner of the African Union for Peace and Security,” added Dujarric.
The 74-year-old Köhler has occupied several important positions, serving as president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development from 1998 to 2000, as the chief of the International Monetary Fund from 2000 to 2004, and as the president of Germany from 2004 to 2010.
