After forty-eight hours of waiting, the Polisario leader left Nouakchott on Saturday afternoon without having been received by President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani. Brahim Ghali was the last guest at the investiture ceremony, held on Thursday, August 1, to leave Mauritania. He had tried to secure an audience with the Mauritanian president, according to a local media report, but to no avail. Ghali arrived in Nouakchott on Wednesday, July 31, aboard an Algerian presidential plane made available to him. At the capital's airport, he was welcomed by the now-former Prime Minister Mohamed Ould Bilal. The same official was appointed on Saturday, August 3, to accompany the Polisario leader to his plane bound for Algeria. Brahim Ghali's presence at the ceremony on August 1, when President Ould El Ghazouani was sworn in for a second term, raised questions. Speaking on condition of anonymity to Anbaa, a source at the Mauritanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs attributed the invitation extended to Brahim Ghali to the telephone call on July 27 between President Ould El Ghazouani and his Algerian counterpart, Abdelmadjid Tebboune. Prior to this meeting, the Polisario leader's name was not on the list of guests invited by the Mauritanian head of state. This invitation came the day after France, one of Mauritania's main allies, recognized Morocco's sovereignty over Western Sahara. In Nouakchott, Brahim Ghali held talks with Algerian Prime Minister Nadir Larbaoui.
