Mauritania's Foreign Minister, Mohamed Salem Ould Merzoug, met with Staffan de Mistura, the UN Secretary-General's Personal Envoy for Western Sahara, on Tuesday, May 20, at the Mauritanian Embassy in Brussels, according to a media source in Nouakchott. «The United Nations is counting on Mauritania. The international community expects more than just an observer role from it», the source noted. In a report presented on April 14 during a closed session of the UN Security Council, de Mistura stated that «the next three months will offer an opportunity to defuse regional tensions and, separately, to develop a revitalized roadmap to resolve the Western Sahara conflict». This wave of «optimism» followed his April 9 meeting in Washington with a member of the Trump administration. As a reminder, Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani also met with de Mistura on April 2 in Nouakchott. Mauritania is well positioned to play a mediating role in the Western Sahara dispute. Since 1984, Nouakchott has recognized the "Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR)" while maintaining good relations with both Morocco and Algeria.
