French diplomats and military officials landed Tuesday afternoon at Laayoune airport. The delegation includes senior officers, among them Colonel Mathieu Duthier de La Rocher, head of the United Nations division at the French Ministry of Defense. The visit's agenda features meetings with Alexander Ivanko, the UN Secretary-General's special representative for Western Sahara and head of MINURSO, as well as with General Fakhrul Ahsan, commander of the peacekeeping forces. The delegation also plans to visit several MINURSO observation posts in the Sahara. This trip comes as the UN Security Council prepares to examine the Western Sahara issue in the coming weeks. In August, American diplomats also visited Laayoune, where they met with the two MINURSO representatives to prepare for the Council's October session.
