In August 2017, Brahim Ghali was invited to the inauguration ceremony of President Paul Kagame. Since then, Rwanda has distanded itself from the Polisario, moving closer to Morocco. In an attempt to resume relationship with Rwanda, the Front sent an envoy to Kagame. The Polisario Front is approaching Rwanda again. A Brahim Ghali representative was sent, Sunday, to Kigali to deliver a message to President Paul Kagame. The visit of the Front's «Foreign Minister» Mohamed Salem Salek comes just one week after an African Union troika meeting on the Western Sahara conflict, initially scheduled for July 8 in Niamey, was cancelled. The Rwandan president is a member of the troika alongside his Egyptian and South African counterparts, Abdelfattah Al Sissi and Cyril Ramaphosa respectively. «Apart from the postponing of the AU troika meeting to a later date, the Polisario is trying, through this visit, to maintain relations with Rwanda. The country recognizes 'SADR'», a source close to the file told Yabiladi. Approaching Rwanda Ghali's allies are aware of the fact that Rwanda has distended itself from the Front. The separatist movement was not invited to two of its recent national holidays, namely the commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the 1994 genocide in April and the Rwanda Liberation Day in July. Germany's Horst Kohler, the former personal envoy of the UN Secretary-General, was invited to the last ceremony. However, in August 2017, Polisario's leader Brahim Ghali was invited to attend Paul Kagame's swearing in ceremony. The Front makes sure not to miss similar opportunities held in Africa and in Latin America, especially as they allow Brahim Ghali to meet world leaders. His photos with Spain's King Felipe VI taken during the inauguration ceremony of Panama's newly elected president were heavily publicized by pro-Polisario media platforms. In Kigali, the Polisario envoy was also received by Rwandan Foreign Minister Richard Sezibera. The latter visited Rabat on March 18. Recently, King Mohammed VI sent two written messages to President Paul Kagame : the first one was delivered by Prime Minister Saadeddine El Othmani on April 7 and the second was carried by Foreign Affairs Minister Nasser Bourita on July 5. On November 5, the Moroccan sovereign and Paul Kagame spoke on the phone just a few days before the extraordinary summit of the African Union Addis Ababa.
