WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 31st August, 2022) US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf visited Tunisia earlier on Tuesday to meet with the Tunisian President Kais Saied, State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said during a conference call.
"I can confirm that Assistant Secretary Leaf's traveling to the region and is in Tunisia today, where she met with the President and other Tunisian officials," Vedant said.
Vedant said he does not have any other information about her travel, but expects to have more updates later in the day and through the course of the week.
Leaf is visiting following a diplomatic row between Morocco and Tunisia.
On Friday, the Moroccan Foreign Ministry said Morocco has recalled its ambassador to Tunisia for consultations after Tunisian President Kais Saied met with the leader of the rebel Polisario Front, Brahim Ghali, on the sidelines of the Eighth Tokyo International Conference on African Development, also known as TICAD 8, in Tunisia.
Western Sahara, a former colony of Spain, was transferred to the control of Morocco and Mauritania in 1975. A year later, the Polisario Front, a local nationalist movement, proclaimed the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic on the territory of Western Sahara. Since then, the Polisario Front has been fighting with the Moroccan forces over the control of the region. Currently, Morocco controls some 80% of Western Sahara, with 20% being under the control of the Polisario Front.
An UN-brokered ceasefire deal was reached in 1991, and the UN Security Council voted in favor of holding a referendum to define the status of the territory. However, the Moroccan authorities have since been opposing any vote that includes independence as an option, supporting the idea of limited autonomy only.
