The head of the Polisario invited to Bissau, Rabat angry

BISSAU - Morocco has asked the new President of Guinea-Bissau Malam Bacai Sanha to "explain" the presence of the head of the Polisario Front on September 8 at the inauguration, said Monday a source close to the Foreign Affairs.

•     The representative of King Mohammed VI, invited to the ceremony, had postponed his trip "when he learned that the leader of the independence movement (Front) Polisario Mohamed Abdelaziz will be present", reported  the same source, ensuring that the Moroccan king had personally provided financial support to President Sanha for the organization of his inauguration.
  
      Contacted by AFP, the President of Guinea-Bissau has refused to comment the incident. Rabat had not reacted officially Monday in mid-afternoon.
  
      "This is a serious diplomatic mistake that should be corrected immediately," said a former foreign minister of Guinea-Bissau, Delfim Da Silva. "The president can not invite the Saharawi official as well as the sovereignty of independent countries," he added.
  
      According to a source familiar with the matter, requesting anonymity, the invitation of the Saharawi leader had been proposed by Algeria, to which Guinea-Bissau authorities have also requested financial assistance.
  
      "We are in a case of 'Realpolitik': Algeria is an old friend of Guinea-Bissau, but this can in no way affect the current political realities," said Bissau Guinean political scientist Rui Landim, on local radio.
  
      The Polisario Front claims, with the support of Algeria, the independence of Western Sahara, former Spanish colony annexed in 1975 by Morocco.
  
      Rabat proposes a wide autonomy under its sovereignty, rejecting independence.
  
      The newly elected president of Guinea-Bissau has been invested in Bissau, six months after the killing by soldiers of his predecessor Joao Bernardo Vieira. Five African heads of state attending the ceremony: the Senegalese Abdoulaye Wade, the Burkinabe Blaise Compaoré, Yaya Jammeh the Gambia, Cape Verdean Pedro Pires and Nigeria Umaru Yar'Adua.
  
  Ennaharonline/ M. O.