The highest ranking US diplomat for North Africa and the Middle East traveled Saturday to the city of Laayoune, which Morocco considers the capital of the Western Sahara, laying the groundwork for th…
Updated: 8:54 AM EST January 10, 2021
The highest ranking U.S. diplomat for North Africa and the Middle East traveled Saturday to the city of Laayoune, which Morocco considers the capital of the Western Sahara, laying the groundwork for the United States to set up a consulate in the disputed territory.
The U.S. Embassy in Morocco s capital, Rabat, called the visit by Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Schenker historic.
The United States agreed to recognize Morocco s claim over Western Sahara as part of a deal engineered by Washington for the normalization of ties between Morocco and Israel. U.S. President Donald Trump announced the deal last month.
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The US hailed as historic a visit by Middle East envoy David Schenker to the Sahara, which laid the groundwork for it to open a consulate in the territory.
Mr Schenker, the US assistant secretary of state for near eastern affairs, travelled to Laayoune, the regional capital, on Saturday.
He met the city’s governor, Abdesslam Bikrat, and went to the headquarters of the UN peacekeeping mission for the territory.
Washington’s decision to recognise Morocco’s claim over the Sahara region is a shift in US foreign policy.
Mr Schenker travelled to Morocco from Algiers.
On Sunday, he was scheduled to head to Dakhla, where the official US presence in the Sahara will probably be based.
RABAT, Morocco The highest ranking U.S. diplomat for North Africa and the Middle East travelled Saturday to the city of Laayoune, which Morocco considers the capital of the Western Sahara, laying the groundwork for the United States to set up a consulate in the disputed territory. The U.S. Embassy in Morocco’s capital, Rabat, called […]
LONDON Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Prince Philip, have received their COVID-19 vaccinations, royal officials said Saturday.
Buckingham Palace officials said in a statement that the 94-year-old monarch and Philip, 99, received their jabs Saturday, joining some 1.5 million people in Britain who have been given the first dose of a COVID vaccine.
The injections were administered at Windsor Castle, where the queen and her husband have been spending their time during the lockdown in England.
Royal officials said they took the rare step of commenting on the monarch’s health in order to prevent inaccuracies and further speculation. The queen “decided that she would let it be known she has had the vaccination,” the palace statement said.