Nigeria, June 29 -- I went to a meeting in Abuja with the visiting Western Sahara's - Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic's - Foreign Minister. It was arranged by Mr Brahim B Buseif, the country's ambassador in Nigeria.

I was received by Buseif and a friend, Mohammed Yeslem Beisat. Since 2020, he had been Sahrawi ambassador to South Africa and Lesotho, and for the past one year, we have been communicating. Previously, he had served in the United States, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, and is quite knowledgeable about Africa.

We embraced and I almost asked him what he was doing in Nigeria, when it occurred to me that he was the only one with Buseif. Then it hit me: my friend is the new Sahrawi foreign minister! Since when? Just a f...