The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Western Sahara, Alvaro de Soto, will be received by H.M. King Mohammed VI and senior Moroccan officials on 6-7 September 2004. He will be received by the leadership of the Frente POLISARIO on 12 September 2004. He is in contact with the governments of Algeria and Mauritania regarding visits to Algiers and Nouakchott soon thereafter.

This will be Mr. de Soto’s first round of consultations with the parties and neighboring countries since the enlargement of his responsibilities following the resignation of James Baker III, last June, as the Secretary-General’s personal envoy.

            The Secretary-General is due to report to the Security Council in October 2004. The mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) expires at the end of that month.