Khadijetou El Mokhtar

El Mokhtar was born on February 4, 1959, in Villa Cisneros, Spanish Sahara.^[1] She taught from 1978 to 1985 at the Sidi Brahim Basiri school in Aousserd (not to be confused with the town of the same name), a wilayah of the Saharawi refugee camps in Tindouf, promoting the dissemination of the Spanish language.^[2]

El Mokhtar was appointed special representative to Peru by Brahim Ghali to begin negotiations to restore diplomatic relations on 15 May 2017.^[3] Peru had originally recognised the SADR as a state in 1984 but rescinded that recognition and froze diplomatic ties in 1996.^[4] At the time, she was President of the National Union of Sahrawi Women.^[4][5]

Described as the SADR's "roving ambassador to Latin America",^[6] she was involved in political meetings between 10 June and 18 July but on re-entering Peru on 9 September was refused entry and detained at Jorge Chávez International Airport. She had been added to a list of people banned from entering Peru, as her political meetings had breached the terms of her tourist visa (El Mokhtar had entered Peru on a Spanish passport and a tourist visa as her SADR documentation was not recognised by the country).^[7]

She remained at the airport, unable to enter the country and unwilling to leave despite calls for her release.^[7][3] El Mokhtar refused to leave willingly for the SADR (it was also claimed that she travelled at the invitation of the Peruvian senate)^[8] and was, on 28 September, placed on a flight to Spain against her will.^[9]

• Peru–Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic relations