Abdelkader Taleb Omar (Arabic: عبد القادر طالب عمر, ʿAbd āl-Qādar Ṭāleb ʿOmar; born 1951) is a Sahrawi politician who was the Prime Minister of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), in the framework of the government-in-exile proclaimed by the Polisario Front.

Career

Omar is a Polisario Front veteran who has lived in exile in the Tindouf province, Algeria since 1975. He has held several ministerial posts in previous governments, served as speaker of the Sahrawi National Council (the parliament in exile) in the 1995-1998 period, and also as Wali (Governor) of the Smara refugee camp, near Tindouf.

He was named to that post of Prime Minister by SADR president Mohamed Abdelaziz, in the framework of the XI General Popular Congress held in Tifariti on October 29, 2003, and re-appointed again to that post in early 2012.

Abdelkader was widely tipped to be the favorite to succeed Mohamed Abdelaziz, to the post of president in 2015, with the Algerian Département du Renseignement et de la Sécurité considered to be preferring him over other candidates. But Abdelkader ruled himself out, paving way for Brahim Ghali, who was serving as the amb*ador in Algiers at that time, and was also considered to be close to the Algerian DRS to ascend to that post.

Abdelkader is widely perceived as a liberal, arguing for a return of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara to Sahrawi territories, as a preclude to the referendum, unlike many other Polisario Front leaders who would prefer an armed resistance against Morocco.

References