Biden Administration Undecided on Trump’s Western Sahara Policy, State Department Says

"The Biden administration has not yet made a decision regarding the recognition by former President Donald Trump of Morocco’s sovereignty over the Sahara," an anonymous State Department spokesman told the Arabic-language television channel financed by the US Congress, Al Hurra. This statement contradicts the one that an authorized source from the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs made to the website Le Desk last Friday. This source had confirmed statements by the Secretary of State reported by the site Axios. In a telephone exchange, Antony Blinky had told the Minister of Foreign Affairs and African Cooperation, Nasser Bourita, that the Biden administration would not go back on Trump’s decision.

"No such decision has been made. We are having private discussions with the parties on the best way forward. We have nothing else to announce," the same source told Al Hurra.

Reacting to the Axios information, Moroccan academic Mohamed Cherkaoui, based in the United States, said it was impossible for the site’s correspondent to know the content of the telephone exchange between the head of Moroccan diplomacy and his American counterpart, as only the Secretary of State and his spokesman, Ned Price, were present in the room at the time of the interview. According to him, Israel would have provided this information to the site’s correspondent. Not the State Department.

On December 10 last, Donald Trump had signed a decree recognizing American sovereignty over the Sahara. This decision continues to provoke strong reactions. 27 US senators and Kerry Kennedy, president of the Robert Kennedy Center for Human Rights, had in the meantime called on the Biden administration to reverse it. For its part, Morocco is working to strengthen its relations with the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the active pro-Israel lobby in the United States.