Diplomatic Showdown Looms Over Western Sahara’s Fate

A few days before the Security Council meeting scheduled for late October, during which the Sahara issue will be addressed, France and the UAE would be working to convince Council members to "pass the resolution on Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara," according to TSA Algérie. The two countries would try to introduce a resolution on the Moroccan autonomy plan as the only solution to the conflict in the Sahara. In July 2024, France officially endorsed the Moroccan autonomy plan for the Sahara, which it considers a just, credible and realistic solution to end this conflict. As for the United Arab Emirates, they are a long-standing privileged partner of the kingdom.

Last Tuesday, Brahim Ghali, the Secretary-General of the Polisario Front, announced that he had transmitted to the UN Secretary-General an "expanded proposal" aimed at initiating direct negotiations with Morocco with a view to a solution to the conflict in the Sahara based on the self-determination referendum. In statements to the press on Thursday, Mohamed Yeslem Beissat, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Polisario Front, specified that the Polisario is willing to submit the Moroccan autonomy plan dating from 2007 to a popular consultation. According to the Sahrawi official, the "expanded proposal" submitted to the UN Secretary-General includes the three options provided for by international law: independence, integration or a free association pact.

For Mohamed Yeslem Beissat, this last option could "resemble what Morocco is proposing." "The Polisario Front is taking a step towards the Moroccans, but discussing the autonomy proposal outside the framework of a referendum is not feasible," he argued, adding that it is "imperative to present the Sahrawis with several options, including independence; if they choose an option, whatever it may be, we will accept it." "Everything is ready to organize the referendum since the year 2000, after the census of voters carried out by the United Nations," he recalled.

Moreover, Algeria, an ally of the Polisario, is considered a stakeholder in this conflict. Trump’s Middle East adviser, Steve Witkoff, said on Sunday, October 19, on CBS that his team was working on a "peace deal within 60 days" between Algeria and Morocco. For his part, former minister and diplomat Abdelaziz Rahabi estimated that the United States, France and the United Kingdom are orchestrating an "influence operation" aimed at presenting the Sahrawi conflict as an Algerian-Moroccan dispute, consolidating Morocco’s role in the region. He accuses these countries of conceding Sahrawi sovereignty to the occupying power, based on a "neo-colonialist" logic.