US Pushes for Resolution to Western Sahara Conflict by Year’s End

Back in the White House, the Trump administration, which officially recognized Moroccan sovereignty over the Sahara in 2020, is making the resolution of the Sahara conflict a priority. There is "a firm American political will to close the file before the end of the year," says retired Moroccan diplomat Ahmed Faouzi. As proof, the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, following his meeting with his Moroccan counterpart Nasser Bourita, stated that "the autonomy plan proposed by Morocco is the only serious and realistic basis for negotiations."

These statements lead Jeune Afrique to believe that the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), "long criticized for its effectiveness, could be about to undergo a radical change in its vision, or even disappear" and that the resolution of the Sahara conflict could occur by next October, or at the latest before the fiftieth anniversary of the Green March. The magazine also mentions the reception of the UN Special Representative Staffan de Mistura by the US Deputy Secretary of State, in a clear message calling for hastening a solution based on the Moroccan initiative.

De Mistura himself, during his briefing to the Security Council, called for capitalizing on "the new dynamic," added the American official, thus referring to the recognition by major nations such as the United States, France, and Spain. The review also mentions the reception by King Mohammed VI of the Foreign Ministers of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, and the announcement of their support for the Moroccan initiative regarding access to the Atlantic, "which makes the Moroccan Sahara an axis of regional and continental integration."

Meanwhile, Algeria, supporter of the Polisario, remains in "total silence" in the face of the Trump administration’s initiatives to resolve the Moroccan Sahara issue, notes the publication, "suggesting that this silence reflects embarrassment and a desire to avoid direct confrontation with Washington, while maintaining its capacity for harm."

Its protégé, the Polisario, feels weakened due to the accumulation of diplomatic setbacks with the loss of recognition in Latin America, increasing marginalization within the African Union (AU), suspicions of links with extremist networks, internal tensions in the Tindouf camps, but also the absence of the Sahara issue from the final communiqué of the last AU summit and the refusal of Mauritania and Egypt to participate in Algerian military maneuvers due to its presence.