US Reaffirms Morocco’s Sovereignty Over Western Sahara Under Biden Administration

State Department spokesman Ned Price announced the news during a press briefing on Thursday, July 1, reports the MAP. "This remains the position of the administration" of President Joe Biden, he said. "There is no change" in the US recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty over the Sahara, he reassured.

The former President of the United States, Donald Trump had signed on December 10, 2020 a decree recognizing American recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty over the Sahara in exchange for the normalization of diplomatic relations between the kingdom and Israel. The text of the Proclamation had been presented to the UN on December 15, 2020, and then distributed to the 193 member states as an official document of the Security Council.

Kelly Craft, then US Ambassador to the United Nations, had sent a letter to South African Ambassador Jerry Matthews Matjila, President of the Security Council. A copy of the letter and the text of the Proclamation had been sent to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. In this letter, the United States recalled that the Moroccan autonomy proposal is "the only basis for a just and lasting solution" to the dispute over the Sahara.