Special Correspondent
Washington DC: The UN Security Council on Friday approved a US-backed resolution endorsing Morocco’s plan for Western Sahara as the “most feasible solution” to the decades-old dispute. Eleven of the Council’s 15 members voted in favor, while Russia, China, and Pakistan abstained. Algeria did not participate in the vote.
The resolution also extends the mandate of the UN peacekeeping mission in Western Sahara (MINURSO) for another year.
US Permanent Representative to the UN, Mike Waltz, hailed the adoption as a “historic vote” that builds momentum toward a long-awaited peace. He reaffirmed Washington’s “deep commitment” to a mutually acceptable resolution and urged all parties to engage in negotiations, “using Morocco’s credible and realistic autonomy proposal as the sole basis for a just and lasting solution.”
In contrast, Amar Bendjama, Algeria’s Permanent Representative to the UN, said Algeria abstained because the resolution “does not sufficiently reflect the UN’s decolonization principles.” He emphasized that “a just and lasting solution can only be achieved by respecting the inalienable right of the people of Western Sahara to decide their own future.”
Moroccan King Mohammed VI welcomed the Council’s decision, announcing plans to update and resubmit Rabat’s autonomy proposal to the UN, calling it “the only viable basis for negotiation.” The king also extended an olive branch to Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, calling for renewed dialogue and a revival of the Arab Maghreb Union.
The Western Sahara conflict, rooted in Spain’s 1975 withdrawal and subsequent clashes between Morocco and the Polisario Front, has persisted for nearly five decades. A ceasefire brokered in 1991 ended active hostilities, but efforts to resolve the region’s final status have repeatedly stalled. Morocco’s 2007 autonomy plan remains the centerpiece of international discussions, while the Polisario Front continues to demand an independence referendum.
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