The United Nations General Assembly met on Tuesday 10 November to discuss the Russian veto that blocked renewal of the MINURSO mandate, and the session turned into a display of support for Morocco’s autonomy plan. Convened under Resolution 76/262 after Russia’s veto of 30 October in the Security Council, the procedural meeting also showed Algeria’s isolation.
Opening the debate, Russia’s deputy permanent representative, Anna Evstigneeva, said the draft prepared by the United States departed “radically” from a balanced settlement and defended the veto as a “mechanism of deterrence and correction”. Analysts argue the move was also meant to spare Algeria, the Polisario’s main military and financial backer. The mandate was not renewed.
Both Russia and Algeria were represented by deputies rather than their permanent representatives.
Braving the distances between all the continents of the world, this session was marked by the international community’s clear and unwavering support for the autonomy plan under Moroccan sovereignty as the basis for any political solution.
From Europe to Africa, from the Americas to the Arab world and the Gulf, the delegations emphasized, in concerted terms, the serious, credible, and realistic nature of the Moroccan Autonomy Initiative and the centrality of Moroccan sovereignty over its Sahara, while reaffirming their commitment to a just, lasting, and mutually acceptable settlement based on this plan.
Most speakers backed Rabat. US Ambassador Mike Waltz called a referendum “a fiction” and the autonomy plan the “only viable avenue” to peace. Stavros Lambrinidis, speaking for the European Union, said genuine autonomy was the more realistic solution. France’s ambassador, Jérôme Bonnafont, said the future of the Sahara lies within Moroccan sovereignty. The Nordic countries regretted the veto; Bahrain, on behalf of the Gulf Cooperation Council, reaffirmed support for Morocco’s territorial integrity.
At the African level, Sierra Leone, The Gambia, the Comoros, Madagascar, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, and Equatorial Guinea also reiterated their support for the Moroccan Autonomy Initiative under Moroccan sovereignty.
The representative of Côte d’Ivoire thus recalled that Security Council Resolution 2797 “established the framework for finding a definitive solution to the status quo that has persisted for several decades, namely the Moroccan Autonomy Initiative, which is currently supported by approximately 130 states, including three permanent members of the Security Council.”
Several delegations praised Morocco for respecting the ceasefire and for facilitating the evacuation of MINURSO staff, while the Polisario declared a “state of general mobilization” on the same day. Morocco’s ambassador, Omar Hilale, told the chamber that the Sahara “has been, is and will always be Moroccan”.
