Sahara/UN: Morocco tells de Mistura its Autonomy Plan gaining international recognition & ONLY solution

Moroccan foreign minister Nasser Bourita conferred Monday in Rabat with UN Sahara envoy Staffan de Mistura who is touring the region ahead of the mid-April UN Security Council informal consultations on the Sahara.

The meeting was attended by Omar Hilale, Morocco’s Ambassador to the United Nations. During these talks, the Moroccan delegation highlighted the international momentum driven by King Mohammed VI for Morocco’s sovereignty over the Sahara and the Moroccan Autonomy Initiative.

In his Green March speech made Nov.6, 2024, the Moroccan Sovereign had urged the UN to “assume its responsibility and spell out the major difference between the real, legitimate world – represented by Morocco in its Sahara – and a world which is frozen in time, and which is disconnected from reality and the developments that have taken place.”

The Moroccan delegation also reiterated the Kingdom’s support for the efforts of the UN Secretary-General and his Personal Envoy in reaching a lasting, pragmatic, realistic, and political solution, based exclusively on the Moroccan Autonomy Initiative, within the framework of Morocco’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

During the latest UN General Assembly, Head of Moroccan Govt. Aziz Akhannouch has underlined Morocco’s constant position on the Sahara issue, saying the growing international support for Morocco’s sovereignty over its Sahara and for the autonomy initiative sends a clear message to the other parties to the conflict and to the UN that time has come to move towards a political solution on this basis, through the round table process and in accordance with Security Council resolutions.

De Mistura’s new regional tour comes amidst calls launched by some U.S. think-tanks urging the Trump administration to stop funding failed peacekeeping missions such as the MINURSO, established in 1991.

After 34 years and billions of dollars spent, no progress has been made and the UN-led political process is stalled due to the disengagement and procrastination of Algeria and the Polisario.

According to Michael Rubin, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, it is time to end peacekeeping missions that, at best, do nothing and, at worst, preserve conflict. Trump and Congress should insist they will no longer tolerate failed peacekeeping operations.