Panic in Algiers, Tindouf as US pushes peace deal, backs autonomy plan
Under mounting pressure ahead of what diplomats describe as a “historic vote” at the UN Security Council later this month, Algeria and its proxy, the Polisario Front, are scrambling to project an image of flexibility.
The separatist group announced a so-called “expanded proposal” for a political solution to the Sahara conflict, a move widely seen as a desperate attempt to salvage relevance as the tide turns decisively in favor of Morocco’s autonomy plan.
For decades, the Polisario, operating under Algerian tutelage, clung to the obsolete and unfeasible notion of a UN-supervised referendum. Today, leaks from New York confirm that the draft resolution-penned by Washington- will enshrine Morocco’s autonomy initiative as the sole credible basis for a lasting settlement.
The resolution is expected to pass with strong backing from three permanent members: the United States, France, and the United Kingdom, while Spain backs the Moroccan proposal and even traditionally cautious powers like Russia and China signal openness to dialogue under Morocco’s framework.
In an exclusive interview, Trump’s middle east envoy Steve Witkoff, speaking alongside Jared Kushner, revealed that the US administration is preparing a Morocco-Algeria peace deal aimed at defusing decades of tension and unlocking regional integration.
This diplomatic push coincides with a strategic recalibration at the UN. According to leaked documents, the Security Council will not only endorse Morocco’s autonomy plan but also shorten MINURSO’s mandate to three months, signaling the end of an open-ended mission and the beginning of a results-driven process.
Algeria, increasingly isolated on the international stage, continues to pull the strings of the Polisario while railing against what President Abdelmadjid Tebboune calls “imposed solutions.”
His rhetoric, however, rings hollow as Algiers faces dwindling support and growing scrutiny over its role in perpetuating instability in the region via proxies such as the Polisario and other armed groups in the Sahel.
The Polisario’s latest communiqué- curiously absent from its official channels- offers nothing new beyond recycled demands for a phantom referendum and vague promises of “strategic relations” with Morocco.
Analysts see this as a cosmetic maneuver, a diplomatic pirouette masking panic. Algeria and the Polisario are cornered, at a time the autonomy plan has gained unstoppable momentum, and the upcoming resolution will seal that reality.