The Polisario Front has been forced back into diplomacy after the United States firmly reaffirmed that any political settlement of the regional Sahara dispute must take place exclusively within the framework of Moroccan sovereignty, diplomatic sources said.
A discreet Polisario delegation traveled to Washington between January 19 and 23 to participate in US-facilitated exploratory talks alongside Morocco, Algeria, and Mauritania, Moroccan media reported.
The visit shows how Washington is assuming a central coordinating role and narrowing the parameters of negotiation in line with UN Security Council Resolution 2797, adopted on October 31, 2025.
According to multiple sources, US officials made it clear during the meetings that Morocco’s autonomy initiative remains the only realistic basis for negotiations.
Longstanding separatists schemes led by the Algerian and its Polisario proxies to hold a referendum were excluded from the agenda and dismissed as incompatible with the current Security Council framework.
The talks took place in US government facilities in Washington rather than at UN headquarters in New York, underlining a growing American determination to steer the process directly.
While UN Secretary‑General’s Personal Envoy Staffan de Mistura was present, the United States set the tone and boundaries of the discussions.
Senior US figures close to President Donald Trump, as well as MINURSO chief Alexander Ivanko, attended the session. Their presence signaled both political backing and an emphasis on security realities on the ground.
Diplomatic sources say the American message was clear in stipulating that negotiations can only proceed on the basis of autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty, a position now explicitly embedded in Resolution 2797.
The Washington visit followed a notable softening of Polisario’s rhetoric. After unilaterally abandoning the 1991 ceasefire in November 2020, the group had repeatedly claimed that armed conflict had resumed. Those statements sharply declined in early January following the death of Mustafa Mohamed Ali Sid Bachir, a senior figure within Polisario’s hardline security faction.
Since then, references to armed actions have largely disappeared from official messaging, replaced by a cautious diplomatic posture.
The Washington trip itself was deliberately low-profile. No public announcements were made before or after the visit, and the delegation returned to Algiers on January 23 without issuing a communiqué. It later emerged that the delegation traveled aboard an aircraft chartered by the Algerian presidency, highlighting Algiers’ direct involvement in the initiative.
