Morocco reaps growing international support for its Sahara autonomy plan

Morocco’s autonomy proposal is gaining traction as more global players voice support for it as the ultimate political solution of an artificial dispute and a relic of colonialism that has long lasted.

Israel was the latest country to join the list of global players who openly back Morocco’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and support the autonomy proposal as the only basis for a political solution to the territory. This came during talks in Israel between Israeli foreign minister and his Moroccan peer Nasser Bourita.

Spain’s recent backing of Morocco’s territorial integrity and its description of the autonomy initiative as the most serious, credible and realistic basis for finding a political solution to the Sahara dispute adds to similar positions by the US, Germany and France.

African and Arab friends of Morocco have already taken concrete steps and expressed tangible support for Morocco’s sovereignty over the Sahara territory by opening consulates in Dakhla and Laayoune.

For Morocco, such a momentum in favor of its autonomy plan shows support for an outcome and breaks away with the support for the process per se which has perpetuated the status quo, Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita said.

He urged other European states to follow suit and leave the comfort of backing a peace process in favor of backing the autonomy direction, which was on multiple occasions described by Morocco as the ultimate concession.

Backing the autonomy plan is a de facto recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty over the territory that was amputated from the Kingdom by Spanish colonialism.

Algeria in the middle of this wave of support for Morocco’s territorial integrity has shown its real face as the genuine party to this conflict, wherein it arms and sponsors the Polisario separatists and blocks any progress towards a mutually acceptable solution based on compromise.