One of the most ancient and forgotten conflict in the world has just witnessed a major evolution with the US decision to recognize “Moroccan sovereignty over the entire Western Sahara territory”.
For the last forty Years, the Kingdom of Morocco and Algeria-Backed Polisario Front have been engaged in a territorial dispute over this mostly desert territory. Morocco proposed in 2007 a large “autonomy plan”, described as “serious and credible” by the successive relevant Security Council resolutions and most of the countries in the world. However, the Guerilla Movement still declares it will accept nothing less than a referendum.
Under the United Nations supervision, both sides, along with Mauritania and Algeria, engaged in several rounds of direct negotiations since 2007 but the discussions have not until now been fruitful. While this option of the Moroccan Autonomy Plan is still on the table, recent tensions occurred in the no-man’s land around the crossing post of Guerguerate , which has been occupied by the Polisario militias stopping all the lorries traffic.
This crossing point was evacuated by the Moroccan army Friday 13th November after 3 weeks of blockade to secure the zone and re-allow safe trade between Morocco and west Africa. Both parties accuse each other of breaching the ceasefire signed in October 1991. Indeed, observers were worried that Algeria having its president, Abdelmajid Tebboune, absent, since hospitalized over two months ago in Germany, some members of the Algerian military apparatus could seize the opportunity to encourage the Polisario to engage in a military conflict against Morocco.
As tensions were rising, King Mohammed VI made a bold and swift move
As tensions were rising, conditions seemed favorable for a bold and swift move for King Mohammed VI, to accelerate negotiations with the United States in order to obtain a full recognition of its territory by the world’s number one superpower and permanent member of the UN security council.
For the last three years, the Moroccan Monarch has been in fact personally engaged in discreet discussions with President Trump and his closest advisors to broker a deal that would change the nature of the conflict and pave the way for its resolution.
Indeed, securing US recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara appeared as a very important step forward in order to close the chapter of one of the last conflicts, rooted in colonization era and inherited from the Cold War.
For months, King Mohammed VI asserted his arguments with conviction to the American President: not only Morocco has a legitimate claim on this territory, but it has also invested hugely to develop this desert area, lifting it from a very poor region in the in the mid-seventies to a fully developed territory with state-of the art infrastructures, education system and health coverage in the benefit of local populations.
The Moroccan King also argued that Morocco has proven its institutional and macro-economic stability, and represents therefore a “rock of stability” to ensure peace, stability, and security in the region.
