A New Council for a Fractured Order

In a gesture laden with strategic significance, President Donald Trump took advantage of the Davos forum to transform it into the stage for a high-impact announcement: the launch, amid a great diplomatic and media display, of a new World Council or Peace Board.

This initiative comes as a direct response to the breakdown of the international system, anchored in the structures of 1945. The United Nations (UN), with its Security Council chronically paralyzed by vetoes, has gone from being a symbol of hope to one of incompetence. Its inability to resolve conflicts is not an occasional failure, but a symptom of an exhausted model.

This paralysis has had tragic consequences. The Palestinian case is the most painful example: for almost a century, the international community has been a helpless witness, if not an accomplice, to a recurring tragedy. The war in Gaza was the most dramatic episode in a long chain of failures. It was the determination and firmness of President Donald Trump's administration that broke that cycle, giving rise to unprecedented hope. This momentum is the fundamental reason why key Islamic nations such as Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Egypt, and Indonesia did not hesitate to sign the founding document of the Peace Board or Council in Davos.

Western Sahara: another paradigm of failure

This conflict is further evidence of the UN's paralysis. The peace process, which began in the late 1980s, has seen six secretaries-general and more than ten special envoys come and go without result. Added to this are the immense resources invested in MINURSO, an operation deployed since 1991 at an annual cost of some $60 million, which has failed to achieve its ultimate goal.

Last October, the Trump administration decided to relaunch efforts to reach a settlement based on Morocco's 2007 autonomy proposal, which was reflected in Security Council Resolution 2797. On the initiative of the United States, and not the UN Envoy as was previously the case, the parties concerned paraded through Washington last week to hear the US government's recommendations for moving towards an agreement.

Although the exact wording is unknown, everything points to a decisive push, almost an ultimatum, to accelerate negotiations and reach a compromise before the current MINURSO mandate expires. Between now and the Security Council meeting in April, the parties must show substantial progress.

After Morocco, Algeria: a necessary inclusion

It is reasonable and desirable that, taking advantage of this new dynamic, Algeria should join the Peace Board.From that position, together with Morocco, it could easily overcome the Sahara crisis that for half a century has poisoned relations between the two main Maghreb powers, disrupting regional stability and integration.

Beyond Western Sahara, a supranational raison d'état urgently compels Algeria and Morocco to find a stable framework for cooperation: the growing threat in the Sahel region, where jihadist groups are running rampant. This area has become the global epicenter of terrorism, posing a priority and indivisible security threat to the entire Maghreb and beyond.

The international community already recognizes the need for regional solutions. A Peace Council with executive authority could be the instrument to catalyze this mandatory cooperation, coordinating joint border security and intelligence frameworks against a common enemy, something unthinkable in the current climate of mistrust.

Pessimism clings to a broken system for fear of chaos. Bold realism demands building a new one. The failure of the UN in Palestine, the Sahara, and so many other crises is irrefutable proof that change is not an option, but a necessity.

The new Peace Board can represent that historic opportunity. With the complex Cold War and its consequences now behind us, we have the chance to move from an order based on the privileges and glories of 1945 to one founded on the responsibilities and challenges of the 21st century. An order where, at last, cooperation replaces paralysis, responsibility outweighs privilege, and forums for dialogue are instruments of decisive action rather than mere archives of failure. The path may have begun in Davos.

Hach Ahmed. First Secretary of the Sahrawi Movement for Peace