Western Sahara: The MSP, the Sahrawi actor to watch

Far from adopting immovable positions, it presents a detailed institutional plan that could well inspire the next phase of the UN process.

For nearly fifty years, the Western Sahara conflict has been mired in a binary confrontation: Rabat versus the Polisario Front. In October 2025, Resolution 2797 shook up this rigid order by advocating for a negotiated political solution, free from the myth of the traditional referendum.

But for this turning point to generate real momentum, one key piece was missing: a Sahrawi actor capable of formulating its own vision for a solution. It is this gap that the Sahrawi Movement for Peace (MSP) now fills.

With the support of a broad sector of the Sahrawi population, historically silent—in the provinces, the Tindouf camps, and the diaspora, especially in Mauritania—the MSP (Movement for a Peaceful Society) proposes an innovative text: a “special status for Western Sahara,” composed of 54 articles.

Inspired by models such as Iraqi Kurdistan, Puerto Rico, and the statutes of Catalonia and the Basque Country, the MSP document not only complements Moroccan autonomy, but clarifies, enriches, and organizes it.

Key measures include:

• a bicameral parliament

• a Sahrawi executive

• expanded powers

• a local security force

• regulated foreign action

• a mechanism for the return of refugees

• a transition period. 

This text currently constitutes the only institutional platform of Sahrawi origin capable of influencing United Nations deliberations. It has already attracted the attention of several foreign ministries, as it addresses a delicate equation: recognizing the authority of the Moroccan state while guaranteeing broad internal autonomy based on Sahrawi elected representation.

At a time when MINURSO is struggling to break a cycle of inaction, this approach offers an unprecedented tool: placing the Sahrawi people at the center of the process, rather than on its periphery.

The impact of the MSP goes beyond the content of its text. Above all, it challenges a deeply rooted idea: that only the Polisario Front represents the Sahrawi voice. However, the reality on the ground tells a different story. In the cities of the Sahara, as well as in the diaspora, a growing number of Sahrawis are calling for a pragmatic solution, far removed from Cold War rhetoric.

Therefore, the question is no longer whether a third actor is needed. It is already present.

The real question is: will the international community dare to incorporate a genuine Sahrawi proposal into the next phase of the political process? If the answer is yes, then the MSP could become the missing link, the one that finally transforms Resolution 2797 into a political reality.