UN resolutions on the Sahara: the shift towards a realistic and viable solution

This process has oscillated between divergent positions and shifting geopolitical stakes. From the outset, Morocco has maintained its historic and legitimate right to complete its territorial integrity, considering the Sahara an inseparable part of its national unity, while Algeria has continued to support the separatist Polisario Front, hiding behind the rhetoric of the ‘right to self-determination,’ even though it practises the opposite in its internal affairs. 

An analysis of the first UN resolutions reflects the international community's hesitation between calling for an end to Spanish colonialism and seeking a solution that would satisfy all parties. In 1975, Resolution 380 demanded an end to Spanish presence in the Sahara, thus supporting the Green March launched by Morocco as a peaceful means of recovering its occupied territories. However, this path was soon blocked by plans for division and confusion, leading to the outbreak of military clashes that lasted until the 1991 ceasefire agreement, followed by Resolution 690, which established the MINURSO mission to organise a ‘referendum,’ the impossibility of which quickly became apparent. 

With the dawn of the new millennium, the UN, under pressure from the reality on the ground and the international community, began to reconsider the referendum option, which had proven unworkable, and moved to support a realistic and workable political solution, particularly following Resolution 1754 in 2007, which marked a decisive turning point by calling for direct negotiations without preconditions. This paved the way for Morocco to present its historic proposal for extended autonomy within Moroccan sovereignty. This proposal was described as serious, credible and realistic, and quickly received broad international support, reflected in subsequent resolutions, especially Resolution 1920 of 2010, which called for a realistic political solution, clearly rejecting the separatist thesis and favouring consensual and pragmatic approaches. 

This approach was reinforced by Resolution 2440 of 2018, which explicitly called for a realistic and viable political solution, emphasising the need for serious negotiations between the parties concerned, especially Morocco and Algeria. The latter could no longer present itself solely as a ‘neighbouring country’; its role as a key party to the conflict was implicit. This change in the UN's position coincided with important regional and international developments, such as the US recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over its southern provinces in December 2020. This position was followed by Security Council Resolution 2548, which definitively abandoned the option of a referendum as a solution and endorsed the Moroccan approach as a realistic proposal, rejecting solutions imposed from outside. 

In 2021, Resolution 2602 reaffirmed this trajectory by calling for a balanced consensus between the parties. This diplomatic formula indicates the UN's growing acceptance of the Moroccan proposal for autonomy as a viable solution that guarantees stability and development. This resolution marked the beginning of a change in the language of the Security Council, which no longer mentions the terms ‘independence’ or ‘referendum,’ which is tantamount to an implicit recognition of the obsolescence of the separatist thesis in UN texts. 

Analysis of this decision-making process shows a clear trend towards support for the Moroccan proposal for autonomy under full sovereignty and a gradual departure from outdated positions. The Security Council no longer speaks of self-determination in its limited sense, but of a consensual and realistic political solution. This trend has been strengthened by growing international support for Morocco, especially from powers such as the United States, France and Spain, as well as numerous African and Arab countries that have opened consulates in the cities of Laayoune and Dakhla, in practical recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over the Sahara. 

Morocco has not limited itself to diplomatic defence, but has taken advantage of these changes to highlight the fragility of the Algerian-Polisario discourse, which calls for self-determination in the Sahara while repressing similar demands within Algeria, as in the case of the Amazigh in Kabylia or the Tuaregs in Azawad. This exposes the double standards and weakens the credibility of the separatist approach. 

Morocco has shown great strategic maturity in managing this artificial conflict, relying on historical and legal legitimacy, the principles of realistic negotiation and the effectiveness of its autonomy proposal, which since 2007 has become the only valid reference for the Security Council. The international support accumulated by Morocco, in the face of Algeria's isolation and the collapse of the Polisario Front — reflected in the withdrawal of recognition by more than 28 African countries — indicates that the end of this conflict is near, based on a realistic and solid political solution that involves the recognition of Moroccan sovereignty, the guarantee of the dignity of the local population and the preservation of regional stability in the face of any attempt at fragmentation. 

The objective conclusion that can be drawn from monitoring the Security Council resolutions is that the UN no longer considers the referendum a viable option and that the Moroccan autonomy initiative has become the practical and logical framework for a definitive solution. This is a historic moment that requires consolidating achievements and capitalising on diplomatic efforts, with a view to a lasting resolution of this artificial conflict that has been unjustly prolonged and whose time has come. 

Lahoucine Bekkar Sbaai, lawyer at the Bar of the Courts of Appeal of Agadir and Laayoune and researcher on migration and human rights 

Translation from Arabic by: Abdessamad Benyaich