PREVIEW
King Mohammed VI secures US backing as risks mount of clashes with Polisario and Algeria
United States President Donald Trump’s administration has renewed its support for Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara at a meeting in Washington with Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio referred to Morocco's ‘Autonomy Proposal as the only framework’ as he urged the parties to ‘negotiate a mutually acceptable solution.’
During his first term as president in 2019, Trump broke with decades of US neutrality on Western Sahara by recognising Moroccan sovereignty in exchange for Rabat restoring diplomatic ties with Israel (AC Vol 61 No 25, King reaps Saharan dividend).
That marked a major shift in diplomatic positions on Western Sahara’s status. Last July, French President Emmanuel Macron also recognised Moroccan sovereignty, following a similar move by the Spanish government in 2022 (AC Vol 65 No 16, Emmanuel Macron’s Saharan mystery).
Though Trump’s continued support for Morocco’s position is not a surprise, the meeting in Washington still represents something of a coup for Bourita, entrenching the sense that Rabat, along with Egypt, is likely to be Trump’s closest ally in North Africa.
Rubio’s offer to facilitate talks with Morocco and Algeria on Western Sahara’s future also hints at a US move to push for the end of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO). At a meeting on 11 April with Staffan de Mistura, the UN Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy for Western Sahara, senior State Department official Lisa Kenna said that ‘genuine autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty’ was ‘only feasible solution’ for the Western Sahara. She called on all parties to come to the table to negotiate a ‘mutually acceptable result.’
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