Britain has become the latest country to back a plan to give limited autonomy to the disputed territory of Western Sahara, while keeping it under Moroccan control.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the plan, proposed by Morocco, was "the most credible, viable and pragmatic" way to resolve one of Africa's longest-running and most frustrating regional conflicts.
Who controls Western Sahara?
The dispute over Western Sahara – roughly 100,000 square miles of sparsely populated land to the south of Morocco and Algeria, and to the west of Mauritania – has become an "intricate" and "multifaceted political, diplomatic, and military contest", said Modern Diplomacy.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
It's an area "rich in Moroccan culture, Hassani heritage and natural resources", and, following the withdrawal of Spain's colonial forces in 1975, both Morocco and the Algeria-supported, pro-independence Polisario Front claimed it as theirs. Years of low-level fighting ensued until, in 1991, a UN-supervised ceasefire was agreed that left roughly three-quarters of the territory under Moroccan control. The remaining strip is controlled by Polisario, which has declared a "Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic".
For the past 30 years, the UN has been maintaining a peacekeeping mission in the Western Sahara to "monitor the humanitarian and security situation" and ensure compliance with the ceasefire agreement. But "the Polisario Front has not yet adhered to the decisions and recommendations of the UN mission".
What is the Moroccan plan?
In 2007, Morocco submitted its Autonomy Initiative to the UN, proposing that Western Sahara manage its own internal affairs, while Morocco retains control over defence, foreign policy and currency. Though the initiative was warmly received by several African, Arab and European countries, it failed to get formal backing.
Then in 2020, during Donald Trump's first presidential term, the US shifted position and recognised Moroccan sovereignty, in a quid pro quo for Morocco joining the Abraham Accords and normalising relations with Israel. Following the US lead, France declared backing for Morocco's plan last year, ending its "long-standing position of neutrality", said Bloomberg. Spain, Germany, as well as many Gulf States and Egypt have also backed the plan.
Since US recognition of its sovereignty, Morocco has invested heavily in the region, sparking something of a development blitz. After years of conflict and diplomatic stalemate, the area is emerging "as a hotspot for investment, drawing European and American firms interested in fishing, agriculture and infrastructure projects", said The Independent.
"The Western Sahara has gone from a disputed territory that was radioactive to foreign investors to an increasingly normal region that's receiving a growing flow of capital," Riccardo Fabiani, project director for North Africa at the International Crisis Group, told Bloomberg.
Is there an alternative?
Growing international support for Morocco's plan has left Algeria and the Polisario Front "fuming". The group – which some US lawmakers want listed as a terrorist organisation – has vowed to step up resistance and has claimed recent attacks against Moroccan forces near the Algerian border.
Polisario has also "taken its fight to international courts", said The Independent. It argues that Morocco "does not have the right to trade resources belonging to the Sahrawi people, while the conflict remains unresolved".
But alternative solutions seem unlikely. Last year, according to Reuters, the UN envoy for Western Sahara floated the idea of partitioning the territory to "allow for the creation, on the one hand, of an independent state in the southern part and, on the other hand, the integration of the rest of the territory as part of Morocco". Both Morocco and the Polisario Front rejected the proposal out of hand.
-
August 24 editorial cartoonsCartoons Sunday's political cartoons include Putin at Donald Trump's circus, gallons of whitewash, and a foldable cartoon
-
5 Post Office-approved cartoons about mail-in votingCartoons Artists take on reverse logic, Putin's election advice, and more
-
The battle of the weight-loss drugsTalking Point Can Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly regain their former stock market glory? A lot is riding on next year's pills
-
Trump embraces NATO after budget vow, charm offensiveSpeed Read The president reversed course on his longstanding skepticism of the trans-Atlantic military alliance
-
The Scattered Islands and France's 'triangle of power' in the Indian OceanUnder The Radar Small, uninhabited but strategically important islands are a point of contention between France and Madagascar
-
'It is not enough to simply defend the status quo'Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
'The winners and losers of AI may not be where we expect'Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Jean-Marie Le Pen: rabble-rousing co-founder of the French National FrontIn the Spotlight Once called the 'most hated man in France', Le Pen maintained that his ideas were simply 'ahead of their time'
-
Hebdo attack: 10 years on, are we all still 'Charlie'?Talking Point Terror attack on French satirical magazine united the Western world in defence of free speech, but a decade on some claim 'the killers have won'
-
What Assad's fall means beyond SyriaThe Explainer Russia and Iran scramble to forge new ties with Syrian rebels as Israel seeks to exploit opportunities and Turkey emerges as 'main winner'
-
France's Macron vows to finish out termSpeed Read French President Emmanuel Macron rejected calls to step down and said he will name a new government in the coming days
