US Under Trump's Leadership Propels Push for Final Resolution of Sahara Dispute

Morocco World

14-06-2025

Doha – A Spanish think tank report suggests the United States under President Donald Trump's returned administration is moving decisively toward resolving the decades-long fabricated Western Sahara dispute.
This would potentially draw a definitive close to one of Africa's most unnecessarily prolonged and politically manufactured territorial falsehoods, long sustained by external agendas rather than historical legitimacy.
According to an analysis published by Instituto Coordenadas de Gobernanza y Economia Aplicada on June 11, 'the Trump administration has urged Algeria and the Polisario Front to sit down immediately with Morocco and accept that the only possible political path is autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty.'
During his first term, Trump recognized Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara, marking a landmark diplomatic breakthrough for Rabat. Now, following his return to office in January, the American president appears poised to complete this initiative by establishing a definitive roadmap to resolve this contrived and concocted standoff in North Africa.
Last April, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterated the 'unwavering support' of his country for Morocco's sovereignty over the Sahara, in addition to expressly stressing that the Autonomy Proposal presented by Rabat is the only viable and realistic solution to resolve the prolonged dispute in the region.
Algeria pressed to choose between change or deeper isolation
Washington has signaled its intention to review and potentially suspend funding for several UN missions, including the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO).
In a sharply worded op-ed published on March 19 in the Washington Examiner, Michael Rubin, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, called on the United States to halt funding for MINURSO, describing it as a failed mission that 'preserves and provokes conflict.'
He labeled the Algerian-backed Polisario Front a 'Marxist' group that 'holds wives and children as hostages' in the Tindouf camps to block Sahrawis from returning to Morocco. 'By funding these camps and inflating Polisario legitimacy,' Rubin wrote, 'the UN perpetuates the problem.'
This possible withdrawal of financial support 'underscores the urgency for direct parties – Algeria and the Polisario Front – to join negotiations aimed at reaching an agreement based on autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty,' the Instituto Coordenadas report states.
The report asserts that 'today, Morocco's autonomy proposal is the only basis for a credible and viable solution, but to make way for it, Washington needs the complicity and commitment of Algeria.'
The White House has adopted measures 'to pressure Algiers, including pushing for Polisario disarmament and dismantling the Tindouf camps,' to bring all parties to the negotiating table.
'Presumably, Algeria will be subjected to pressure of unprecedented intensity, which will practically leave it no room for maneuver. That is the intention, at least,' the analysis notes.
Refusal to cooperate could result in 'devastating consequences: greater diplomatic isolation, legal complications for its support of the movement, and probable secondary sanctions against Algerian entities that maintain links with the Polisario.'
The report cautions that 'in Algiers, abandoning support for the Polisario after fifty years of commitment would be perceived as capitulation by a significant portion of the national establishment.'
Another pressure point involves 'the threat of declaring the Polisario Front as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO),' which constitutes a serious warning.
A recent article published by the Hudson Institute on April 18 presents 'detailed legal arguments' maintaining that 'the Polisario Front meets the three legal criteria to be designated as an FTO' under Section 219 of the US immigration and nationality law.
Washington's rush to seal the Sahara file
Morocco's UN Ambassador Omar Hilale stated in an April interview with Medi1TV that 'the United States is determined to close the Western Sahara file, and we hope to celebrate the final end of this dispute at the 50th anniversary of the Green March with our Algerian neighbors.' The anniversary falls on November 6 – a highly symbolic date for all Moroccans.
Speaking from New York, Hilale added that the current international context is 'marked by a positive dynamic and unprecedented international efforts.' He noted that more than 110 countries now support Morocco's position.
The Instituto Coordenadas analysis explains that the Trump Administration considers Morocco an essential partner in its strategy for stabilizing the Sahel. American expectations regarding the Sahara 'aim to consolidate Morocco in a new status as a pivotal state in the US strategy for Africa.'
In this regard, Washington's rush to resolve the Sahara dispute is also explained by its direct implications for the stability of the Sahel, a strategic region facing multiple security challenges, the report continues.
'This concern is reinforced by the growing presence of rival powers in the region, especially China, although it does not support the Sahrawi demands. One of Trump's international priorities is to counter China's growing influence in the world, including Africa,' the report continues.
According to the report, there are also powerful economic interests in this urgency: the persistence of the dispute destabilizes the region and disrupts access to uranium, gold, and rare earth deposits that are vital to global supply chains.
For the Iberian think tank, the US administration 'is aware of the enormous economic potential of the African continent, which promises the greatest future growth (demographic and economic), but also immense mineral wealth.'
'The White House is eager to establish new relational frameworks with countries in the region that take into account protection in terms of security, the definition of formulas to achieve greater political stability, and economic agreements that provide preferential access to resources and markets,' the analysis went on to say.
The report argues that the American urgency to resolve the Sahara dispute is the result of a conjunction of strategic factors: the limitations of the internal political calendar, with the midterm elections (2026) in mind; the desire to consolidate Morocco as a pivotal state in Africa; competition for African mineral resources; and the determination to counter the influence of rival powers on the continent.
Curtains closing on a separatist relic
Rubio's forceful declaration, issued after his meeting with Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita, inflicted a humiliating setback on Algeria's outdated narrative. His statement erased any lingering ambiguity surrounding the stance of Trump's second administration and cemented US recognition as an irreversible pillar of American foreign policy.
This bold reaffirmation torpedoed Algeria's worn-out campaign to resuscitate its decades-old partition scheme between Morocco and the Polisario Front.
And for the shrinking chorus of separatist sympathizers, the message couldn't be clearer: even Staffan de Mistura, the UN Secretary-General's Personal Envoy for Western Sahara, came face to face with the reality that separatism has been sidelined – a relic of the past in a dossier Morocco has already locked in its favor.
Meanwhile, international calls are mounting to designate the Polisario Front as a terrorist organization. In an opinion piece published on June 10 in La Provincia, Igacio Ortiz recalled Polisario's terrorist attacks against workers from Fos Bucraa and fishermen from the Canary Islands.
ACAVITE has filed complaints against the Polisario for the separatist group's involvement in assassinating 300 people between 1970 and 1980.
In April, US Republican Congressman Joe Wilson announced, 'I will introduce legislation to designate the Polisario as terrorists,' accusing Algeria and Russia of using the separatist front to gain a strategic foothold in Africa.
Former UK Secretary of State for Defense Liam Fox made a similar appeal, stating: 'Like Hamas and Hezbollah, the Polisario Front is an Iranian proxy organisation. For the sake of our Moroccan allies, Western governments must move quickly to designate this group as a terrorist organisation.'
As international support continues to grow for Morocco's position, De Mistura delivered what he called a 'strategic window' for the next three months to build a renewed roadmap toward a political settlement.
De Mistura urged capitalizing on the current momentum, which he described as an 'unprecedented impetus,' to establish the groundwork for regional de-escalation and credible political process revival.