4 days ago
UK hosts top Polisario official after backing Morocco's Western Sahara plan
A Sahrawi delegation led by the Polisario Front's top diplomat met British Middle East and North Africa Minister Hamish Falconer in London this week amid increasing international efforts to address the Western Sahara conflict.
Falconer invited Mohamed Yeslem Beisat following a joint communique issued by the UK and Morocco on 1 June, which threw Britain's support behind the Moroccan autonomy plan for the territory as the basis for resolving the conflict.
Beisat is the foreign minister of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), a Polisario-dominated administration that rules five refugee camps in Algeria and 20 percent of Western Sahara.
The SADR is recognised by more than 40 states - though not by Britain - and is a member of the African Union.
Beisat is the most senior Polisario official to have been invited for official meetings by the British government.
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Western Sahara is designated by the United Nations as a non-self-governing territory. Eighty percent of the desert region is controlled by Morocco, which views it as sovereign territory.
The rest is held by the Polisario Front, an Algerian-backed armed Sahrawi liberation movement that has fought for Western Sahara's independence since it was ruled by colonial Spain, which exited in 1975.
Since a 1991 ceasefire, the conflict between Morocco and Polisario has remained largely frozen, as plans to hold a referendum on independence were never realised.
In the meantime, Morocco has cemented its presence in the region, lobbied states to recognise its sovereignty there and presented a new plan in 2007 to settle the conflict by offering Western Sahara a degree of autonomy.
Morocco's claim of sovereignty has not been accepted by the UN, though it was recognised by Washington in 2020 in a deal that saw the kingdom establish open ties with Israel. French President Emmanuel Macron followed suit last year, saying the autonomy plan was the 'only basis' for a fair and lasting settlement.
Since then, Spain, Britain and Portugal have also backed the autonomy plan, though they described it as the most 'serious' or 'credible' solution and refrained from recognising Moroccan sovereignty there.
Beisat told Middle East Eye that the UK's joint communique with Morocco was contradictory.
'It is very important for us that they reflected the principle of self-determination in the communique. The disappointment was that they praised the Moroccan autonomy plan, which is contrary to the principle of self-determination,' he said.
'The Moroccan proposal is 17 years old. I don't know how someone can take from the fridge a rotten product and try to sell it as a very fresh, healthy product.'
Beisat said he told Falconer on Tuesday that the Polisario Front is very open to working with the UK to find a settlement 'based on international legality' and that the British minister affirmed that 'self-determination is a very important principle for the United Kingdom'.
The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office declined to comment on the meeting on the record.
Riccardo Fabiani of the International Crisis Group, a conflict-resolution organisation, told MEE there is 'strong momentum' behind the autonomy plan following France's change of position and Donald Trump's re-election.
'Morocco is capitalising on this by pushing all the partners it can to adopt more favourable language on the plan,' he said.
'Direction of travel matters more than the words themselves, as long as foreign governments adopt increasingly supportive language on the plan.'
Fabiani described the UK's involvement as an 'interesting case', noting that the British position 'started from a relatively low base [neutrality] and could afford the luxury of adopting favourable language without going too far - for example, recognising Moroccan sovereignty'.
This has left Britain as the most 'balanced or equidistant' permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, supporting Morocco while continuing to talk about self-determination and the UN.
'So, the conditions are there for the UK to play a constructive role,' Fabiani said.
'Not many other countries still have access to all parties - surely not France - and the UK can also be a go-between and a facilitator to lay the groundwork for the UN envoy to try and resume negotiations.'
