Latest news with #deMistura
Ya Biladi
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Ya Biladi
Sahara : Mauritania's Foreign Minister meets with De Mistura in Brussels
Mauritania's Foreign Minister, Mohamed Salem Ould Merzoug, met with Staffan de Mistura, the UN Secretary-General's Personal Envoy for Western Sahara, on Tuesday, May 20, at the Mauritanian Embassy in Brussels, according to a media source in Nouakchott. «The United Nations is counting on Mauritania. The international community expects more than just an observer role from it», the source noted. In a report presented on April 14 during a closed session of the UN Security Council, de Mistura stated that «the next three months will offer an opportunity to defuse regional tensions and, separately, to develop a revitalized roadmap to resolve the Western Sahara conflict». This wave of «optimism» followed his April 9 meeting in Washington with a member of the Trump administration. As a reminder, Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani also met with de Mistura on April 2 in Nouakchott. Mauritania is well positioned to play a mediating role in the Western Sahara dispute. Since 1984, Nouakchott has recognized the 'Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR)' while maintaining good relations with both Morocco and Algeria.
Morocco World
16-04-2025
- Politics
- Morocco World
De Mistura's Shift Puts Final Nail in Coffin of Algeria's Exposed Western Sahara Agenda
Washington D.C – After the diplomatic blow it received last week when U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio reaffirmed America's unequivocal support for Morocco's sovereignty over Western Sahara, Algeria suffered on Monday yet another setback during the UN Security Council briefing on Western Sahara situation. As he presented his assessment of the lingering territorial dispute, the UN Secretary-General's Personal Envoy, Staffan de Mistura, shook up the commentariat community and stunned sympathizers of Polisario separatism by radically departing from a proposal he had floated previously. Just last October, de Mistura had confidently suggested that only the partition of the disputed region between Morocco and the Algeria-backed separatists of the Polisario Front would achieve the settlement that had long eluded successive generations of UN negotiators. And a mere six months later, the UN's point man for the Sahara was now emphatically suggesting that Morocco's Autonomy Plan, which conclusively rebukes the partition route and instead calls for the region to be granted broad autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty, remains the only viable path to a lasting and politically feasible resolution of the decades-running conflict. The only thing left for the implementation of this practical Moroccan plan is the for the UN to request that Morocco explain exactly what its vision of broad autonomy is and how that could be achieved in a reasonable timeframe. If Secretary Rubio's meeting with Morocco's top diplomat last week and his subsequently unambiguous statement in support of Moroccan territorial integrity was a bombshell for those who still cling to a make-believe vision and an even more illusory future for the disputed region south of Morocco, de Mistura's statement is perhaps the most fitting equivalent of a political thunder that sent their dialogical plane crashing down to earth, back to reality. Ultimately, the UN envoy's comment effectively confirms what had long been an open secret for seasoned observers of the Western Sahara saga: there is no feasible solution to this Algeria-engineered dispute outside the parameters of the Moroccan autonomy plan. Simply put, since Morocco presented its plan of a political negotiated and compromise-based settlement to the UN Security Council in 2007, the crushing majority of the international community, including various consequential UN members, have in the past decade consistently and fervently described the Moroccan proposal as the best for a pragmatic settlement of the Sahara affair. And so, despite immense pressure and unfavorable geopolitical headwinds in the early years of the Sahara dispute, Morocco's stance now reigns supreme in the prevailing political and diplomatic imagination surrounding the present and future of the Western Sahara region. The post-2007 era has consecrated Morocco's stance on the Sahara In a sense, this striking development corroborates what I have long argued: the 1975 ICJ ruling on the Sahara dispute is no longer a valid guideline on how to best get the parties to this territorial dispute to genuinely work toward a final resolution. And contrary to the biased reports and interpretations still prevailing in some leftist and militant circles, all UN resolutions in the past nearly two decades have basically consecrated Morocco's plan by placing strong emphasis on the need for the parties to reach a mutually acceptable solution. If this does not qualify as thumping repudiation of the winner-takes-all and separatism-friendly approach championed by Algeria, I don't know what is. Yet rather than acknowledging these developments and taking the appropriate steps to negotiate a win-win solution with Morocco, Algeria has historically opted to move in the opposite direction. And now, as successive developments continue to relentlessly bust its 'self-determination referendum' bubble, Algeria is now reaping the whirlwind of the wind it has sown for decades. These latest series of Morocco-friendly developments – most notably Secretary Rubio's and di Mustera's statements – would not have been possible without the first Trump administration's landmark recognition of Morocco's sovereignty over Western Sahara in December 2020. While some analysts and observers initially downplayed the significance and political implications of that recognition, I was among the few who confidently argued that this shift would substantially shape the international debate and align diplomatic discourse more closely with Morocco's historical and legal claims to the Sahara. This intuition – or expectation – was proven right after Spain, whose government had initially timidly opposed the U.S. recognition, decided to jump on the bandwagon of the increasingly irreversible Moroccan momentum by officially declaring Morocco's autonomy proposal as the only credible basis for negotiations over the final status of the disputed territory. From a more strategic viewpoint, it is important to point out that this Spanish change of heart on the Sahara was slightly more significant than the first Trump administration's embrace of Moroccan territorial integrity. The reason for this has to do with the context and message of the Spanish decision. Madrid significantly made its U-turn on Western Sahara diplomacy in March 2022 after enduring a year-long historic diplomatic crisis with Morocco. Realizing that Rabat had grown more assertive on the international stage, Madrid had no choice but to reluctantly come to the conclusion that it had to soften its stance as it no longer called all the shots in its highly strategic and multidimensional relationship with Rabat. As such, the message the Spanish endorsement of the Moroccan Sahara plan sent was that Morocco's western partners and allies, with the qualified exception of the U.S., can no longer set the tone and tune of their relationship with Rabat. Meanwhile, although Spain's support for Morocco's stance stopped short of formally recognizing Moroccan sovereignty over the Sahara, the fact that the disputed region's former colonial power aligned itself with Morocco's position dealt an immeasurable blow to both the Polisario and Algeria's broader separatist ambitions. As I explain in my latest book on the Western Sahara conflict expand upon in a forthcoming volume to be published this summer – the persistence of the dispute in the aftermath of the 1975 Green March was largely due to Spain's complicity with Algeria. By reneging on the terms of the Madrid Accords it signed with Morocco and Mauritania on November 14, 1975, and gradually embracing the Polisario as a 'legitimate representative' of the Sahrawi people, Spain enabled Algeria to expand its diplomatic influence and build international support for its separatist project in southern Morocco. The Adolfo Suárez government in particular played a pivotal role in this dynamic. Spain's adoption of a pro-Algerian stance under Suárez's leadership immediately led to a sharp rise in the number of countries recognizing the self-proclaimed republic that Algeria established in the Tindouf camps in February 1976. While the Spanish government provided political cover for Algeria's strategy, it was the Spanish academic, intellectual, and media establishment that crafted and exported the ideological framework underpinning the separatist narrative. As a result, individuals with no historical or familial connection to the territory came to be regarded as legitimate voices of resistance against what was portrayed as a 'reactionary' and 'expansionist' Moroccan state. Meanwhile, Algeria – despite its self-serving regional ambitions – was idealized as a selfless and principled champion of an anti-colonial liberation in the Sahara. This resulted in little to no scrutiny of Algeria's geopolitical motives, while Morocco faced intense diplomatic, political, and ideological pressure as Western leftist politicians and third-worldist intellectuals misleadingly portrayed its push to recover its southern provinces as a colonial enterprise. Algeria has run out of cover But with Morocco now emerging as a major regional power and an indispensable player in the evolving global landscape, the veneer of legitimacy that has long shielded Algeria's self-righteous posturing has begun to crumble. Increasingly, countries are realizing that aligning with Morocco not only serves their strategic interests, but also helps correct a historical injustice. From this perspective, it could be argued that the convergence of U.S., Spanish, and now French positions has delivered a decisive blow to Algeria's separatist agenda in southern Morocco. France's change of heart has been particularly consequential. Beyond clearly expressing support for Morocco's sovereignty over Western Sahara, Paris has publicly committed to rallying international support around the autonomy initiative. In this tense, politically pregnant context, Staffan de Mistura's recent statement that 'the next three months will in my opinion be an opportunity to verify how a new impetus based on a renewed, active engagement by some members of this Council, including permanent ones, can produce a regional de-escalation and separately, a reenergized roadmap towards the resolution of the Western Sahara conflict,' suggests that France, along with the United States, played a key behind-the-scenes role in pushing the UN envoy to abandon his partition proposal and recognize the autonomy plan as the only realistic path forward. Making such developments particularly painful for the Algeria is that they are taking place while it holds a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council, exposing not only its growing isolation but also its diminished influence both regionally and globally. Indeed, it is not far-fetched to argue that the recent flare-up of tensions between France and Algeria-which came just days after the two countries appeared to be on the path to reconciliation-was not triggered solely by the arrest of an Algerian consular official in France for his alleged involvement in the assassination of a dissident. Rather, it was Algeria's realization that France had likely lobbied the UN envoy and other key Security Council members to fully endorse the Moroccan autonomy plan. The End of Strategic Maneuvering Algeria now finds itself in risky and uncharted territory, an increasingly untenable situation it has never encountered before. In addition to its growing isolation at the regional level – having severed ties with Morocco, and maintaining frosty relations with Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso – it is also facing mounting global isolation. Major powers are now exerting consistent pressure on Algiers to abandon its obstructionist stance and play a constructive role in resolving the Western Sahara dispute in line with Morocco's autonomy proposal. In the past – particularly before December 2020 – Algeria had multiple cards at its disposal to undermine the momentum Morocco had generated around its autonomy plan and to prevent any meaningful progress toward resolving the conflict. Even after the U.S. recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over the Sahara, the fact that the Biden administration was not as empathetic and unequivocal in its support for the Moroccan position gave Algiers some breathing room. Indeed, the Biden administration's ambivalence, which amounted to a balancing act of neither reversing the December 2020 proclamation nor completely alienating Algeria, allowed Algerian strategists and Algeria-paid lobbyists to spin Biden-Washington's noncommittal commitment to Morocco's autonomy plan as evidence that Moroccan momentum on the Sahara is not as deep and definitive as Rabat would like the world to believe. Perhaps more critically, Algeria was also able to take advantage of France's historically lukewarm support for Morocco's autonomy proposal, which contributed to Algeria's satisfaction in this period of lukewarm American support. It is true that before the United States offered its unambiguous recognition of Morocco's sovereignty, France had, since 2007, repeatedly described the autonomy plan as a 'basis for a just and mutually acceptable solution.' But as I noted in a previous article, because Morocco had yet to secure a major diplomatic breakthrough, France's position remained largely symbolic and cost-free in terms of its relationship with Algeria. By portraying Morocco's plan as 'a basis' rather than 'the only viable' basis for a final resolution of the Western Sahara dispute, France sought to appease both sides: offering vague support for Morocco while signaling to Algeria that it was not fully aligned with Rabat. It took Morocco more than two years of sustained – silent yet unprecedented – diplomatic tensions with France to compel Paris to move beyond its cost-neutral position and openly recognize Moroccan sovereignty over the Sahara. Beyond France, Russia long served as Algeria's key strategic hedge – particularly within the UN Security Council. While Moscow has maintained cordial economic and diplomatic ties with Morocco, its deep-rooted military and commercial relationship with Algeria – still one of the world's largest importers of Russian arms – led Russia to consistently obstruct international consensus around Morocco's autonomy plan. Russia's decision to abstain from Security Council votes on Western Sahara resolutions since 2016 was meant to reassure Algeria that Moscow would not support U.S.-led initiatives for a final resolution. While Rabat never viewed this stance as explicitly hostile – especially since it did not block resolutions that reinforced Morocco's diplomatic gains – Algiers saw it as an insurance policy against international pressure in favor of Morocco. Algiers's unprecedented dilemma Today, however, Algeria finds itself in a position where it has effectively been stripped of the strategic cards it once used to deflect responsibility and manipulate the status quo from behind the scenes. The French card is gone. And the Algerian political establishment's feverish reaction to France's recognition of Moroccan sovereignty illustrates the extent to which Algeria understands that the newfound French position, like that of the US and Spanish, is a game-changer. France's troubled colonial legacy in Algeria, which has made generations of French leaders willing to go to extremes to placate or appease Algeria when navigating various bilateral crises, was once the Algerian establishment's ultimate card to bet against any unfavorable developments in the Sahara dossier. But more importantly, as the former colonial power of both Algeria and mainland Morocco, it is France that engineered the dismemberment of Morocco with Spain. As such, Algeria knows that the French colonial archives, if made public, would lend unprecedented legitimacy to Morocco's claims to the Sahara. To make matters worse, the Russian card may also be slipping from Algeria's hands. As I previously wrote, in anticipation of former President Trump's return to the White House, Algeria signed a lobbying contract with BGR Group – an American firm known for its strong ties to the pro-Israel lobby. This was undoubtedly part of an effort to gain favorable access to President Trump's inner circle and ultimately torpedo Morocco's plans to get the second Trump administration to finish the job the first one started in 2020 when it recognized Morocco's sovereignty over the Western Sahara. Algeria is acutely aware of Trump's unpredictability and volatility, and it knows that several key figures in his inner circle – including his daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner – have expressed clear support for Moroccan sovereignty over the Sahara. Furthermore, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, another key figure in the Trump political orbit, is known for being Thus, Algeria now faces a dilemma: if it continues to lean overtly on Russia, it risks alienating both Trump and key Republican leaders. And if it tries to play the Russian card only discreetly, it may no longer prove effective. In this sense, Algiers's recent overtures to the Trump camp – including the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the U.S. Department of Defense allowing for the future purchase of American-made arms – may have already soured its standing with Moscow. Russia, for its part, may no longer see Algeria as a dependable strategic partner in Africa, especially in the Sahel region. The long-standing bilateral relationship has been particularly strained by divergent geopolitical agendas in the Sahel, where Russia has backed the military regimes in Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso, whose leaders have clashed with Algeria's regional policies and sought to undermine its attempts to assert dominance. Most importantly, in the context of the ongoing war in Ukraine and President Putin's growing interest in securing a diplomatic agreement that would consolidate Russian territorial gains, Algeria may soon be sacrificed on the altar of geopolitical expediency. If a grand bargain with Washington is required to end the war on terms favorable to Moscow, Russia could well deprioritize its alliance with Algeria to accommodate more pressing strategic goals. For many years, King Mohammed VI has extended an olive branch to the Algerian government, urging it to bury the hatchets of unneeded animosity between good brothers and neighbors and instead work toward a mutually beneficial resolution of the Sahara dispute. But instead of seizing the opportunity for reconciliation and taking a serious, in-depth look at the major geopolitical shifts taking place regionally and globally, Algeria chose to escalate tensions with Morocco to an unprecedented level. This has convinced a new generation of Moroccans, including myself, that the old playbook Morocco has relied on since the mid-1950s—when it helped Algeria gain its independence—has become obsolete and counterproductive. For these Moroccans, Morocco can no longer afford to be the patient, reasonable, and accommodating sibling in its tense relationship with Algeria. And with the winds of geopolitics now blowing in Algeria's face, taking away all the cards with which it once relentlessly tipped the game in favor of its proxy Polisario's separatist dreams, this growing cohort of Moroccan voices is urging King Mohammed VI and the government that now is the time to forcefully retaliate against Algeria by delivering a knockout uppercut to its hegemonic ambitions in southern Morocco. And should Morocco heed these new, bold voices calling on Rabat to abandon its noble but impractical idea of pan-Maghrebism and adopt a confrontational foreign policy, the Algerian establishment would have only itself to blame. Samir Bennis is the co-founder and publisher of Morocco World News. You can follow him on Twitter @SamirBennis. Tags: Algeriaalgeria ad polisarioAlgeria and the Western SaharaDe mistura
Morocco World
15-04-2025
- Politics
- Morocco World
De Mistura's Favorable Tone on Autonomy Plan Could Strike Nerve Among Pro-Polisario Advocates
Rabat – UN Envoy Staffan de Mistura has called for a detailed discussion on the Moroccan Autonomy Plan on Western Sahara, which has been receiving international consensus as the only feasible political solution to end the regional dispute. De Mistura briefed the UN Security Council on Western Sahara during a closed-door meeting on Monday, where he acknowledged diplomatic momentum, including the unwavering support for Morocco's autonomy initiative from major powers like the US. AFP quoted de Mistura's speech, in which he recalled the statements made by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio last week during the visit of Moroccan Foreign Affairs Minister Nasser Bourita to Washington. He notably recalled Rubio's reaffirmation of the US support for Morocco's sovereignty over its southern provinces, and the country's position in favor of the 'genuine autonomy' and a 'mutually acceptable solution' that the US is prepared to actively facilitate. De Mistura stressed that the US statements echo 'what I believe and what I am calling for – the Moroccan Autonomy Initiative must be explained in detail, and a clear meaning must be given to the prerogatives that would be granted to a truly autonomous Western Sahara.' The UN envoy stressed that the next three months should serve as an opportunity to confirm 'how this new momentum, based on renewed active engagement from some Council members, including permanent ones, can lead to regional de-escalation,' he said. The new statement reflects a remarkable shift in tone and a more engaged posture toward the Moroccan autonomy initiative. A call for detailed discussions suggests the envoy and the UN's willingness to move beyond the traditional approaches taken throughout the past decades, signaling that the international body is ready to engage with the autonomy initiative as a political framework. The UN Security Council and its permanent members have long emphasized the importance of the initiative as part of Morocco's efforts, describing it as a serious and credible political solution. However, de Mistrua's remarks show that Morocco's stance has become clearer and firmer, stressing that negotiations can only take place within the framework of the Moroccan autonomy initiative under Moroccan sovereignty over its southern provinces. Notably absent from reports on de Mistura's speech were references to self-determination or referendum, longstanding demands by the Polisario Front and its primary backer, Algeria. This omission is likely to strike another nerve among pro-Polisario supporters, who continue to push outdated claims to challenge Morocco's sovereignty over its southern provinces in Western Sahara. Algeria's regime, which harbors the Polisario Front on its soil, received new blows to its maneuvers, with both the US and France reiterating their unchangeable and unwavering support for Morocco's territorial integrity. Last week, US Secretary Rubio explicitly stated that 'genuine autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty is the only feasible solution,' while pledging to facilitate progress toward this objective. The Secretary urged parties to 'engage in discussions without delay, using Morocco's Autonomy Proposal as the only framework to negotiate a mutually acceptable solution.' Lisa Kenna, US Under Secretary, reinforced her country's position during a meeting with de Mistura earlier this week, noting that the US position confirms the viability of the genuine autonomy under Mosotocco's sovereignty as the only feasible political solution to the dispute. France echoed the same stance in a statement today, with the Quai d'Orsay noting that France's position on Western Sahara is unchanged. France reiterated its position, recalling the letter Emmanuel Macron sent to King Mohammed VI in July last year, stating that 'the present and future of Western Sahara fall within the framework of Moroccan sovereignty.' The Autonomy Initiative has received support from over 100 countries in the international community, viewing it as a good basis to put an end to the longstanding and prolonged regional dispute amid Algeria's reluctance to assume its responsibility or engage in the UN-led political process. Among other developments that de Mistura mentioned during the briefing was the short-lived reconciliation between France and Algeria. Tensions between the two countries have escalated due to Algeria's reluctance to accept the return of its nationals subject to deportation orders by Paris. The two countries had shown brief signs of improving ties, but tensions flared again when Algeria's regime ordered 12 staff members of the French embassy to leave its territory within 48 hours. This came after France detained a consulate agent in France on Saturday. De Mistura briefed the council on what he described as a normalization of ties between Paris and Algiers in early April. AFP, however, noted that tensions have since resurfaced between the two countries. De Mistura also recalled that no improvement in relations between Algeria and Morocco took place. Morocco has been calling on Algeria's regime to engage in a frank and direct dialogue under the King Mohammed VI initiative to tackle the political stalemate. Algeria, however, turned a deaf ear to the initiative and has long sought to undermine Morocco's territorial integrity through its unwavering support for the Polisario separatist claims. Beyond Western Sahara, Algeria's regime intensified accusations against Morocco, which prompted Algiers' decision to cut ties with Rabat in 2021. Tags: Algeria and the Western Saharastaffan de mistura
El Chorouk
14-04-2025
- Politics
- El Chorouk
The US Position, Pressure Card to Drown Morocco in Normalization
On Monday, the United Nations Security Council held a closed-door consultation on the latest developments in Western Sahara, which Morocco has occupied since 1975. This session was preceded by a visit to the region by UN envoy de Mistura, during which he discussed the status and prospects of the UN-sponsored peace process in Africa's last colony. The session emphasized the Sahrawi people's commitment to their legitimate rights and continued demand for self-determination. This consultation session, along with de Mistura's recent visit to the Sahrawi camps in Tindouf (southern Algeria) and his meeting with Western Sahara's government officials and officials from neighboring countries, comes within an international and regional context in which interests and ideas clash, and positions shift according to the logic of self-interest. This is particularly true after France took an ill-advised step in favor of the colonizing country, promoting the so-called 'autonomy for Western Sahara within the framework of Moroccan sovereignty.' Furthermore, the US State Department confirmed Trump's previous position, which favors French recognition, although it has not yet followed with provocative steps toward the Sahrawi people. The significance of these shifts lies in the fact that both countries are among those with veto power in the UN Security Council. Will this change the course of the Western Sahara issue, which has been on the UN list of Non-Self-Governing Territories since 1963, after Spain, the occupying country, transmitted information regarding the Spanish Sahara under Article 73 (e) of the UN Charter? In response, Algeria expressed its regret for the actions of these countries, which violate international legitimacy in the Western Sahara issue. Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf affirmed that 'Algeria's firm conviction that the only way to complete the process of decolonization in Western Sahara lies in the resumption of direct negotiations between the two parties to the conflict, the Kingdom of Morocco and the Polisario Front, without preconditions and in good faith, to reach a political solution that guarantees the Sahrawi people's inalienable and imprescriptible right to self-determination.' In this file, we will seek to analyze the latest American move and examine its impact on the fate of the struggle led by the Sahrawi people for self-determination.
Morocco World
11-04-2025
- Politics
- Morocco World
Western Sahara: US Renews Position in Talks with UN Envoy, Urges All Parties to Engage in Political Process
Rabat — US Under Secretary Lisa Kenna has reconveyed her country's support for Morocco's sovereignty over its southern provinces during a meeting with UN Personal Envoy for Western Sahara Staffan de Mistura. The meeting came after de Mistura's regional trip, during which he discussed the Western Sahara dispute with the main parties before briefing the Security Council on the developments surrounding the conflict. 'Met with UN Personal Envoy Staffan de Mistura to consult on his valuable and ongoing contributions to advancing peace in the Western Sahara,' Kenna said , recalling Secretary Marco Rubio's meeting with Nasser Bourita to reaffirm the US position that genuine autonomy under Morocco's sovereignty is the only feasible solution. During the meeting with Bourita, Rubio stressed the US position, noting that autonomy is the only framework to negotiate a mutually acceptable solution. The US top diplomat also highlighted the US' interest in contributing to facilitating progress towards this aim. In her X remarks, Kenna reiterated that the US believes that all parties must come to the table 'now to negotiate a mutually acceptable result.' Although the statement does not explicitly reference Algeria's regime, the remarks appear to be a direct message to the Algerian government, which continues to reject its responsibility in the dispute. Algeria's regime views its mandate as assessing or observing the dispute, claiming that the conflict should be tackled by the Polisario and Morocco. UN Security Council resolutions, however, have shut down Algeria's regime's intentions and maneuvers, urging it to engage in the UN-led political process and contribute to finding a mutually acceptable political solution to end the dispute. UN Security Council Resolution 2756 from October 2024 confirmed Algeria's growing isolation and failure to achieve its aggressive diplomatic objectives, rejecting Algeria's attempt to shirk its responsibility on the Sahara dispute. Algeria's regime, which hosts, finances, arms, and supports the Polisari Front's independence claims, repeated its observer duty claims during de Mistura's meeting earlier this month. The same attempts were documented in the UN Secretary General's report on Western Sahara last year in October, where Antonio Guterres acknowledged that the Algerian regime focuses on 'ensuring Western Sahara's people the right to self-determination.' Holding Algeria accountable Abdelfattah E l Fatihi, a political analyst and director of the Sahara and Africa Strategic Studies Center, stressed to Morocco World News (MWN) that the statement by the US Secretary of State, inviting Algeria and the Polisario to sit at the negotiating table, places the supporters of the separatist agenda in a tight corner. 'It holds them accountable for threatening regional and international peace and security by continuing to support aggression against Morocco's territorial integrity through military operations in the Sahara,' he told MWN. The analyst emphasized that this statement confirms that the US recognition is a stable decision, marking the culmination of a solid historical trajectory of Moroccan-American ties and Morocco's credibility as a reliable partner. El Fatihi believes that the US' position could be influential in pushing many other countries to follow in Washington's path. 'I believe that the renewal of US recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over the Sahara will accelerate the resolution of the fabricated conflict and hasten an imminent British recognition, following the lead of other permanent members of the Security Council,' he told MWN. British MPs have long been urging their government to follow in the momentum of international support for Morocco's Sahara position. David Lammym, the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, emphasized that there is an ongoing discussion with Morocco's government on this matter. 'This is a complex issue. The position remains the position we had under the last government. Of course, we keep that under review as we continue to discuss these issues in the region,' he said in a recent parliament session. Similar statements show a potential change in the UK government's traditional position regarding the dispute. This was also evident when the British government announced that UK businesses are free to operate in Morocco's southern provinces in Western Sahara. Tags: algeria ad polisarioalgeria western sahara
