The United Nations Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy for the Sahara Staffan de Mistura proposed in a briefing on Wednesday that the Moroccan Sahara be “divided” between Morocco and the Algeria-backed Polisario Front as a potential solution to the decades-long conflict, Reuters reported.
Both Morocco and the Polisario immediately rejected the suggestion.
De Mistura apparently presented the unprecedented idea during a closed-door briefing with the UN Security Council. He reportedly proposed that the territory could be partitioned to allow for the creation of an independent state in the southern part of the region, while the part in the north would be integrated into Morocco with international recognition of its sovereignty.
Not surprisingly, Morocco dismissed the suggestion. Rabat has long insisted that autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty is the farthest it is willing to go as a political compromise for the territory under its sovereignty.
Morocco introduced its autonomy plan in 2007, and since then it has been described by the UN Secretary-General himself as “serious and credible” and has gained increasing international support. The United States, France, Spain, and various Arab and African nations all have committed to support it. In July, France became the second permanent member of the Security Council, after the U.S., to endorse Morocco’s sovereignty over its southern region.
For Morocco, the Sahara is non-negotiable. Any division of the territory is a direct challenge to its territorial integrity—a core principle of international law.
Any suggested partition would also undermine the ever-increasing international support for the autonomy plan.