On 15 June, Algerian Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf reiterated to the UN Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy, Staffan de Mistura, that the Western Sahara issue must remain anchored in UN resolutions and international law, according to Al Khabar.
For Algiers, Western Sahara remains a decolonisation issue, and any lasting settlement must guarantee the Sahrawi people’s right to self-determination. Algeria is also calling for the resumption of direct, unconditional negotiations between Morocco and the Polisario Front.
Attaf further stressed the central role of MINURSO, the UN mission established in 1991 to organise a referendum in Western Sahara and monitor the ceasefire. While Rabat promotes its autonomy plan as a realistic solution, Algeria continues to frame the UN-led multilateral process as the only viable path forward. The main Polisario refugee camps are located in Tindouf, in Algerian territory near the Moroccan border, which serves as the movement’s political and logistical base.
The Moroccan autonomy proposal, submitted to the UN in 2007, envisages Western Sahara as an autonomous region within the Kingdom, with its own local institutions (government, parliament and judiciary) to manage domestic, economic and social affairs, while Rabat retains sovereignty over defence, foreign policy, currency and security.
Rabat now presents this plan as a pragmatic and realistic framework. Recognised by the UN Security Council on 31 October 2025 as the main reference point for a political solution, it has gained support from more than 120 countries, while the Polisario Front’s diplomatic standing has gradually eroded on the international stage.
The process remains deadlocked, however, as the Polisario insists that any autonomy arrangement must be validated by a referendum. The Western Sahara dispute continues to be the main point of tension between Morocco and Algeria, which broke off diplomatic relations in 2021.
Donald Trump’s Africa adviser Massad Boulos has recently described the resumption of dialogue on Western Sahara as “urgent”, following several unsuccessful US attempts to bring together Mauritania, Algeria, the Polisario Front and Morocco to relaunch a political settlement process.
Source: Al Khabar