UN Envoy “De Mistura” in Rabat: The Prospect of a New Report and Morocco’s Rejection of the Old Sahara Proposal

ALDAR / Analysis

In an official visit to the Moroccan capital, Nasser Bourita, Morocco’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, welcomed the UN Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy for Western Sahara, Staffan de Mistura, on Monday, in the presence of the Moroccan Ambassador to the UN, Omar Hilal. The visit comes at a critical time, just ahead of de Mistura’s upcoming report to the UN Security Council next month.

The anticipated report is expected to be a new topic of discussion, particularly in light of de Mistura’s recent report, in which he proposed a division of Western Sahara, a suggestion that Morocco strongly rejected, describing it as an “old proposal.” This proposal dates back more than 23 years, specifically to 2001 when it was proposed by the then-Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika during his meeting with the UN envoy at the time, James Baker, in Algeria. Despite the passage of all these years, it seems that the same proposal is still being raised in the international arena.

On the other hand, the possibility of de Mistura revisiting this issue in his upcoming report cannot be ruled out. In recent weeks, a U.S. political advisor supportive of the Polisario Front published an extensive article in the American journal Foreign Affairs, defending the option of dividing Western Sahara, arguing that this would serve the interests of the previous U.S. administration under Donald Trump, and that the separatist movement was willing to make concessions regarding natural resources. This article came at the same time as statements by the Algerian ambassador to Washington, Sabri Boukadoum, who also discussed the potential benefits of Algerian natural resources in the context of the Western Sahara conflict.

In contrast, Morocco’s supporters in the U.S. are pushing for the end of the UN mission for a referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), with a large media campaign launched in this regard. In this context, Michael Rubin published an article in The Washington Examiner calling for the suspension of the mission, reflecting an increasing movement in this direction. Additionally, Eugene Kontorovich, a law professor at George Mason University, published another article in The Wall Street Journal in February 2025, opposing the continuation of the UN mission in the region.

It seems that this political escalation among various international parties regarding Western Sahara remains at its peak, with Morocco preparing to continue defending its sovereignty over the Saharan territories in the face of international attempts to reintroduce the same old solutions that the kingdom has rejected for many years.