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Morocco’s Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita stated on Monday that he finds a recent proposal by a United Nations envoy to partition the disputed Western Sahara territory to be “unacceptable,” citing previous rejections of similar approaches as evidence of Morocco’s stance.
According to Bourita, de Mistura had already put forth this proposal during an April trip to Morocco, which the kingdom chose to dismiss.
Last week, in a closed-door meeting of the UN Security Council, Western Sahara envoy Staffan de Mistura advocated for splitting the territory between Morocco and the Polisario Front, which seeks independence, as a potential solution to the protracted conflict.
“Morocco has not and will not even accept hearing the proposal, because it contradicts the kingdom and Moroccans’ principled position that the Sahara is Moroccan,” Bourita told a press conference in the capital Rabat.
Western Sahara is mainly under Moroccan control; however, the Polisario Front, which has the support of Algeria—Morocco’s regional opponent—has campaigned for the territory’s independence since Spain withdrew in 1975.According to the United Nations, it is deemed a “non-autonomous territory.”
Rabat, which controls some 80 percent of the vast expanse, advocates a plan for limited autonomy for Western Sahara under Moroccan sovereignty.
The Polisario Front is calling for a referendum on self-determination under the aegis of the UN, which had been planned when a ceasefire was signed in 1991 but never implemented.
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De Mistura, a 77-year-old Italian-Swedish diplomat, has been UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ personal envoy for the territory for the past three years.
Bourita said Morocco had also rejected a similar plan in 2002 when former UN envoy to Western Sahara James Becker had brought it “on the proposal of Algeria”.
“Morocco does not negotiate its sovereignty over the Sahara,” he said, calling the issue “a regional dispute with a neighbouring country that objects to Morocco’s sovereignty over its land”.
Algeria broke off diplomatic relations with Morocco in 2021, partly over the issue.
In 2020, the United States recognised Morocco’s annexation of Western Sahara in return for Rabat’s normalising ties with Israel.
Bourita called for “round table” talks to be held to reach a “political solution” to the conflict — within Moroccan sovereignty.
The press conference was held with Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna, who in a joint statement said that Estonia considers Morocco’s autonomy plan was “a good, serious and credible basis for a solution”.