Rabat – The upcoming UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution on Western Sahara is set to reinforce Morocco’s position, reiterating the viability of the Autonomy Plan as the only framework for negotiations toward a solution to the dispute.
The draft resolution from the UNSC resolution penholder, the US, is expected to welcome Morocco’s expanded and updated Autonomy Plan, reaffirming that the Moroccan initiative serves as the only basis for an agreed-upon political solution to the dispute.
The draft, which the UN has yet to authenticate ahead of the vote later this month, will likely uphold the elements of UNSC Resolution 2797 of October 2025, which has already described the Autonomy Plan as a genuine solution under Moroccan sovereignty and the only feasible solution to the dispute.
It will also reiterate support for continued negotiations facilitated by the US and UN Western Sahara Envoy Staffan de Mistura.
The zero draft of the resolution also welcomes US President Donald Trump’s role in facilitating conflict resolution, calling on the parties to engage without delay, using Morocco’s Autonomy Plan as the only framework for negotiating a mutually acceptable solution.
Once voted on, the draft resolution will continue adding more nails to the coffin of the Polisario Front’s outdated narratives, pushed by Algeria’s regime to challenge Morocco’s territorial integrity and sovereignty over its southern provinces.
Algeria hosts, finances, and arms the Polisario Front, a separatist group that has long claimed independence in Western Sahara.
Despite its direct role in the dispute, Algeria continues to shirk responsibility, alleging that a solution should be reached between Morocco and the Polisario Front.
The upcoming resolution has already sparked frustration among the Algerian regime.
Algeria keeps pushing back against UN draft on Sahara
Amar Belani, a former Algerian diplomat, expressed the Algerian regime’s frustration in a Facebook post, where he described the zero draft as “biased and questionable.”
For him, the draft adopts “all of Morocco’s demands,” urging “numerous substantive amendments.”
“The imbalance is first apparent in the way the text presents Morocco’s Autonomy Proposal. It is repeatedly established as the exclusive basis for negotiations, while the draft asserts that autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty constitutes the only solution to the conflict,” Belani said.
The claims align with his country’s regime and the allegations he made as Algeria’s appointed special envoy for Western Sahara in September 2021.
Algeria terminated his appointment in 2022, however. The narrative promoted by the Algerian regime has now become more than just a fiction, as the UNSC is set to close the dossier, with the international community determined to build on the momentum created by last year’s resolution to bring the longstanding dispute to a definitive end.
The new resolution is set to comes with a language reinforcing this momentum, as it “expresses” its full support for the Secretary-General, his Personal Envoy, and the US as facilitators in conducting negotiations, taking Morocco’s expanded and updated Autonomy Plan as the only basis, and affirms the continuing lead role of the Personal Envoy in the political process.
The draft resolution could also carry a major new change, including a potential decision to rename the UN peacekeeping operation in Western Sahara from the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) to the United Nations Mission for Western Sahara (MINUSO), dropping the reference to a referendum. If confirmed, this would come as a sharp blow to Algeria’s regime and its support for outdated narratives.
The change has been anticipated, as the US has long emphasized its plans to wind down MINURSO and other peacekeeping operations that it deems ineffective.
