Clemens Hach, Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Germany’s Federal Foreign Office, has recalled Berlin’s position in support of Morocco’s Autonomy Plan.
Writing on X, Hach emphasized the viability of the autonomy initiative as a serious and credible basis for ending the dispute over Western Sahara. The position aligns with a growing momentum that was further reinforced by Resolution 2797 in October 2025 and is continuing ahead of the upcoming resolution.
The UN Security Council is set to meet later this week to vote on a new resolution. A draft of the resolution has already given new impetus to the ongoing diplomatic momentum in support of the Moroccan autonomy initiative.
“MINURSO’s strategic review shows the need for all parties to negotiate seriously and in good faith to reach a mutually agreed solution,” Hach said.
The statement comes amid ongoing campaigns by the Polisario Front and Algeria’s regime to continue hampering the UN-led political process, despite the international community’s growing belief in the prospect of progress in resolving the dispute.
To date, over 130 countries have embraced the Moroccan autonomy initiative as the most feasible and only reliable path to a lasting political resolution of the Sahara dispute.
The new resolution is set to reinforce the same position, urging the parties to the dispute, including Algeria’s regime, to shoulder their responsibility and engage in talks and negotiations as a main party, rather than as an “observer,” as Algeria has claimed for years.
The draft resolution also removes all references to a referendum, including from the name and mandate of the UN peacekeeping operation in Western Sahara, MINURSO.
The new version of the draft resolution, which was reportedly amended from the first version circulated among Security Council members on October 20, continues to support the renaming of MINURSO to MINUSO.
This would present a new blow to Algeria’s outdated narratives that continue to frame the Western Sahara question around the sidelined and misleading notions of “Sahrawi decolonization” and “self-determination referendum.”
Berlin’s support for Rabat’s territorial integrity reflects Germany and Morocco’s repeated pledges in recent years to boost bilateral ties after a short-lived diplomatic rift in 2021.
Morocco recalled its ambassador from Germany in May 2021, two months after the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced “the suspension of all contacts” with the German embassy in Rabat.
After recalling the Moroccan ambassador, the ministry explained that the decision was due to Germany’s “exacerbated hostile acts” against Moroccan interests, particularly the country’s sovereignty over its southern provinces in the Western Sahara region.
The German government subsequently announced its decision to mend ties between the two countries in December 2021, expressing its willingness to turn the page on disagreements and restore diplomatic relations with Morocco.
Since then, Germany has consistently reiterated its support for Morocco’s Autonomy Plan as a good basis to tackle the Sahara crisis.
