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Doha – George Lombardi, senior advisor to former US President Donald Trump, has suggested that a second Trump administration could put a definitive end to the Western Sahara dispute by bringing Algeria and Polisario to negotiate on the terms of a political settlement.
According to Lombardi, who has over 30 years of business, political, and academic experience, served as an advisor to Trump, and has written extensively on international affairs, Trump would especially prioritize cementing the strong ties between the United States and Morocco if elected in the upcoming US elections.
“Morocco has been a historic friend of the United States and the westernmost countries of Europe, and this historic friendship will continue,” Lombardi said this week in an interview with Spanish news outlet Atalayar.
Regarding the Western Sahara dispute, he expressed confidence that if Trump wins the 2024 presidential election, he could bring Algeria and the Polisario Front to the negotiating table to resolve the conflict.
“Trump was a close friend, much closer than Obama or even Biden, to the King of Morocco,” Lombardi said. “I’m sure there is a strong friendship regardless of everything else between Trump and King Mohammed VI, because both are concerned about their countries and their people, and both are trying to pursue peace and economic progress.”
The advisor also praised the Atlantic Coast of Africa Initiative launched by King Mohammed VI, saying it will be well-received in the US and Europe.
“Omar Zniber, Morocco’s permanent representative to the United Nations Office in Geneva, said the initiative is especially important because it brings together people with the same values with the same goals and this is what is happening now in the world,” he noted.
Lombardi’s statements come nearly four years after the Trump administration’s historic decision in December 2020 to recognize Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara.
Read also: How the US Came to Recognize Morocco’s Western Sahara Sovereignty
This marked a major shift in US policy, which had previously spoken in support of the Moroccan Autonomy Plan without taking a decisive, unambiguous step toward the implementation of its formal commitment to the UN-led political process.
Despite some initial criticism, the Biden administration has largely maintained the Trump White House’s December 10 proclamation on the Sahara dispute.
The recent US spending bill signed by President Biden in 2022 notably refers to funding for “Morocco” without any distinction or caveat regarding Western Sahara, departing from the ambivalent language of previous bills.
The bill also emphasizes the importance of the Israel-Morocco normalization agreement brokered by the Trump administration.
Furthermore, multiple US government bodies, including the State Department and CIA, have adopted an undivided map of Morocco.
In July 2023, the US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller reiterated the US’s unwavering support for Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara.
Following Israel’s decision to recognize Moroccan sovereignty on July 18, 2023, Miller stated that the US position, first announced in December 2020, remains unchanged.
He also emphasized US support for the UN-led efforts to achieve a lasting political solution to the dispute.
On December 18, 2023, the State Department once again stressed that the US continues to view Morocco’s Autonomy Plan as a “serious, credible, and realistic” approach to resolving the Western Sahara issue.
This statement came as Deputy Assistant Secretary Joshua Harris prepared to visit Morocco for consultations on the Sahara dispute and the situation in Gaza.
The State Department urged all parties, including Algeria, to engage in the UN-led political process with a spirit of realism and compromise.
Read also: Western Sahara Diplomacy Is Already One of King Mohammed VI’s Lasting Legacies
In a speech on August 20, 2022, King Mohammed VI of Morocco asserted that the US recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara is the backbone of the strategic Rabat-Washington relationship.
He emphasized that this position is not affected by changes in the US administration or new circumstances, sending a clear message to pro-Polisario lobbyists seeking to pressure the US into reversing its stance.
Most recently, on July 21 of this year, US Ambassador to Algeria Elizabeth Moore Aubin reaffirmed the Biden administration’s support for Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara.
In an interview with La Patrie News, Aubin stated that the Biden administration upheld the December 2020 proclamation by former President Donald Trump, as it represents a “historical fact.”
This development dealt a significant blow to the Polisario separatist group and their Algerian supporters, who have been lobbying against Morocco’s territorial integrity.
While the Biden administration has not been as vocal as Morocco may have hoped regarding Western Sahara, all indications point to a continuation of US support for Moroccan sovereignty, in line with the historic stance ushered in by President Trump.
As Lombardi stated, this friendship between the US and Morocco, as well as US backing on the crucial Western Sahara issue, is poised to endure.
