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Rabat – The Atlantic Council, an American Think Tank specializing in international affairs, released a new piece discussing the growing international concern over the Western Sahara dispute.
The analysis, published on Wednesday and authored by resident senior fellow for North Africa at the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center and Middle East programs Sarah Zaaimi, notes how the UN, particularly its peacekeeping mission MINURSO, is losing ground and lacks a meaningful mandate in the region.
MINRUSO’s spectator mode
The analyst stressed that the mission is now only serving to maintain a “state of paralysis throughout the years,” noting that MINURSO is in no way an “active peacekeeping mission.
“MINURSO staff remained spectators, even during the rare skirmishes that were reignited along the sand wall, when Morocco decided to retake the strategic Guerguerat crossing in November 2020 to open trade routes with Mauritania,” she wrote.
A number of countries sent commendatory messages to Morocco, thanking the North African country’s army for reopening the trade route by countering Polisario’s hostilities, which were hampering the vital crossing point connecting Morocco with Mauritania.
Countries from across the world positively reacted to Morocco’s operation to lift the blockade, including Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, the UAE, Oman, and Saudi Arabia.
Algeria’s blockade of UN process
Beyond MINURSO’s mandate, perceived as trivializing by many, the piece by Zaaimi also discusses the UN Secretary-General’s Envoy for Western Sahara, Staffan de Mistura, and his role in the dispute.
Notably, the report highlighted how the envoy has “felt out of place” since 2022 amid the growing international support Morocco has been receiving for its Sahara position, including the US recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty over its southern provinces.
The report also recalled France’s decision to follow in the US path to recognize Morocco’s territorial integrity, in addition to Spain’s decision to officially back Morocco’s Autonomy Plan as the most credible and serious political solution to the dispute.
“The Italian diplomat himself indicated in October 2024 his intention to step down, alluding to his inability to mediate between a Morocco emboldened by overwhelming international support and an Algeria obstinate in supporting the mirage of Sahrawi self-determination,” the piece reads.
This further proves that there is an international consensus, confirming Algeria’s direct involvement in the dispute and dismissing its maneuvers aimed at shirking responsibility.
Despite being the main sponsor of Polisario’s separatist movement against Morocco, Algeria refuses to shoulder its responsibility in the dispute, seeing itself as merely an observer and not a main party to the Sahara conflict.
These claims persist despite Algeria’s role in harboring the separatist group on Algerian soil and sponsoring its political and military maneuvers internationally against Morocco’s sovereignty over the Sahara.
The Algerian regime also continues to refuse to engage in the UN-led political process, blocking the roundtable talk initiatives launched by former envoy Horst Kohler. These talks are seen as a genuine mechanism to end the dispute.
Zaaimi notably mentioned a faux pas proposal by de Mistura, who suggested a hostile partition of Western Sahara.
In October last year, Morocco’s Foreign Affairs Nasser Bourita, released a strongly worded statement, demanding clarification and asking de Mistura to identify the pirates behind the revival of the “already dead proposal,” reiterating Morocco’s firm position.
“Just as we rejected the initial proposal from James Baker in 2002, we have not given any attention to what appears to us to be reheated ideas,” Bourita said.
Embzzelment of Sahrawis fund
Beyond the dispute’s political aspect, the piece highlighted the dire conditions that Sahrawis in the Tindouf camps suffer from, including embezzlement of funds and humanitarian aid directed to refugees.
“The diversion of humanitarian aid destined for Sahrawis in the camps in Tidnouf, Algeria, also continues to raise concerns, especially with evidence showing that much of the aid is subjected to corruption and reselling in open markets like Noadhibou in Nouakchott, Mauritania,” the report said.
Tindouf Autonomy Support Forum shared the same concerns in a report in 2021, highlighting the severe health crisis in the camps.
The report further attributed the crisis of insufficient medical equipment and supplies to smuggling.
Another report by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) in 2015 also exposed the well-documented embezzlement of humanitarian aid intended for refugees in the Polisario-run camps.
The report covers the 2003-2007 period, showing that separatist group leadership has long been directly involved in selling humanitarian aid provided in the Mauritanian and sub-Saharan markets to buy weapons.
Beyond its in-denial approach, Algeria’s regime has also been reluctant to allow a census, an appeal that the international community has been demanding to allow tracing and identifying the actual number of the population in the Tindouf camps.
The UNHCR estimates that the number of Sahrawis in the camps stands at 90,000.
Former Polisario members have long argued that Algeria refuses to allow a census out of fear.
Notably, former members Mustafa Salma Ould Sidi Mouloud and Hamada El Bihi have long argued that more than 80% of the population in the Tindouf camps is composed of Tuareg people and individuals from countries across the Sahara Desert, including Mali, Algeria, Libya, Niger, and Chad.
