By The Rio Times | Created at 2026-09-26 23:21:32 | Updated at 2026-09-27 00:21:40
1 hour ago
WESTERN SAHARA · DIPLOMACY
Key Facts
- The country. A disputed desert territory on Africa’s Atlantic coast, about the size of Colorado, with roughly 600,000 people. Morocco, a country of about 37 million, controls most of it and calls it its southern provinces.
- Why it matters. Spain left in 1975. The Polisario Front, an independence movement backed by neighbouring Algeria, still wants a referendum. It is Africa’s last big unresolved decolonisation dispute.
- Why now. The mandate of MINURSO, the UN mission watching the ceasefire since 1991, expires on 31 October. The UN Security Council must renew, reshape or end it.
- What happened. On Friday 25 September, US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau backed Moroccan sovereignty after meeting Morocco’s foreign minister. “This status quo cannot be maintained,” he said.
- Who is involved. Washington, Rabat, Algiers and the Polisario. Trump adviser Massad Boulos says US-brokered talks have held three rounds without agreement.
- What it means for you. Firms eyeing the territory’s ports, fisheries or green hydrogen get stronger US cover. European courts still limit EU trade deals there, so legal risk remains.
- Still open. Whether the Council keeps MINURSO, whether Algeria joins the vote, and whether the Polisario answers Morocco’s autonomy plan.
One-stop reference
Company Intelligence
Every listed company in Latin America — financials, ownership and structure for 1,450+ companies across 26 exchanges, in one place.
Washington has told Morocco the five-decade stalemate must end, five weeks before the UN decides whether its peacekeeping mission in the territory survives.
The United States has again backed Morocco’s claim to Western Sahara, a disputed stretch of desert on Africa’s Atlantic coast. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau, the number two at the US State Department, made the point in New York on Friday, 25 September 2026.
He spoke after meeting Nasser Bourita, Morocco’s foreign minister, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. The timing matters: the UN Security Council must decide the future of its mission in the territory by 31 October.
What the Americans actually said
Landau left little room for nuance. The two sides “reaffirmed the centuries-old friendship” between their countries, he told reporters, as well as a shared vision for developing the region under Moroccan sovereignty.
He said the United States wants to work with Morocco and the other parties to end the conflict for good. The dispute has dragged on for more than 50 years, he added, and “this status quo cannot be maintained.”
He also called relations between Washington and Rabat, the Moroccan capital, the best they have ever been. The words were reported by Morocco World News and the Moroccan news site Yabiladi.
The meeting capped a busy stretch. On 16 September the United States, Morocco and Israel issued a joint statement backing Moroccan sovereignty and Rabat’s 2007 autonomy plan.
A US envoy admits the talks have stalled
A second US voice added a sober note. Massad Boulos, President Donald Trump’s special adviser for Arab and African affairs, met Bourita in New York earlier in the week.
Boulos then told the French broadcaster France 24 that three rounds of talks had produced no agreement. The rounds brought together the foreign ministers of Morocco, Algeria and Mauritania, plus Polisario leaders.
“We are awaiting the Polisario Front’s responses to the Moroccan autonomy plan,” Boulos said. He conceded that “we don’t have an imminent solution within reach.”
He was notably softer on Algeria, Morocco’s rival and the Polisario’s main backer. Algeria is helping, he said, but “cannot impose a solution” on the movement.
Boulos has kept that channel open. He was received by Algeria’s President Abdelmadjid Tebboune in Algiers on 13 September and met Algerian Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf in New York on 24 September.
The October deadline
The UN mission, known by its French initials MINURSO, was set up in 1991. Its job was to organise a vote on independence that has never taken place.
The current rules come from Security Council Resolution 2797, adopted on 31 October 2025 with a US draft. It made Morocco’s autonomy plan the basis for talks and called genuine autonomy the most feasible outcome.
That resolution passed 11 to none, with China, Russia and Pakistan abstaining and Algeria not taking part. It extended MINURSO for one year, to 31 October 2026.
The Council must now renew, reshape or retire the mission. Morocco presented six parameters for the negotiations at the UN this week, but their full text has not been published.
Rio Times set out the stakes of the vote in its earlier report, UN Must Decide the Future of Western Sahara Mission MINURSO by 31 October. At the time, Washington had not spelled out its position.
Money as an argument
Rabat pairs diplomacy with concrete. Its development plan for the southern provinces, launched in 2015, started with 77 billion dirhams (about US$8.0 billion).
Dirham figures here use 9.59 dirhams to the US dollar, the open.er-api.com rate on 26 September 2026. The plan has funded the Dakhla Atlantic Port, a 1,055-kilometre expressway from Tiznit to Dakhla, and desalination plants.
In 2025 Morocco picked investors for six green hydrogen projects in its southern regions, worth 319 billion dirhams (about US$33.3 billion). The message to Washington is that recognition comes with investable projects attached.
What it means for foreigners
For investors, the US line lowers political risk on the Moroccan side of the dispute. Yet the EU’s top court ruled in October 2024 that EU trade deals with Morocco cannot cover the territory without its people’s consent.
For travellers, Laayoune and Dakhla, the main towns, are reached through Moroccan airports. Western governments warn against going near the sand wall that separates Moroccan and Polisario-held areas.
The other side of the table
The pro-independence camp is weaker but not silent. Namibia told the General Assembly this week that the Sahrawi people’s right to self-determination must be respected.
The Polisario Front still holds roughly a fifth of the territory, east of Morocco’s sand wall. Its self-declared Sahrawi republic remains a member of the African Union.
Several African and Arab states, however, have opened consulates in Laayoune and Dakhla. That is a quiet way of recognising Moroccan control.
What Is Not Known
It is not known whether the United States will table a new resolution, or whether Algeria will take part in the October vote. The Polisario had not publicly responded to Landau’s remarks by Saturday.
Nor is it clear what happens to the mission’s staff if the Council lets the mandate lapse. Morocco’s six negotiating parameters also remain unpublished in full.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Western Sahara conflict about?
Spain left the territory in 1975 and Morocco took most of it. The Algeria-backed Polisario Front wants independence through a referendum that a UN mission was created in 1991 to organise but never held.
What did the United States say on 25 September 2026?
Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau backed development of the region under Moroccan sovereignty after meeting Morocco’s foreign minister in New York. He said the 50-year status quo cannot be maintained.
What happens at the UN by 31 October 2026?
The mandate of MINURSO, the UN mission in the territory, expires. The Security Council must renew, reshape or end it, under a framework that makes Morocco’s autonomy plan the basis for talks.
Are the peace talks making progress?
Not much. US adviser Massad Boulos said three rounds of talks have produced no agreement and that Washington is waiting for the Polisario’s answer to Morocco’s autonomy plan.
