UN envoy proposes partitioning Western Sahara

UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. envoy to Western Sahara suggested dividing the territory between Morocco and the pro-independence Polisario Front as a way to settle the decades-long conflict.

Staffan de Mistura proposed partition as one potential way to satisfy both sides and give residents a chance to decide under who they want to live, according to a briefing provided to a closed meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday, which was obtained by The Associated Press.

“Such an option could allow for the creation on the one hand of an independent state in the southern part, and on the other hand the integration of the rest of the Territory as part of Morocco, with its sovereignty over it internationally recognised,” he said.

The idea of partition isn't new. In a never-enacted agreement, Mauritania ceded the southern part of Western Sahara to Polisario when it withdrew in 1979. Former envoy James Baker floated partition more than two decades ago.

De Mistura called the idea worthy of consideration. He said some countries involved “expressed some interest” though both Morocco and Polisario showed “no sign of willingness to consider exploring it further.”

Partition along historic lines would place Laayoune — the disputed territority's largest city — in the north, and Dakhla — its second largest — in the south. Though it could allow both Moroccan autonomy over some of the land and Sahrawi independence, it satisfies neither side's long-standing conditions. Morocco's position is to not negotiate on the disputed territory's sovereignty and Polisario's position is to demand self-determination via a referendum.

The United Nations has attempted to resolve the territorial dispute since the 1970s and helped negotiate a settlement in 1991 that called for a staged peace process beginning with a cease-fire and the establishment of a U.N. peacekeeping mission tasked with organizing an eventual vote on the former Spanish colony's future status.

Polisario said Thursday in a statement that it told De Mistura in an Oct. 3 meeting that any compromise that disregarded international law or was “contrary to the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the referendum” was a non-starter.

Morocco’s foreign ministry did not respond to questions about De Mistura’s proposal.

Negotiations have not yielded progress under multiple U.N. envoys who preceded De Mistura.

In his briefing on Wednesday, the Italian diplomat said that in the coming six months before his next report to the council in April 2025, he wants to explore Morocco's concrete proposals for autonomy, which he asked the government to provide. He said this was “without prejudice to the solution chosen for a settlement of the Western Sahara issue.”

The absence of progress, De Mistura said, “might rightly raise questions as to the future modalities of the United Nations facilitation of the political process on Western Sahara” and lead him to suggest to the Security Council to reassess “whether there is space and willingness for us to still be useful.”

Western Sahara is a region in northwest Africa that the United Nations has considered a “non-self-governing” territory since 1963, when it was a Spanish colony. It considers Polisario the legitimate representative of the Sahrawi people. Morocco controls the majority of the phosphate-rich region and considers it to be its “southern provinces," while Polisario sees itself as a government in exile and operates out of refugee camps in southwest Algeria.

Amid questions about the United Nations' ability to enforce the cease-fire and advance the peace process, Polisario announced a return to arms in 2020. “Low-intensity hostilities” have since ensued. With the U.N. process stalled, Morocco's allies — including the United States, France and Spain — have increasingly thrown their public support behind the country's 2006 autonomy plan that stops short of offering the disputed territory independence.