Morocco says the Western Sahara dispute has entered an "irreversible" phase. The political process, it argues, must now be built around Rabat's autonomy proposal. Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita set out the case at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, saying autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty is the only workable solution.
The position follows Security Council resolution 2797, adopted on 31 October 2025. Bourita presented the text as a break with the previous approach, saying it put the dispute on a path toward a final settlement. The resolution also extended the mandate of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara, MINURSO, until 31 October 2026, giving diplomats a deadline.
In the Moroccan government's reading, the resolution leaves no room for the status quo preferred by other parties. Bourita argued that its principles and parameters cannot be reshaped through alternative readings or indirect qualifications. He said the political train had already left the station. Those who reject the resolution or violate the ceasefire, he added, have damaged their own credibility.
Morocco's reading goes further than that of the resolution's critics, who point out that the text still refers to a mutually acceptable political solution and self-determination. It does not amount to formal recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara. Algeria and the Polisario Front reject the idea that resolution 2797 has closed off other outcomes and continue to support a referendum on self-determination. Morocco, by contrast, presents autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty as the only realistic structure for a settlement.
The speech's sharpest humanitarian passage concerned Sahrawi refugees living in camps in Tindouf, Algeria. Bourita said their continued presence there could not be tolerated. He accused other parties of holding them hostage for half a century, in breach of international and humanitarian law.
The refugee camps remain one of the conflict's most sensitive issues, featuring in statements by the parties and in human-rights analysis.
Rabat also linked the dispute to political participation in the territory it calls the "Sahrawi provinces". Bourita urged residents to fulfill what he called a national and political duty by taking part in the kingdom's legislative elections, as they had in the past.
The address did not mention immigration or the crisis with Spain. A related Ceuta report covers a separate episode involving Spain and Morocco. Bourita's UN speech focused on the Sahara and wider international security issues.
He also condemned non-state armed groups, describing them as a threat to international security and calling for accountability and sanctions against those groups and their allies. He rejected the idea that Africa should be viewed mainly as a continent of conflicts or problems.
On the Middle East, Bourita backed a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine. He called for respect for the Gaza ceasefire and defended the role of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. He added that Morocco joined an international stabilisation force in the enclave in July and is taking part in it.
Rabat no longer presents autonomy as one option among several; it wants the international process to use that proposal as its structure. The dispute still hinges on whether the other parties accept Morocco's reading of the 2025 resolution. The UN Security Council decision has given the autonomy proposal a more central place in the negotiating structure but has not produced agreement among Morocco, Algeria and the Polisario Front.
Morocco has also pointed to new diplomatic support for its autonomy initiative. In September 2026, Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone, along with individual US political figures, publicly reaffirmed support for Morocco's position. Rabat presents those statements as evidence that international backing is growing. They do not replace a negotiated settlement or formally change the UN's status structure.
