2026-02-10 19:15
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2026-02-10 19:15
The US said it had held talks over the weekend between rivals Morocco and Algeria on the future of Western Sahara, underscoring President Donald Trump's intention to resolve one of Africa's longest-running territorial disputes.
Trump, who claims to have already resolved eight world conflicts, decided to head off another one and at the weekend he seated representatives of Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania and the Polisario Front in Madrid at the negotiating table. The last time such a group held talks was in Geneva in 2019.
Importantly, the negotiations focused on last year's United Nations resolution supporting Morocco's autonomy plan as the basis for further negotiations. According to Bloomberg, key participants in the meeting included Trump's Africa adviser Massad Boulos, US ambassador to the UN Michael Waltz and UN envoy for Western Sahara Staffan de Mistura.
The parties agreed to refrain from disclosing the results of the talks until a full agreement is reached.
Morocco annexed the strategically located, mineral-rich Western Sahara shortly after Spain withdrew from it in 1975. With the arrival of the Moroccan administration and army in the region, fighting broke out between Moroccan forces and the Polisario Front, which until its end in 1991 claimed approximately 9,000 lives. victims.
Morocco's rights to Western Sahara, which offers it broad autonomy within its sovereignty, have already been supported by several Western capitals, including Paris and London. Algeria does not agree to such a solution and supports the independence movement led by the Polisario Front, which has been campaigning for the independence of the region for decades.
This long-standing dispute led to the breaking of an almost 30-year-old ceasefire in 2020, a year later to the severance of diplomatic relations between Rabat and Algiers and the unleashing of an arms race in both North African countries.
The United States, by getting involved in resolving quarrels between its neighbors, is trying to limit the influence of China and Russia, which are also trying to play the role of arbiters, in fact treating both countries as markets for their weapons. (PAP)
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