![]() | |
![]() Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic | ![]() United States |
---|
The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic and the United States do not have diplomatic relations as the United States since 2020 with the signing of the Israel–Morocco normalization agreement as part of the Abraham Accords recognized the region of Western Sahara as part of Morocco and the annexation of Western Sahara making it the first country to do so. Prior to 2020, the informal position of the United States was supporting Morocco's claim to Western Sahara under autonomy for the SADR without formally recognizing Morocco's annexation. The United States has often mediated proposals for both sides to find an amicable solution to the conflict mostly through the United Nations.
The SADR declared independence from Spain in 1976 and has since been engaged in a territorial dispute with Morocco.
In 1978, Jimmy Carter suspended arms sales to Morocco with the pretext being that Morocco had broken the terms of a bilateral military agreement signed in 1960 prohibiting the use of U.S. weapons outside internationally recognized borders. [1] According to The New York Times, the agreement of which was never publicly disclosed. However, the administration in January informed Congress of its intention to resume arms sales to the Moroccans by selling aircraft and helicopters for use in the conflict. In the fall of 1977, a Moroccan delegation came to Washington with a list of arms that it wanted to purchase. The Moroccans had been warning the United States about the Soviet Union's role in North Africa and urged the United States to become more actively involved as did Saudi Arabia and Iran over the Soviet Union's and Cuba's growing influence in the civil wars in Angola and Ethiopia. The decision to do so came in response to tension with then-King Hassan II who was angry over the lack of strong support from the U.S. in the conflict. Hassan acted as an intermediary between Egypt and Israel in 1977 before Egyptian President Anwar Sadat's trip to Jerusalem and refused to accept the Egypt–Israel peace treaty brokered by the Carter administration. And was irritated at the failure of the United States to reciprocate Moroccan military support for Zaire when it was attacked from Angola by former Katangan gendarmes. But American officials were wary of being involved further as Algeria was receiving support from the Soviet Union. [2]
In August 1979, the administration considered selling more arms to the Moroccans, [3] but several of Carter's advisors were split on the policy. [4] The decision to sell the arms was approved on October 22 while also encouraging peace talks between the warring sides, but the U.S. would not have a direct role in any talks. [5]
Military aid to Morocco increased under Ronald Reagan without any preconditions viewing the Polisario Front as an ally of the Soviet Union. The administration did not pursue a political solution. [1] In 1982, the administration removed all restrictions on American military equipment being used in the conflict reversing the Carter administration policy. Reagan had asked Congress for $100 million in military sales credits for Morocco. In May, Hassan II visited the U.S. with an agreement reached on the U.S. Air Force using a Moroccan base. [6] The policy was a strategic maneuver to counter Muammar Gaddafi of Libya who provided support to the Polisario Front, his closeness with the Soviet's, and for his sponsoring of terrorist organizations in the MENA region. [7] [8]
George H. W. Bush took a neutral approach to the conflict between the SADR and Morocco. Bush publicly called for talks to end the conflict, but at the same time, it continued arms sales to Morocco. The U.S. tried to move the closure of the conflict through the United Nations. [1] During a visit by Hassan II to the U.S. on September 26, 1991, Bush stated he "applaud King Hassan for his courage to agree to the UN Secretary General's plan for a referendum," and expressed "pleasure to see the UN proceeding with its efforts to resolve the Western Sahara dispute with Morocco's support." [9] [10]
American policy under Bill Clinton did not change from the previous administration as it maintained neutrality and did not recognize Western Sahara as Moroccan territory. [1] It continued to advocate for Sahrawi autonomy under Morocco. A position that has followed with every administration since. [11]
James Baker, Secretary of State under H.W. Bush, was appointed special envoy for Western Sahara in 1997 for the United Nations proposed two plans named after him called the Baker Plan in 2000, none of which were presented formally to the United Nations Security Council. [12] In the first plan, he proposed autonomy to the region with foreign affairs and defense managed by Morocco. The plan was rejected by Polisario, indicating that any proposal without independence could not be accepted. They also argued that the count of natives should be based on the census of 1975 and not based on migrants from Morocco in the interim period. [13] The second proposal called for a referendum after five years of autonomy. The plan was accepted by Morocco initially, but later rejected quoting that any plan with proposal of independence could not be accepted. [14] The plan was rejected by Morocco and Baker left the position in 2004. [15]
First Baker reviewed the prior proposals and consulted with all parties involved. [16] He, along with Chester Crocker and John Bolton, conducted private talks with Polisario and Morocco along with Algeria and Mauritania acting as observers. [16] Eventually, the talks, which covered the "issues of refugees, reduction of Moroccan troops, prisoners of war and political prisoners," along with an agreement on a code of conduct for the voter registration, eventually led to the Houston Agreement. [17] Voter identification began again on December 3, 1997. [17] A referendum was meant to occur by 1998. [18] However, due to Morocco's refusal to accept the census results, and thus the unlikelihood of accepting the referendum based on the voters proposed, the UN Secretary-General suspended the Settlement Plan. [13]
The Baker Accord was signed at Baker Institute of Public Policy at Rice University in Houston, Texas under the aegis of the United Nations Security Council between September 14 to 16 1997. Both parties signed the final document listing all agreements and was documented as UN doc. S/1997/742 par 4-13. It was the first time in the peace process that any agreement was signed between the rival parties. Morocco wanted to augment the voter list based on the census taken during the Spanish time of the 1970s, while Polisario rejected the proposal, leading to the prevention of the referendum of the accord. [19]
In classified documents released in 2020, Clinton encouraged Morocco to abandon the idea of a referendum in Western Sahara and "opt for a negotiated solution through direct talks with the Polisario." In a memo dated July 25, 1999, penned by National Security Adviser Sandy Berger, outlined Clinton's visit to Rabat for the funeral of Hassan II and his meetings with Mohammed VI, then Moroccan Prime Minister Abderrahmane Youssoufi, Berger emphasized that there was no future of a possible referendum in Western Sahara. Berger stated that the Moroccans wouldn't "countenance any outcome under which it would lose sovereignty over the area" and "In quiet approaches over the past several months, we had encouraged [King] Hassan to opt for a negotiated solution through direct talks with the Polisario." The administration believed that Hassan's death may have been a roadblock to ending the conflict. [20] Nonetheless, the administration convinced Morocco to submit the autonomy and pledged its support. [21]
George W. Bush supported peace talks between the warring parties mostly through the United Nations. In 2003, the administration backed the Baker Plan which offered two alternative solutions. Granting autonomy to Western Sahara under Morocco with unspecified borders, or accepting the partition of the territory. However, there was no firm position as Bush reiterated that any settlement would not be imposed on Rabat, acknowledging the sensitivity of the issue to Morocco’s internal politics. [1]
Commenting on a 2004 free trade agreement with Morocco, US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick stated in a letter to Congressman Joe Pitts in response to his questioning, "the United States and many other countries do not recognize Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara and have consistently urged the parties to work with the United Nations to resolve the conflict by peaceful means. The Free Trade Agreement will not include Western Sahara." [22] [23]
In 2006 the Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs (CORCAS) proposed a plan for the autonomy of Western Sahara and made visits to a number of countries to explain and gather support for their proposal. Citing the Spanish approach to regional autonomy, the Moroccan government plans to model any future agreement after the cases of the Canary Islands, Basque Country, Andalusia, or Catalonia. The plan was presented to the UN Security Council in April 2007 [24] and received the backing of both the United States and France. [25]
In April and October 2007, the Bush administration sought to make the Western Sahara Autonomy Proposal the basis of the U.N.-led political process when it was introduced to the UN in 2006. However, this attempt faced pushback from France, Russia, and then-Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who feared alienating the Non-Aligned Movement. [21] And that it made no mention of the possibility of independence for Western Sahra. [26] In a 2007 letter to President Bush, 173 members of the US congress endorsed the plan. [27] The UN Security unanimously voted for Resolution 1754 on 30 April 2007, calling for talks of both parties, appreciating the proposal of Morocco and taking note of Polisario's proposal. Based on the proposal, there were four UN-sponsored peace talks between the delegation of Polisario and Morocco 18–19 June 2007, 10–11 August 2007, 7–9 January 2008, and 7–9 January 2008, all of which were held in New York City. [28]
Barack Obama at first disassociated the United States from the Moroccan autonomy plan in 2009 reversing the Bush-backed support of the Moroccan plan writing to Mohammed VI supporting U.N. efforts to settle the Sahara dispute. [26] But later returning to a pre-Bush position, wherein the option of an independent Western Sahara was on the table again. [29] Five months later Hillary Clinton, then-Secretary of State, told the Moroccan government during a visit meeting with then-Foreign Minister Taieb Fassi Fihri, "It is important for me to reaffirm here in Morocco that there has been no change in policy." [26] [30] Clinton voiced her support for the autonomy plan calling it "serious, realistic, and credible." [26]
In April 2009, 229 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, a clear majority and more than 50 more than the number who signed the letter in 2007, called on President Obama to support Morocco's autonomy plan and to assist in drawing the conflict to a close. The signers included Democratic Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Republican Minority Leader John Boehner. In addition to acknowledging that Western Sahara has become a recruiting post for radical Islamists, the letter affirmed that the conflict is "the single greatest obstacle impending the security and cooperation necessary to combat" terrorism in the Maghreb. [31] The letter referenced UN Security Council Resolution 1813 (2008), and encouraged President Obama to follow the policy set by President Clinton and followed by President Bush. [31] The congressmen expressed concerns about Western Sahara's viability. They referenced a UN fact-finding mission to Western Sahara which confirmed the State Department's view that the Polisario proposal, which ultimately stands for independence, would lead to a non-viable state. [31] In closing, the letter stated, "We remain convinced that the U.S. position, favoring autonomy for Western Sahara under Moroccan sovereignty is the only feasible solution. We urge you to both sustain this longstanding policy, and to make clear, in both words and actions, that the United States will work to ensure that the UN process continues to support this framework as the only realistic compromise that can bring this unfortunate and longstanding conflict to an end." [31]
Members of the U.S. Senate, realizing similar "worrisome trends" in the region, also drafted a letter of support for Morocco. In March 2010, a bipartisan majority of U.S. Senators signed a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton calling for the United States to support Morocco's autonomy plan. Similar to the House of Representatives letter to President Obama, the 54 bipartisan Senators (30 Democrats and 24 Republicans) who signed the letter stated concerns about growing instability in the region, including a terrorist threat. The letter openly called on Secretary Clinton and the Obama Administration to provide: "…more sustained American attention to one of the region's most pressing political issues, the Western Sahara." The letter further stated: "As you acknowledged in your remarks in Morocco last November, it has been the policy of the United States to support a resolution of this conflict based on this formula since the Administration of President Clinton. We support this bipartisan U.S. policy and the efforts of the United Nations to bring all parties together to resolve this matter peacefully at the negotiating table." [32] Signers included Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and ranking Intelligence Committee member Senator Kit Bond (R-MO). In regards to Morocco's autonomy plan, Senator Feinstein said, "The way I feel about it, Morocco has been a staunch ally of the United States, this is a big problem, and this is a reasonable way to settle it." [33]
On September 13, 2012, during the U.S.-Morocco strategic dialogue, Clinton stated that the proposal was "a potential approach that could satisfy the aspirations of the people in the Western Sahara to run their own affairs in peace and dignity." Joe Pitts, Congressman representing Pennsylvania, said that under Clinton the State Department became less sympathetic to the Sahrawis. [26] [34]
After Clinton stepped down as Secretary of State in February 2013, John Kerry, former Senator from Massachusetts became her successor, a leaked 2012 Moroccan government cable expressed concern claiming it had "an ally who will be difficult to replace." [35] Kerry in 2001 signed a letter to the State Department expressing support for an independence referendum in Western Sahara and asserting "the personal dispensation remains a major element that can sometimes weigh in our favor or disfavor." Another leaked cable in 2012 from the Moroccan Embassy in Washington, D.C., asserted that "there will be changes at the State Department after the departure of Hillary Clinton that will require the implementation of a new strategy, both aggressive and enterprising in order to confirm the current U.S. position on the Sahara issue and also strengthen the position of our country as a privileged interlocutor of the United States." [36]
In April 2013, the United States proposed that United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara monitor human rights (as all the other UN missions since 1991) in Western Sahara, a move that Morocco strongly opposed, canceling the annual African Lion military exercises with U.S. Army troops. [37] Also in mid-April, United States Ambassador to Morocco Samuel L. Kaplan declared during a conference in Casablanca that the Moroccan autonomy plan "can't be the only basis in these negotiations", referring to the UN-sponsored talks between the Polisario Front and Morocco. [38]
On November 22, 2013, Mohammed VI visited the United States and held a bilateral meeting with Barack Obama where both delegations in a joint statement affirmed to find a peaceful, sustainable, mutually agreed-upon solution to the conflict. The administration stated in a joint statement with the Moroccans, "The United States has made clear that Morocco's autonomy plan is serious, realistic, and credible, and that it represents a potential approach that could satisfy the aspirations of the people in the Western Sahara to run their own affairs in peace and dignity. We continue to support the negotiations carried out by the United Nations, including the work of the UN Secretary-General's Personal Envoy Ambassador Christopher Ross, and urge the parties to work toward a resolution." [39]
On December 16, 2014, Obama signed the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015, which strengthened the US mandate for assistance to Morocco to be used in Western Sahara. The bill stated, "Funds appropriated under Title III of this Act shall be made available for assistance for the Western Sahara." [40] [41]
In 2016, controversy ensued when the State Department approved a one million dollar grant to the Moroccan government for the purpose of civil society and local governance programs in Western Sahara. The funds came from the passage of Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016 after lobbyists for Morocco convinced Congress to legislate foreign aid to be spent in Western Sahara. [42]
On 10 December 2020, President Donald Trump announced that the United States would officially recognize Morocco's claims over Western Sahara, in exchange for Morocco agreeing to normalize relations with Israel. [43] U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres welcomed the agreement, but reserved judgment on Western Sahara, according to a spokesman. [44] The UN said that its position on Western Sahara was "unchanged" following the US announcement, with a spokesperson of Guterres suggesting that "the solution to the question can still be found based on Security Council resolutions." [45] On December 21, 2020, following a closed-door session of the security council, the South African ambassador said, "We believe that any recognition of Western Sahara as part of Morocco is tantamount to recognizing illegality as such recognition is incompatible with international law." [46]
On April 30, 2021, it was revealed that Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Morocco's Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita in a phone call that the Biden administration had no intention of reversing the Trump administration's recognition of Morocco's sovereignty over Western Sahara. Ten days earlier, Brett McGurk, the National Security Council Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, spoke to Bourita offering no change in the position. [47]
Western Sahara is a disputed territory in North-western Africa. It has a surface area of 272,000 square kilometres (105,000 sq mi). Approximately 30% of the territory is controlled by the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR); the remaining 70% is occupied and administered by neighboring Morocco. It is the most sparsely populated country in Africa and the second most sparsely populated country in the world, mainly consisting of desert flatlands. The population is estimated at 618,600. Nearly 40% of that population lives in Morocco-controlled Laayoune, the largest city of Western Sahara.
The history of Western Sahara can be traced back to the times of Carthaginian explorer Hanno the Navigator in the 5th century BC. Though few historical records are left from that period, Western Sahara's modern history has its roots linked to some nomadic groups such as the Sanhaja group, and the introduction of Islam and the Arabic language at the end of the 8th century AD.
The politics of Western Sahara take place in a framework of an area claimed by both the partially recognized Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic and the Kingdom of Morocco.
Western Sahara, formerly the Spanish colony of Spanish Sahara, is a disputed territory claimed by both the Kingdom of Morocco and the Popular Front for the Liberation of the Saguia el Hamra and Rio de Oro, which is an independence movement based in Tifariti and Bir Lehlou. The Annexation of Western Sahara by Morocco took place in two stages, in 1976 and 1979, and is considered illegal under international law.
The Polisario Front, Frente Polisario, Frelisario or simply Polisario, is a Sahrawi nationalist liberation movement seeking to establish a Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic for the Sahrawi people through the means of self-determination and armed resistance in the disputed territory of Western Sahara.
The United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara is the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Western Sahara, established in 1991 under United Nations Security Council Resolution 690 as part of the Settlement Plan, which had paved way for a cease-fire in the conflict between Morocco and the Polisario Front over the contested territory of Western Sahara.
The Green March was a strategic mass demonstration in November 1975, coordinated by the Moroccan government and military, to force Spain to hand over the disputed, autonomous semi-metropolitan province of Spanish Sahara to Morocco. The Spanish government was preparing to abandon the territory as part of the decolonization of Africa, just as it had granted independence to Equatorial Guinea in 1968. The native inhabitants, the Sahrawi people, aspired to form an independent state. The demonstration of some 350,000 Moroccans advanced several kilometers into the Western Sahara territory. Morocco later gained control of most of the former Spanish Sahara, which it continues to hold.
The Madrid Accords, formally the Declaration of Principles on Western Sahara, was a treaty between Spain, Morocco, and Mauritania setting out six principles which would end the Spanish presence in the territory of Spanish Sahara and arrange a temporary administration in the area pending a referendum.
The Baker Plan is a United Nations initiative to grant self-determination to Western Sahara. It was intended to replace the Settlement Plan of 1991, which was further detailed in the Houston Agreement of 1997.
The Houston Agreement was the result of negotiations between the Polisario Front and Morocco on the organization of a referendum, which would constitute an expression of self-determination for the people of Western Sahara, possibly leading to full independence or integration within Morocco. The talks were conducted during 1997 in Houston, United States, under the auspices of United Nations representative James Baker, using the framework of the 1991 Settlement Plan. The agreement was supposed to lead to a referendum in 1998, after it had been prevented from taking place in 1992 as originally envisioned.
The Settlement Plan was an agreement between the ethnically Saharawi Polisario Front and Morocco on the organization of a referendum, which would constitute an expression of self-determination for the people of Western Sahara, leading either to full independence, or integration with the Kingdom of Morocco. It resulted in a cease-fire which remains effective until 2020, and the establishment of the MINURSO peace force to oversee it and to organize the referendum. The referendum never occurred.
The Western Sahara conflict is an ongoing conflict between the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic/Polisario Front and the Kingdom of Morocco. The conflict originated from an insurgency by the Polisario Front against Spanish colonial forces from 1973 to 1975 and the subsequent Western Sahara War against Morocco between 1975 and 1991. Today the conflict is dominated by unarmed civil campaigns of the Polisario Front and their self-proclaimed SADR state to gain fully recognized independence for Western Sahara.
The politics of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic refers to politics of the Polisario Front's proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, a country in North Africa with limited recognition by other states, controlling parts of the Western Sahara region.
The Western Sahara Autonomy Proposal is an initiative proposed by Morocco in 2006 as a possible solution to the Western Sahara conflict. In 2006, the Moroccan Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs (CORCAS) proposed a plan for the autonomy of Western Sahara and made visits to a number of countries to explain the proposal. The Spanish approach to regional autonomy has been named as a possible model for Western Saharan autonomy, mentioning specifically the cases of the Canary Islands, the Basque Country, Andalusia, or Catalonia. The plan was presented to the UN Security Council in April 2007 and received the backing of the United States and France. This initiative constituted the main ground for the Moroccan proposal at the Manhasset negotiations.
The Manhasset negotiations were a series of talks that took place in four rounds in 2007–2008 at Manhasset, New York between the Moroccan government and the representatives of the Saharawi liberation movement, the Polisario Front to resolve the Western Sahara conflict. They were considered the first direct negotiations in seven years between the two parties. Also present at the negotiations were the neighboring countries of Algeria and Mauritania.
Relations between the Kingdom of Morocco and the United States of America date back to the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) and specifically since 1777 when the sultan Mohammed ben Abdallah became the first monarch to help the United States. Morocco remains one of America's oldest and closest allies in the Middle East and North Africa, a status affirmed by Morocco's zero-tolerance policy towards Al-Qaeda and their affiliated groups. Morocco also assisted the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency with questioning Al-Qaeda members captured in Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere during the administration of President George W. Bush, who designated the country as a major non-NATO ally.
Sahrawi nationality law is the law of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic's (SADR) governing nationality and citizenship. The SADR is a partially recognized state which claims sovereignty over the entire territory of Western Sahara, but only administers part of it. The SADR also administers Sahrawi refugee camps.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1979, adopted unanimously on April 27, 2011, after reaffirming all previous resolutions on the Western Sahara including 1754 (2007), 1783 (2007), 1813 (2008), 1871 (2009) and 1920 (2010), the Council discussed prospects for a settlement of the dispute and extended the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) until April 30, 2012.
The First Sahrawi Intifada forms part of the wider and ongoing Western Sahara conflict. It began in 1999 and lasted until 2004, transforming into the Independence Intifada in 2005.
Sahrawi nationalism is a political ideology that seeks self-determination of the Sahrawi people, the indigenous population of Western Sahara. It has historically been represented by the Polisario Front. It came as a reaction against Spanish colonialist policies imposed from 1958 on, and subsequently in reaction to the Mauritanian and Moroccan invasions of 1975.