UN Secretary-General has urged all parties to the Sahara conflict to engage in good faith negotiations to reach a lasting solution to the decades-long dispute, saying that a genuine Autonomy in the Sahara
under Moroccan sovereignty could constitute the most feasible solution as stipulated by UN Security Council Resolution 2797 (2025).
In his latest report to the Security Council on the Sahara issue, Mr. Antonio Guterres highlighted the momentum generated by the Autonomy plan proposed by Morocco for the Sahara. He cited in this regard the three US-UN-led meetings held in 2026 with the participation of the four parties to the conflict (Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania and Polisario) to advance Sahara talks, based on the UNSC resolution 2797 which endorsed the Autonomy plan under Moroccan sovereignty.
According to press reports, among the ideas discussed during these quadripartite meetings the establishment of a transitional council to manage the interim period and to negotiate the details of the political settlement and implementation of the Autonomy plan. However, the negotiators remain at loggerheads amid great divergences over the transitional council mission, composition, prerogatives, the international guarantees…
Guterres hailed the joint efforts engaged by the UN and the United States to advance a just, sustainable and mutually acceptable political solution to the Sahara issue.
Despite the challenges confronted by these joint efforts due to Polisario military activities and mistrust, Guterres said that there is real prospect for progress to end definitively this regional dispute.
Guterres stressed the need of moving forward in accordance with Security Council Resolution 2797 (2025), which marked a historic turning point by explicitly adopting the Moroccan autonomy plan as the basis for serious and credible negotiations.
In his report, the UN Secretary-General recommended extension of the mandate of MINURSO for another year until October 31, 2027 amid a strategic review on the future of the UN mission.