(AFP) – Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday renewed US support for Morocco’s sovereignty and political plan for Western Sahara, a long source of contention with Algeria. President Donald Trump, during his first term in office, in 2020 recognized Morocco’s claim to the vast desert territory after the kingdom normalized relations with Israel — achieving top diplomatic objectives for Rabat and Washington respectively.
Rubio, meeting Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita in Washington, “reiterated that the United States recognizes Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara and supports Morocco’s serious, credible and realistic autonomy proposal as the only basis for a just and lasting solution to the dispute,” State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said. “The United States continues to believe that genuine autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty is the only feasible solution,” she said in a statement.
She said that the United States hoped for negotiations “without delay” using the Moroccan proposal “as the only framework.” Morocco mostly controls the former Spanish colony but has been challenged for decades by the Algeria-backed Polisario Front. Algeria cut diplomatic relations with Rabat in 2021.
Morocco, while saying it is ready for autonomy, has ruled out any vote that could lead to independence. A UN peacekeeping mission in place since 1991 has a stated aim of organizing a referendum on the territory’s future. French President Emmanuel Macron last year also said that the autonomy plan was the “only basis” to resolve the Western Sahara dispute, after years of ambiguity in France’s position.
© 2024 AFP
