Morocco has disclosed the first details of a revised autonomy plan aimed at ending the Western Sahara conflict following discreet meetings hosted by the United States and involving envoys from Morocco, Algeria, and the Polisario Front, The Times reported Sunday. The British newspaper described the initiative as a significant diplomatic development targeting what is often referred to as Africa’s oldest active conflict.
According to the Times, the renewed effort comes as U.S. President Donald Trump has launched a push to resolve the dispute, with American envoys treating Western Sahara as a priority within broader attempts to reconcile Morocco and Algeria, whose shared land border has been closed since 1994.
The same source added that the conflict dates back to 1975, when Spain withdrew from the territory. Morocco controls most of Western Sahara and considers it part of the Kingdom, while the Algeria-backed Polisario Front administers a smaller portion and calls for an independent state under the self-declared Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.
The British daily said the revamped autonomy proposal goes beyond Morocco’s 2007 plan by offering greater institutional detail. It outlines the creation of a self-governing Saharan region with its own parliament, government, and courts, while reserving defense, foreign affairs, currency, nationality, and national symbols for the central state.
The plan foresees the Moroccan monarch appointing the head of the autonomous executive and maintaining strict limits on regional security forces, while Rabat would also retain influence over major foreign investments and certain resource-related projects. Polisario representatives argue that the king’s appointment powers are incompatible with self-determination, whereas Rabat maintains that the measures embed autonomy within Morocco’s constitutional framework, the Times wrote.
The newspaper said that the proposal would be validated through a referendum, but Moroccan descriptions stress that the vote would be held nationwide with participation from all Moroccan citizens rather than limited solely to Western Sahara residents.
Riccardo Fabiani, North Africa director at the International Crisis Group, described the initiative as “a big deal” and “a major step forward,” telling The Times that key international actors had long awaited such a development. He added, however, that the likelihood of resolving the conflict remains low unless the United States finds an imaginative path forward, as self-determination remains a red line. Fabiani also cited Morocco’s insistence on a nationwide plebiscite rather than a referendum limited to Sahrawis with an independence option as a potential obstacle.
The newspaper noted that in June Britain became the third permanent member of the UN Security Council to support an autonomy plan under Moroccan sovereignty, after the United States and France. Hugh Lovatt, senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said there has been a growing Western shift in backing Morocco’s autonomy proposal as a credible basis for a solution, though this has not consistently translated into formal recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara, with the United States — and apparently France — as exceptions.
Zaid M. Belbagi, an adviser close to Rabat’s government, told The Times that developments over the past year represent a “paradigm shift” in how the Kingdom views its relationship with its neighbors.
