Western Sahara: US Envoy Presses Polisario Ahead of UN Mission Vote
Key Facts
- The country. Western Sahara is a former Spanish colony on Africa’s Atlantic coast, slightly larger than the UK, with roughly 600,000 people. Morocco controls most of it, and the Polisario independence movement claims it.
- Why it matters. It is one of Africa’s oldest unresolved conflicts. The UN has listed the territory for decolonisation since 1963, and Washington has recognised Moroccan sovereignty over it since December 2020.
- Why now. MINURSO, the UN mission created in 1991 to organise a referendum that was never held, loses its mandate on 31 October 2026. The UN Security Council must decide its future.
- What happened. On Wednesday 30 September, US ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz met a Polisario delegation in New York. Afterwards he wrote that refugees “deserve real choices, not another decade of waiting.”
- Who is involved. Morocco offers autonomy under its sovereignty. The Algeria-backed Polisario wants an independence vote, and the United States backs Morocco’s plan.
- What it means for you. Companies eyeing the territory’s phosphates, fisheries or wind and solar projects face legal risk while its status is disputed. A deal would reshape that risk.
- Still open. The Polisario has not formally answered Morocco’s autonomy plan. Nobody knows yet whether the Council will renew MINURSO unchanged, reshape it or let it lapse.
Washington’s envoy to the UN met the Polisario four weeks before the UN mission in Western Sahara runs out of mandate.
Mike Waltz, the US ambassador to the United Nations, met a Polisario Front delegation in New York on Wednesday 30 September. The Polisario Front is the movement that has sought independence for Western Sahara since the 1970s.
Western Sahara is a thinly populated desert territory on Africa’s Atlantic coast, south of Morocco. Morocco controls most of it and wants it recognised as Moroccan, while Algeria hosts and backs the Polisario.
What Waltz said
After the meeting, Waltz posted a photograph on X and turned attention to the refugee camps around Tindouf, in south-western Algeria. “Refugees in the Tindouf camps have waited 50 years,” he wrote.
“They deserve real choices, not another decade of waiting. The basis for a solution is on the table,” he added, according to Morocco World News and Hespress, two Moroccan news sites.
Waltz did not say which proposals were discussed, Hespress reported. Washington has urged talks using Morocco’s autonomy plan as the basis.
The Security Council endorsed that approach last year.
The camps have existed since the mid-1970s, when Spain withdrew and Moroccan forces moved in. UN agencies plan aid for about 173,600 refugees there, most of them dependent on food handouts.
The Polisario’s reply
The Polisario did not publish an account of the meeting. That day its UN representative, Sidi Mohamed Omar, addressed a Nordic conference on Western Sahara at the Danish parliament.
He called self-determination and independence “the only path to a just and lasting solution”, the Sahara Press Service reported. It is the movement’s official news agency.
He also said the referendum promised under the 1991 settlement plan has never been held.
Omar argued that Western Sahara’s status as a Non-Self-Governing Territory remains clear under international law. That UN category covers places whose people have not yet freely decided their political status.
How the US position has hardened
The meeting fits a run of firm US statements. On 25 September, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said the 50-year status quo cannot be maintained.
Landau also reaffirmed the US commitment to developing the region under Moroccan sovereignty, Morocco World News reported. President Donald Trump first recognised Moroccan sovereignty over the territory in December 2020.
Massad Boulos, Trump’s senior adviser for Africa, told France 24 that no settlement is imminent. He said three rounds of talks produced no agreement.
The Polisario has given no formal response to the autonomy offer, Boulos added.
The calendar
The UN Security Council faces a hard date: MINURSO’s mandate ends on 31 October 2026. MINURSO is the French acronym for the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara.
Resolution 2797, adopted on 31 October 2025, told the parties to negotiate on the basis of Morocco’s autonomy proposal. It called genuine autonomy the most feasible outcome, while still referring to a mutually acceptable political solution.
Supporters of the Polisario have used the UN General Assembly to push back. On 24 September, Namibia’s President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah backed the Sahrawi right to self-determination and a UN-backed referendum.
Why outsiders should care
Western Sahara holds large phosphate deposits, rich Atlantic fishing grounds and some of Africa’s best wind and sun for renewable energy. Morocco is courting foreign investors to develop all three.
Its disputed status has real costs, however. In October 2024 the EU’s top court annulled trade and fishing deals with Morocco covering Western Sahara.
The court said the territory’s people had not consented.
The dispute also shapes relations between Morocco and Algeria, North Africa’s two largest military powers. Algeria cut diplomatic ties with Morocco in 2021, and their shared border has been closed since 1994.
A ceasefire signed in 1991 held for almost three decades. It collapsed in November 2020, and the Polisario has since reported periodic attacks on Moroccan positions along a long defensive sand wall.
What Is Not Known
The full agenda of the Waltz meeting and the names of the Polisario delegates have not been published. The Polisario’s formal answer to Morocco’s autonomy plan is still outstanding.
Whether the Security Council will renew MINURSO unchanged, reframe it around the autonomy plan, or let it lapse remains open. The vote is due before 31 October.
Frequently Asked Questions
What did the US envoy tell the Polisario?
After meeting a Polisario delegation on 30 September, Ambassador Mike Waltz wrote that refugees deserve real choices, not more waiting. He added that the basis for a solution is on the table.
When does the UN mission in Western Sahara expire?
The MINURSO mandate runs out on 31 October 2026. The Security Council must renew, reshape or end it before that date.
What is Morocco’s autonomy plan?
It is Rabat’s proposal to keep Western Sahara under Moroccan sovereignty with regional self-government. The Polisario Front and Algeria reject it as a substitute for an independence referendum.
Who are the Polisario Front?
The Polisario Front is a Sahrawi independence movement founded in 1973 and based in the Tindouf camps in Algeria. It proclaimed the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic in 1976, which is a member of the African Union.
Sources
Hespress, U.S. envoy Mike Waltz tells Polisario basis for a solution is on the table, 1 October 2026 · Morocco World News, US envoy Waltz tells Polisario after 50 years: real choices, 30 September 2026 · Sahara Press Service, Polisario UN representative at Nordic conference, 30 September 2026 · Sahara Press Service, Namibia at the UN General Assembly, 24 September 2026 · Hespress, Boulos says no immediate Sahara settlement in sight
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