In Washington, immersed in the preparations for the July festivities for the 250th anniversary of US independence, no one forgets that the Sultanate of Morocco was the first nation in the world to recognize American sovereignty in 1777. This historical fact has weighed positively for decades in the harmony that has generally dominated relations between the White House and Rabat, whose regime has captivated both Republicans and Democrats alike - just ask Hillary Clinton.
And that gesture from the 18th century that authorized the ships of the newly created United States of America to dock in Moroccan ports, followed by a significant Treaty of Friendship, was also what Donald Trump wielded in December 2020 - nearing the end of his first term - when he announced that he recognized Morocco's sovereignty over the Western Sahara, emphasizing that it was up to the US to more or less return the favor from the past.
In reality, behind that announcement that marked a shift in the neutral policy that Washington had been following for decades regarding the former Spanish colony, there were all kinds of interests. Above all, the Republican's desire for Morocco to be one of the countries to sign the Abraham Accords with Israel, as part of Trump's ambitious plan to reshape the geopolitics of the Middle East. The elections to the White House had resulted in victory for Biden, which disconcerted Mohamed VI, who knew how much was at stake with the revalidation, ultimately thwarted, of Trump. But not even the verdict of the polls prevented Trump from continuing to exercise his powers almost in stoppage time and led to the recognition of the Moroccan identity of the Western Sahara in exchange for the historic rapprochement between Rabat and Tel Aviv.
Biden, despite barely taking a stand on the Sahrawi issue, did not backtrack on the groundwork laid by his predecessor. Meanwhile, the Alaouite monarch continued to fulfill his part in strengthening ties with the Jewish State, to the extent of announcing the opening of a consulate in Jerusalem, no less, almost on the eve of the Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023, which once again turned the whole situation upside down.
In few Arab countries in the world have there been so many manifestations of popular rejection of the Israeli offensive in Gaza and, naturally, discontent over the political harmony between the Moroccan regime and the Netanyahu government. But Mohamed VI has shown astuteness and resilience, and with the victory a year ago of Trump for a second term, the Moroccan king rubbed his hands once again.
It was only a matter of a little more time, despite the escalation of the war in the devastated Palestinian Strip increasing social pressure. And now the monarch finally savors while caressing his loot. Because this time, the occupant of the White House is indeed able to pay his share of the deal, and the American diplomatic machinery has not stopped until last Friday when the United Nations Security Council approved a resolution that represents the latest major betrayal of the Sahrawi people and a extraordinary victory for Moroccan territorial pretensions. The text embraces the idea that autonomy for the Western Sahara under Moroccan sovereignty "could constitute a viable solution" to the conflict that has been going on for half a century, starting with the Green March.
Although the resolution renews the mandate of MINURSO - United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara - the powers seem definitively committed to Rabat's autonomy plan first put on the table in 1991. Analysts worldwide interpret that we are witnessing the burial of any possibility for the Sahrawis to exercise free self-determination. In August, on the occasion of the Throne Day, Trump made it clear once again: Washington does not contemplate anything other than starting from the Moroccan identity of the former Spanish colony.
While a definitive solution for the Western Sahara is still far off, what happened in the UN offices serves to legitimize the control that Rabat already exerts de facto over the territory, giving wings to the Alaouite Monarchy to go even further in its exploitation and transformation of its physiognomy.
After Spain's hasty departure at the end of 1975, with Franco taking his last breaths, Morocco and Mauritania - which withdrew in 1979 - invaded a territory over which they had never had sovereignty rights, as is more than proven despite much misinformation to the contrary spread by Rabat, which controls approximately 80% of the Western Sahara, a territory larger than half of Spain.
For the UN, it is the last non-self-governing territory in Africa, with Spain being the administering power de jure. With the ceasefire accepted in 1991 by the Alaouite Kingdom and the Polisario Front - always backed by Algeria, a country that did not participate in the Security Council vote on Friday - a process began that was supposed to lead to the exercise of self-determination by the indigenous population, a process that has repeatedly crashed against the paralysis of the international community, exploited by Morocco to advance its control. With the presentation of the Autonomy Plan in 2007, Rabat made it clear that it would never accept anything that did not involve the recognition of its sovereignty.
Trump's move in 2020 almost could be said to have dealt a death blow to the Sahrawi aspiration. It marked a turning point in US strategy, supported by many powers in the following years like domino pieces.
Thus, in March 2022, the government of Pedro Sánchez made a historic shift in Spain's foreign policy by announcing support for the former colony to become an autonomous region within Morocco. "Spain considers that the autonomy initiative is the most serious, realistic, and credible basis for resolving this dispute," said Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares. The reasons for this momentous change have never been explained, a "betrayal" for the Polisario, especially considering it is a core State issue. The fact that the administering power not only practically renounced its historical responsibility but also openly aligned itself with the interests of the neighboring Monarchy left other European countries free to embrace realpolitik without as much hesitation.
And that is indeed what France has gradually been doing - Macron stated that the autonomy plan is "the only basis" for resolving the conflict, leading to the worst relations with Algeria since decolonization - or this past summer, the United Kingdom, which also backed Rabat. At a good pace, several African, Middle Eastern, and American countries have also been opening consulates in El Aaiún or Dakhla, seduced by the checkbook diplomacy undertaken by Morocco.
The tumultuous geopolitics characterizing this decade has favored the interests of Mohamed VI. Both the US and the European Union saw in the total destabilization of Libya the opposite of what they desire for the western Maghreb.