Morocco autonomy plan for Western Sahara unveiled after secret Madrid meeting with Polisario

Morocco has released details of its autonomy plan for the disputed Western Sahara region after attending a secret US-sponsored meeting in Madrid with the participation of delegates from Algeria, the Polisario Front, and Mauritania.

The meeting that took place behind closed doors in the Spanish capital beginning on Sunday was coordinated with the effort of Morocco’s King Mohamed VI and presented by the country’s foreign minister, Nasser Bourita.

The framework envisioned working on the basis of UN Security Council resolution 2797, which recognises Morocco’s autonomy plan as the primary basis for resolving the decades-long Sahara conflict.

According to reports, the meeting extended to Monday after failing to conclude on schedule.

From broad political framework to detailed autonomy statue

Morocco’s 40-page proposed plan for Western Sahara was seen by Madrid-based outlet Atalayar, which outlined its shift from the original 2007 proposal into a detailed, quasi-constitutional autonomy statue with precise institutions, powers and safeguards.

According to the Spanish outlet, the plan aims to distance itself from previous broad political frameworks vis-à-vis Western Sahara into a highly detailed, legally structured autonomy statue, tightly anchored in the constitutional order and sovereignty of the State.

The plan includes legal definitions, interpretive clauses, transitional provisions, and detailed mechanisms of constitutional and judicial control.

Where the 2007 plan spoke in general terms about autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty, the new Rabat-proposed plan envisions a national referendum involving the entire Moroccan electorate and the integration of the statue into the Constitution.

The text lays out stronger constitutional principles and safeguards, where the principle of constitutional loyalty is stated as a strictly guiding norm.

Constitutional safeguards would allow the State, in exceptional and temporary circumstances, to suspend certain regional powers in case of serious harm to the territorial integrity. Atalayar argues this is far more elaborated than in 2007.

Furthermore, the report says an entire section of the plan is centred around the concept of reconciliation and return of native populations, which envisions regulating registration of the Tindouf camps through an established permanent return committee working alongside a disarmament and demobilisation mechanism.

The protection of Hassani identity is further strengthened through its explicit recognition as part of the wider Moroccan heritage.

The new plan also aims to close any ambiguity on the community’s security by stating that regional security will remain limited to local police powers under national coordination.

Shift of mediation efforts from UN to US

Director of the Center for Sahara and Africa for Strategic Studies, Abdelfattah El Fattah El Fatihi, told The New Arab’s sister site Al-Araby al-Jadeed that the event marked a milestone in the negotiations due to previous failed attempts by the UN for the parties to take part in meetings to "produce a roadmap and an agreed political solution on it".

The fact that both Algeria’s and Mauritania’s foreign ministers, as well as a delegation from the Polisario independence movement, sat around the Spanish roundtable, "reflects a qualitative shift in the way this file is managed at the international level", the head of the Maghreb Centre for Research and Strategic Studies, Nabil Andaloussi, said in an interview with Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

"The discussion is no longer confined to the traditional international corridors in New York, but the centre of gravity has begun to tilt towards direct American leadership from Washington", Andaloussi said, emphasising that this shift carries deep political implications for Morocco and the region.

Algeria has for years refused to participate in discussions previously supervised by the United Nations during the era of former special envoy for Western Sahara, Horst Köhler.

Sahrawi activist and former official of the Polisario, Mostafa Salma Ould Sidi Mouloud, told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that he was sceptical of the American-led process due to US President Donald Trump’s keenness to add another dispute settlement to his list of achievements.

To achieve this, Mouloud argues, the Americans "may jump a lot of steps, and impose what they see as serving the American interest first, reducing tension to a minimum and leaving the final outcome to the time".

The former member of the Polisario, which is backed by Algiers and claims representation of the Sahrawi people, nevertheless welcomed the US ability to bring all parties to the table and "what [they] saw in the foreign ministers' leadership of the delegations as an affirmation of seriousness".