Hilale: Algerian Proposal for Partition of Moroccan Sahara is a Usual Outlet for its Diplomatic Setbacks

The Permanent Representative of Morocco to the United Nations, Ambassador Omar Hilale, stressed in New York that the Algerian proposal for the partition of the Moroccan Sahara is a usual outlet for its diplomatic setbacks.  During a press briefing following the adoption by the Security Council of the resolution on the Moroccan Sahara, Hilale reacted to the debate sparked by the Algerian proposal for partition, presented by the Personal Envoy, Staffan de Mistura, to the members of the Council during the closed consultations of October 16, 2024.  Ambassador Hilale presented three elements to better understand Morocco’s position and thus close the debate on a stillborn Algerian proposal.  Regarding the political paternity of this proposal, the ambassador revealed that “neither the former Personal Envoy, James Baker, nor the current one, Staffan de Mistura, were at the origin of this idea of ​​partition. They were only messengers of Algeria”.  The permanent representative of Morocco recalled that this idea, far from being new, had initially been presented by the late former Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika on November 2, 2001, during his meeting with Baker in Houston. This proposal was reaffirmed by the former Algerian Permanent Representative in New York, Abdellah Baali, in his letter to the President of the Security Council of 22 July 2002, he said, noting that twenty-two years later, this same proposal was suggested to de Mistura during his last visit to Algiers at the beginning of the year.  Regarding the reasons that led Algeria to submit its partition proposal in 2001 and 2024, Ambassador Hilale linked them to the regional and international context surrounding the evolution of the Moroccan Sahara issue, explaining that Algeria uses partition as an outlet whenever it finds itself on the diplomatic defensive, seeking to evade international pressure as the main stakeholder in this regional dispute.  Thus, in 2001, the presentation of the partition followed the report of the Secretary-General of the United Nations of February 17, 2000, declaring the inapplicability of the settlement plan and definitively burying the referendum, dear to Algeria, and its rejection of the framework agreement presented, in June 2001, by Baker, noted Hilale, specifying that the objective of the Algerian scheme was to mitigate the negative impact of both its rejection of Baker’s plan, and the frustration caused by the burial of the settlement plan.  The ambassador noted that in 2024, Algeria found itself again on the defensive following its diplomatic setbacks in recent years. Algeria has been subjected to pressure from successive Security Council resolutions, calling on it to resume its place at the round tables, as well as the diplomatic impact of the recognition of the Moroccanness of the Sahara by the United States and France, and the broad international support for the Moroccan Autonomy Initiative, notably by half of the member countries of the European Union, reinforced by the opening of some thirty consulates in Laayoune and Dakhla, he said, adding that this country has therefore sought to find a way out of its isolation by updating its partition proposal submitted to de Mistura.  Regarding Morocco’s reaction to the Algerian proposal, Ambassador Hilale recalled the clear, firm and unambiguous response of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nasser Bourita: “Morocco’s sovereignty over its Sahara and its territorial integrity have never been on the negotiating table”.  In this regard, he stressed that the return of the Sahara to its motherland is irreversible, calling on Algeria and the Personal Envoy to never forget that 35 million Moroccans swore loyalty to the Green March before the late HM King Hassan II, and that the Sahrawi tribal leaders expressed their allegiance, like their ancestors, to the Moroccan Sovereigns, the late HM King Hassan II and His Majesty King Mohammed VI.  Finally, Hilale reminded them of the blood shed and the sacrifices made by the valiant Royal Armed Forces in the defense and preservation of the Sahara within the motherland. For all these reasons, he concluded, the Kingdom rejects any partition, even of a single grain of sand of the Moroccan Sahara.