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The UK government threw support behind Morocco’s plans to resolve the Western Sahara conflict, overturning its long-standing position in order to gain greater access to British companies ahead of the 2030 World Cup.
Foreign Secretary David Lamy on Sunday said support for Morocco’s “autonomy plan” for the Western Sahara, which is placed under Rabat’s ultimate control, is the “most reliable, viable and practical” basis for achieving a “lasting solution” for the disputed territory.
Lamie’s comments made during his visit to Morocco show the UK’s shift in diplomatic status, which has long been said to be “unclear” in the Western Sahara.
They could also anger Moroccan neighbor and rival Algeria. It hosts and supports the Polisario Front, the Saharawi Group, which is fighting for independence for its territory.
The arid, sparsely populated territory was annexed by Morocco in 1975 after Spain retreated from its North African colonies.
The Morocco and the Polisario Front attacked a ceasefire in 1991 after 16 years of conflict, but 100,000 square miles of territory in Northwest Africa remains contested and the unmediated process remains stagnant. Morocco now manages most of the Western Sahara, with the Polisario front controlling slivers of land in the “free zone” of the Algeria-Mauritania border.
The UK said the new position sought to support “a mutually comprehensive solution to conflicts that support the UN-LED process and respect the principles of self-determination.”
The approval of the Moroccan program effectively acknowledges Rabat’s sovereignty over the territory, and comes after Morocco has increased its support for its position in recent years.
In 2020, near the end of his first term, US President Donald Trump recognized the western Sahara as part of Morocco under the Abraham Accord in return for normalizing relations between the kingdom and Israel.
France’s total energy, the national energy champion, which once won exploration rights off the coast of the western Sahara, came out in support of the “autonomy” plan last year, but Spain supported it in 2021.
The UK government said a new trade agreement with Morocco will put UK companies at the “front of queue” when bidding on domestic World Cup-related infrastructure projects.
Authorities also flagged opportunities for the healthcare and renewable energy sectors of UK companies.
The government said the decision was part of the UK’s “progressive realism” foreign policy doctrine and was promoted by Ramie and his team as part of their framework to deal with other countries.
Since the early 1990s, the United Nations has been trying to arrange a Saharawis referendum on whether the western Sahara should be fully independent or part of Morocco.
However, voting has been repeatedly postponed over disagreements about who is eligible to vote. Both Polisario and Morocco wanted to include groups that could shake up the outcome with their favor.
Approximately 180,000 Saharawi refugees live in camps in southwestern Algeria, and Polisario established a government in exile.
Low levels of hostility in the Western Sahara resumed in 2020 after Polisario said he was ending a ceasefire after accusing Morocco of violating the deal.
