Moroccan parties working on Western Sahara plan updates

Political parties in Morocco are working on updating the 2007 Western Sahara autonomy plan, after King Mohammed VI called for the proposal to be refined, according to Moroccan government-friendly Hespress on 17th November.

Following the UN Security Council’s approval of the Western Sahara resolution on 31st October, in which the Moroccan plan was recognised as a “most feasible outcome”, Morocco has been expected to present a more detailed version of the plan, explaining how it would protect the Sahrawi people’s autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty.

The parties are working independently on their own proposals, after holding meetings with Royal advisers, and they are expected to be submitted early next week at the latest. The proposals vary greatly, reflecting the values of each party and the diversity of the Moroccan political scene.

The Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM), founded by a close advisor to the King and part of the coalition currently in government, is updating the 2007 proposal but keeping in line with its principles.

The conservative Istiqlal party (Independence), also in government, and the left-wing Party of Progress and Socialism (PPS) have both convened a committee of experts on the Western Sahara conflict to prepare their own memos.

The Unified Socialist Party (PSU), on the other hand, is approaching the issue very differently by building its own framework instead of the 2007 proposal, and focusing on the core issues of democratic norms, territorial sovereignty and autonomy within Morocco.

Meanwhile, another Hespress article reported that the Algeria-backed Polisario Front is currently revising its position, and might be planning to go back to the ceasefire agreement of 1991. The militias are under growing pressure to find a resolution to the longstanding conflict due to the UN vote approving the Moroccan plan, but also because of the deteriorating living conditions in Tindouf refugee camps, on the Algeria border.

The inhabitants are increasingly dissatisfied with the Polisario leadership and management of the camp, leaving the Front in an increasingly fragile position.

Hespress, Maghrebi.org