Decisive Amendments to the U.S. Draft Resolution on Western Sahara: Diplomatic Triumph Restores Balance and Legitimacy to a Colonial Question
✍️ BY: Dr. Hana Saada
Algiers – October 2025 – In a decisive diplomatic development at the United Nations, intensive negotiations within the Security Council have led to major amendments to the U.S. draft resolution on Western Sahara, following relentless efforts spearheaded by Algeria and several member states.
According to diplomatic sources in New York, the voting session—initially scheduled for Thursday—has been postponed to Friday evening, after the U.S. delegation circulated a third, substantially revised version of the text.
These amendments mark a critical diplomatic victory for Algeria and its allies who, through tireless consultations over the past 24 hours with various Security Council members and with Massad Boulos, the U.S. President’s Special Envoy for Middle Eastern and North African Affairs, succeeded in rectifying the political bias and legal distortions embedded in the original draft.
The newly revised version represents a profound shift in both tone and substance. It restores the principle of self-determination as the cornerstone of any settlement to the decades-long conflict, unequivocally reaffirming the inalienable right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination—a right explicitly mentioned twice in the text and anchored firmly in the principles of international law and the Charter of the United Nations. Crucially, this right is no longer confined to the narrow framework of so-called “autonomy,” a formulation that had been heavily promoted by Morocco and supported in the earlier draft.
The new text also renewed the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) for a full twelve months—an important reversal of the initial three-month extension proposed in the first version. The revised resolution eliminates all references suggesting the possible termination or alteration of MINURSO’s mandate, thereby preserving the mission’s central role in facilitating the long-delayed referendum on self-determination.
Moreover, the third version categorically rebuffs Moroccan narratives that sought to undermine the legal status of the Sahrawi people and their legitimate representative, the Polisario Front. The text now explicitly recognizes the Sahrawi people as the principal holders of the right to self-determination and affirms the Polisario Front’s status as a key negotiating party alongside Morocco—rejecting any attempt to marginalize or delegitimize it.
In a major diplomatic correction, all previous language portraying Morocco’s so-called autonomy plan as the “only basis” or “realistic solution” to the conflict has been deleted. Instead, the door has been reopened for new proposals from both parties, particularly from the Sahrawi side, that could lead to a just and lasting solution to what the text rightly frames as a decolonization issue.
This turn of events reflects a growing recognition within the international community that the question of Western Sahara is not a territorial dispute, but a matter of unfinished decolonization and occupation. The amended resolution restores the centrality of international legality and the right of peoples to freedom and independence, in stark contrast to the Moroccan narrative that seeks to normalize an occupation condemned by the UN and international law.
As diplomatic consultations continue ahead of the final vote, several member states are pushing for additional refinements to ensure the text remains balanced, consistent with the principles of self-determination, and aligned with the historic responsibilities of the United Nations toward the Sahrawi people.
This diplomatic breakthrough underscores Algeria’s steadfast commitment to defending the legitimacy of liberation movements and the principles of decolonization—a commitment rooted in its own revolutionary legacy.
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