John Bolton Accuses Morocco of Sabotaging International Law in Western Sahara

John Bolton Accuses Morocco of Sabotaging International Law in Western Sahara

✍️ BY: Dr. Hana Saada

Algiers, Algeria |  In a blunt and uncompromising interview with Sahara Occidental Radio Revolución on August 12, 2025, former U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton delivered a damning assessment of Morocco’s role in obstructing the decolonization process in Western Sahara. Bolton, who also served as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, revisited the collapse of the 2003 Baker Plan II—a roadmap offering limited autonomy followed by a referendum on self-determination for the Sahrawi people.

Bolton placed the blame squarely on Rabat, accusing the Moroccan government of having “no genuine intention” to honor the referendum that had been in preparation since 1991. He stressed that UN Security Council resolutions were unambiguous: the Sahrawi people must be allowed to choose between integration with Morocco or full independence. “The Moroccan regime rejected this principle outright and pursued a colonial policy of faits accomplis,” Bolton stated.

Recalling the late 1990s and early 2000s, Bolton noted that despite repeated mediation efforts by former UN Envoy James Baker—accepted initially by both Morocco and the Polisario Front—Rabat’s intransigence rendered the peace process sterile. He condemned what he described as Morocco’s “three-decade campaign of obstruction” against the UN’s mandate, facilitated by the indifference of global powers.

Bolton went further, linking the unresolved Western Sahara question to regional instability in the Sahel, while warning of Morocco’s “expansionist ambitions” that, according to him, extend into Algerian and Mauritanian territories—claims he said are backed by maps displayed by Moroccan officials.

The former White House advisor did not spare Europe from criticism, urging EU leaders to treat the conflict with greater urgency given its proximity to the continent and the risk of internal paralysis stemming from Franco-Spanish divisions over the territory’s status. Bolton accused France of enabling Morocco’s colonial stance to safeguard its waning influence in Africa. “A country that calls itself a democracy should not stand in the way of the Sahrawi people’s right to vote,” he charged.

Commending the Polisario Front’s steadfast diplomacy, Bolton emphasized that it remains the legitimate representative of the Sahrawi people, having consistently engaged in negotiations in good faith. Maintaining the current stalemate, he warned, is “intolerable” and undermines the very credibility of the UN peacekeeping mission MINURSO, which he suggested should be disbanded if the referendum continues to be blocked.

Bolton reserved some of his harshest words for his former colleagues in Washington, denouncing  President Donald Trump’s recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara in exchange for Rabat’s participation in the Abraham Accords. “It was a grave mistake to conflate the normalization process with legitimizing colonial occupation,” Bolton argued, asserting that neither Trump nor Jared Kushner understood the depth and complexity of the conflict. He concluded that meaningful progress would require “a different U.S. president” willing to untangle American policy from what he described as a “dangerous and illegitimate bargain.”

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