“The United States fully supports UN Personal Envoy de Mistura in facilitating the negotiations process to achieve a just, lasting, and mutually acceptable solution for the Sahara,” the statement points out. The visit to Rabat of Deputy Assistant Secretary Joshua Harris will also focus on the means to further strengthen the U.S.-Morocco partnership in addition to a range of regional security priorities, the statement stresses. In choosing Algeria as an interlocutor on the Sahara issue, the US sends a clear message that Algiers is the real party to the conflict, vindicating Morocco’s position that no political solution is fathomable without the active involvement of Algeria, the paymaster, protector and donor of the Polisario militias. “We are serious about using our influence to enable a successful UN political process,” said Harris in his interview. The US recognized Morocco’s sovereignty over the Sahara territory in 2020 and backed the autonomy plan.
