El Salvador reaffirmed on Friday its support for Morocco’s efforts to reach a « realistic, political, pragmatic and lasting » solution to the Western Sahara dispute, in remarks delivered before the UN General Assembly’s Fourth Committee, meeting in New York for its annual debate on decolonization.
Speaking on behalf of the Salvadoran delegation, the country’s representative said Morocco’s autonomy initiative represents « an essential element » in the search for a durable resolution to a dispute that has pitted Rabat against the Algeria-backed Polisario Front for decades. The diplomat also praised the work carried out by the personal envoy of the UN Secretary-General, tasked with relaunching and accompanying the political process conducted under United Nations auspices.
El Salvador’s statement did not stand alone. It came amid a broader diplomatic sequence: during the same Fourth Committee proceedings, several delegations, among them Chile, Ecuador and member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council, voiced, in similarly worded interventions, their backing for the autonomy plan Morocco put forward in 2007 as the basis for negotiation. The convergence of these statements underscores the diplomatic momentum Rabat has built on this file in recent years, bolstered by a steady accumulation of bilateral endorsements and recognitions within multilateral forums.
Morocco’s autonomy plan, presented as a compromise solution granting the local population broad self-governance over their own affairs under Moroccan sovereignty, is increasingly regarded by a growing number of capitals, including Washington, Paris and Madrid, as the most serious and credible basis for ending a conflict that has, for nearly five decades, held back development across the wider Maghreb region.
The Fourth Committee, which handles decolonization issues, convenes every autumn to hear the positions of member states and petitioners on the various territories on its agenda, Western Sahara among them. Although its proceedings are non-binding, they offer a valuable barometer of how the diplomatic balance of power around this sensitive file is shifting, closely watched both by Moroccan diplomacy and by its critics.