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Feb. 21, 2021
To this day, the UN maintains a list of 17 territories considered as non-self-governing – territories that have yet to be decolonized. All, except one, are islands, the vast majority administered by the United Kingdom; the smallest, Pitcairn, has just 43 residents. By far the largest by poulation (582,000 inhabitants) and land area (266,00 sq km) is Western Sahara.
In 1960, the UN passed Resolution 1514, which declared, All peoples have the right to self-determination. In 1975, Western Sahara was recognized as a non-self-governing territory, after Spain renounced its sovereignty. In 1990, the UN General Assembly reaffirmed that Western Sahara was was still waiting to be decolonized, and that its future should be determined by its people.
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Print this article Polisario Front soldiers drive a pick-up truck mounted with an anti-aircraft weapon in Bir Lahlou, Western Sahara, in 2016.
(Zohra Bensemra/Reuters) The Baker and Bolton arguments against recognizing the country’s sovereignty over the Western Sahara do not hold water.
Near the very end of President Trump’s administration, the United States recognized Moroccan sovereignty over the Western Sahara. That move elicited loud protests, most notably from James Baker, John Bolton, and Senator James Inhofe (R., Okla.). For reasons that are not persuasive, all three have long opposed Morocco’s territorial claims and have favored a process likely to weaken the kingdom, an important U.S. ally in a dangerous region. Moreover, their proposals might hand the territory over to the Polisario, a Cold War remnant organization that cannot reasonably be expected to play Morocco’s role in the struggle against terrorism and extremism.
The United States has agreed to set up a consulate in the Wesetern Sahara region while recognizing Morocco s control over the territory. Photo Credit: Martine Perret via UN Photos
An independent Republic of Western Sahara moves farther from the grasp of the Polisario Front as the United States has expressed its intentions of establishing a consulate in the contested territory while recognizing Morocco’s right to it.
This development, coming at the tail end of 2020, is a watershed moment in the geopolitics of North Africa. Morocco has scored a victory that allows the country to rest easy as grey areas fast dissipate in the deliberation on Western Sahara. But the agreement also marks what American diplomats would count as their own triumph of a sort, with Washington convincing the Islamic Kingdom of Morocco to initiate diplomatic relations with the Jewish state of Israel.