The White House said in a statement last week that “Morocco’s autonomy plan is the only real option to achieve a just, permanent and mutually acceptable settlement of the Western Sahara dispute.”
But the move sparked criticism of the decades-long conflict.
Much of Western Sahara – the former Spanish territory – was administered by Morocco after the invasion in 1975, while the self-proclaimed Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic controls a small part of the region. Negotiations between the two sides have been at a diplomatic standstill for decades, with the United Nations calling for some independent decisions for the Saharawi people.
Baker said recognizing Morocco’s claim would advance any hope for negotiations and jeopardize American engagement in the region. He particularly drew attention to Algeria, which supports the Saharawi Polisario front and is Morocco’s main rival in the Maghreb. Algeria is the U.S.’s largest strategic partner in North Africa, Belger said.
“The recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over the Western Sahara by the Trump administration is a major and unfortunate change in the long-running U.S. policy under both the Democrat and Republican administrations,” Baker wrote. “The combination of Abraham’s agreement with the conflict in the Western Sahara, clearly and unequivocally an issue of self-determination, will not strengthen or extend the agreement.”
Baker served as Secretary of State under President George HW Bush from 1989 to 1992, and was a member of the U.N. Shortly afterwards, the Secretary-General’s envoy for Western Sahara.
Baker is not alone in condemning the move, which has broken with the United Nations, the European Union and the African Union. Sen. Jim Inhoff (R-la Art.) Condemned the move last week, saying he found the policy change “shocking and deeply frustrating.” Inhoff said he was “saddened that the rights of the Western Sahara people have been traded.”
Former National Security Adviser John Bolton also drew attention to the decision on Tuesday and urged President-elect Joe Biden to plead against it.
“Trump’s decision to throw his supporters under the bus is eating away at three decades of American support for their self-reliance through a referendum on the future of the region,” Bolton wrote in Foreign Policy.
