After the UN tilt to Rabat, Washington pushes a Morocco-Algeria reconciliation
US envoys float a 60-day deal as UNSC Resolution 2797 anchors Morocco's autonomy plan for Western Sahara; Algiers, patron of the Polisario, stays cold
Summary
United Nations Security Council Resolution 2797 (October 2025) named Morocco's 2007 autonomy plan as potentially the most feasible basis for resolving the Western Sahara dispute, renewing MINURSO and tilting the diplomatic ground toward Rabat; Algeria did not vote. On that momentum, United States envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner floated finalising a Morocco Algeria peace deal within 60 days, with Trump's Africa adviser Massad Boulos shuttling between Rabat and Algiers. Algeria, patron of the Polisario Front, which still demands full independence, has not formally engaged. The 2021 rupture persists: severed ties, the shut Maghreb-Europe gas pipeline, an arms race and Sahara incidents. The standoff stays frozen — a US push without an Algerian counterpart.
By the numbers
- 2797 — UNSC resolution (Oct 2025), adopted 11-0, 3 abstentions.
- 60 days — US envoys' stated deal target (from Oct 2025).
- 2021 — year Algeria cut ties and closed the gas pipeline to Spain.
- ~12 bcm → ~8 bcm — gas Algeria once sent via Morocco vs Medgaz capacity now.
- 50 years — length of the Western Sahara dispute.
Why it matters
A US-brokered Maghreb normalisation tied to Morocco's autonomy plan would lock in Rabat's gains and reroute Western Sahara off the self-determination track — which is precisely why Algiers resists. With both states leaning on military deterrence over diplomacy, the gap between Washington's timeline and the ground reality is wide.
What to watch
- Any sign Algeria formally engages the US initiative (none so far).
- Sahara frontline incidents that could pull the two toward direct confrontation.
- European pressure over gas, migration and the Maghreb-Europe pipeline.