On October 31, 2025, the United Nations Security Council adopted a significant resolution concerning the Western Sahara conflict, formally endorsing Morocco's autonomy plan as the most feasible basis for a solution while also renewing the mandate of the long-standing UN peacekeeping mission there .
The Security Council adopted Resolution 2797 (2025) with 11 votes in favor, none against, and 3 abstentions from China, Pakistan, and the Russian Federation. Algeria, a key party in the dispute, did not participate in the vote .
The resolution marks a shift in the UN's approach by expressing the Council's "full support" for negotiations that take "as basis Morocco’s Autonomy Proposal" from 2007 . The resolution further recognizes that "genuine autonomy could represent a most feasible outcome" and encourages the parties to work towards a solution that provides for self-determination . The US-drafted text also renews the mandate of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) for one year, until October 31, 2026, and requests a strategic review of the mission within six months .
The conflict over Western Sahara, a territory rich in phosphates with a long Atlantic coastline, began in 1975 after the withdrawal of Spanish colonial forces. Morocco claimed and subsequently annexed the territory, leading to a war with the Polisario Front, a movement seeking independence for the Sahrawi people .
The Polisario Front proclaimed the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) in 1976 and is backed by Algeria . A UN-brokered ceasefire was established in 1991, with the deployment of MINURSO to monitor the truce and organize a referendum on self-determination . That referendum, which was to allow the people of Western Sahara to choose between independence or integration with Morocco, has never been held .
The resolution has elicited strong, divergent responses from the involved parties and international stakeholders, highlighting the conflict's complexity. Morocco, which views Western Sahara as an integral part of its kingdom, celebrated the resolution. The Moroccan king hailed it as a "historic decision" and a step toward "a definitive close" to the dispute . The Polisario Front firmly rejected the resolution, calling it a "legitimization of Moroccan occupation" . In a formal statement, the Front affirmed it would not be party to any process based on proposals that "deprive the Sahrawi people of their inalienable, non-negotiable... right to self-determination and sovereignty" . Algeria’s ambassador to the UN argued the text "does not faithfully nor sufficiently reflect the United Nations doctrine on decolonization" and ignores proposals submitted by the Polisario Front . Explaining its abstention, Russia's ambassador called the resolution an "unbalanced text" and criticized the U.S. for using the Council to "advance their national agenda" . China and Pakistan also abstained, with Pakistan noting the text does not fully address the principle of self-determination . The United States, which led the drafting, described the vote as "historic" and a chance for "long overdue peace" . The United Kingdom welcomed the resolution, stating it considers Morocco's plan "the most credible, viable, and pragmatic basis for a solution" . France also voiced support for autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty .