Algerian diplomacy in denial as UN resolution identifies it as a party to Sahara conflict

Algeria’s latest diplomatic maneuver is drawing scrutiny after Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf proposed that his country would back any mediation between Morocco and the Polisario Front over the Sahara dispute.

The offer,made during a press conference in Algiers,comes despite UN Security Council Resolution 2797 explicitly naming Algeria as a party to the conflict. Algeria hosts,finances,and arms the Polisario while obstructing progress toward a political solution.

The resolution,adopted by 11 votes in favor and none against,underscores the Moroccan autonomy plan under the Kingdom’s sovereignty as the basis for negotiations and calls on “all parties” – Morocco,the Polisario,Algeria,and Mauritania – to engage constructively.

Algeria,which boycotted the vote,continues to insist it is merely a “neighboring state,” a claim increasingly at odds with the text of the resolution and decades of involvement in the dispute.

Algeria’s mediation proposal is in this context an attempt to reframe its role amid growing international consensus around Morocco’s autonomy plan.

Attaf’s reaction is part of a narrative shift born of necessity as Algiers cannot block the negotiations process on the basis of autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty anymore.

Morocco made it clear that Algeria is the genuine party to the conflict that pulls the strings of the Polisario and that any negotiations process should involve Algiers.