Political debate is raging in the southern provinces of the Kingdom regarding the geographical nature of the Moroccan Sahara, particularly with the approach of UN-led negotiations that could solidify the autonomy initiative as the only viable framework. With each political development on the horizon, societal questions resurface, this time more boldly and sharply, seeking their place within the anticipated political model; a model that demands a precise understanding of the region's specific characteristics and its social fabric, which transcends official maps and re-examines the issue at its very root.

The discussion about the Sahara is not so much a matter of borders or maps as it is a debate about an entire society that arose within a vast area whose tribes do not recognize the divisions drawn by Spanish colonialism. The tribes that historically moved between Wadi Nun, Saguia el-Hamra, Wadi al-Dahab, Tindouf, and northern Mauritania formed a complex human fabric that produced an elite that played diverse roles: some chose to integrate into the Moroccan nation-state, others found themselves caught up in the calculations of the separatist Polisario Front, while the vast majority remained outside these alignments, maintaining their belonging to a single Hassani space.

This extension has created a new equation for the political and legal debate related to self-governance: how can a regional political model translate a social reality that goes beyond the scope of the land being discussed by the United Nations? There is not a single tribe whose margins are confined within the borders of the “disputed area,” but rather a large part of the population of Guelmim and Oued Noun, for example, is organically linked to this extension, and any exclusion of it from the anticipated project is a highly sensitive issue.

From a legal standpoint, it seems clear that the Security Council has moved in recent years toward establishing a new approach that makes autonomy the basis for a political solution, linking the future of the UN process to the duality of “national sovereignty” and “regional consensus,” without allowing any room for separatist formulas. However, this legal framework, despite its solidity, is insufficient on its own to address the complexities of a society that has formed over centuries within an open geographical area. This leads political actors and researchers to warn against any standardized or technical approach that fails to grasp the socio-tribal dimension of the region.

In this vein, the Kingdom views the autonomy project as a purely Moroccan mechanism, not a replication of experiences in Asia or Europe; an approach based on historical legitimacy, the resilience of Hassani society, and a current international political climate conducive to realistic solutions. From this perspective, Rabat rejects any international trusteeship or external monitoring mechanism, asserting that “the implementation of the model must originate from within society and its local institutions, while remaining grounded in a strong political center that safeguards the unity and territorial integrity of the state.”

Re-examining the relationship between the “geographical sphere” and the “social sphere” is a methodological necessity today, because the architecture of legal self-governance is built on a precise understanding of the ways in which power is formed within the tribes, of the interaction of local elites with regional transformations, and of the ability to integrate returnees without creating imbalances in social equilibrium.

Instead of being preoccupied with the traditional question: Will autonomy succeed? The discussion has shifted towards a more realistic question: How will it be implemented? And how can geography meet the broad tribal extension without compromising the unity of the state? This question, although premature, reflects the magnitude of the transformation that now governs the way Sahrawi society is understood within the dynamics of the political solution.

The next phase, with its international stakes, societal pressures, and regional balances, opens the door to rethinking how to broaden local participation, how to represent the various tribal components within the model, and how to build mechanisms that accommodate the historical sensitivities of the region. These are questions that pave the way for deeper discussions and lay the foundation for a new vision that transforms autonomy into a state project, rather than simply a legalistic response to a regional conflict that has dragged on for far too long.

Sahrawi identity

Student Bouya Abahazem, one of the Sahrawi tribal elders, said that the debate taking place today about the geographical scope of the Moroccan Sahara constitutes a fundamental question related to the identity of the Sahrawi community and its ability to represent itself within the autonomy project that the United Nations is moving towards as the only possible framework for settling the fabricated conflict, adding that “everything that is happening now can be considered a calm review of the nature of the human extension that has always preceded the political borders.”

Abahazem emphasized, in an interview with Hespress, that the Sahrawi society was historically formed in a space wider than the borders drawn by Spanish colonialism, and that any discussion about autonomy must take into account the tribal ties that extend between Wadi Noun, Tan-Tan, Tindouf and northern Mauritania; as these ties are an essential part of the structure of collective consciousness and determine the loyalties of the population and their methods of social organization.

The Vice President of the International Union for Supporting Autonomy explained that the challenge today lies in the extent to which the autonomy model can accommodate a society that has historically moved with the logic of tribal extension rather than the logic of narrow regionalism, noting that “excluding the Guelmim-Oued Noun region from the scope of the project should not be viewed with a rigid geographical logic, given the deep connection of its people to the disputed land on a historical and fateful level.”

The specialist in the sociology of development stated that the growing recognition within the Security Council of the realism of the self-governance initiative poses new challenges for the post-solution phase, stressing that “self-governance is a societal project that needs precise representation mechanisms that preserve the cohesion of local components and give each tribe and group its natural place within the anticipated institutions.”

In his reading of the history of the region, Sheikh Al-Sahrawi stressed that the Sahara was a meeting point for caravan routes and a vast area in which elites were formed who played pivotal roles in the course of the conflict, whether they joined the Polisario Front in its early days or chose to defend the territorial integrity of the Kingdom, stressing that understanding this legacy is necessary to design a model of self-governance capable of embracing everyone without exclusion or fragmentation of the collective memory.

Abahazem revealed that the biggest challenge in the next stage is to reconcile the “geographical map” adopted by the United Nations with the “social map” defined by the tribes, explaining that the success of self-rule is linked to its ability to keep pace with the nature of society and the principle of belonging that preceded the modern state, and calling for opening a serious scientific discussion within universities and think tanks to build an integrated vision about the relationship between space and man in the desert.

The same speaker concluded that the next stage requires political calm and shared responsibility between the state and local elites, noting that the Moroccan initiative constitutes “a historic opportunity to rebuild the relationship between the state and society on the foundations of participation and trust,” stressing that “this opportunity will not be invested unless the tribal question is dealt with wisely, in a way that preserves the region’s particularity and makes autonomy a framework for coexistence and progress, and not just a technical solution to a political issue that has lasted for more than five decades.”

autonomy

Abdelwahab Elkain, president of the “Africa Watch” organization, believes that the intellectual and political debates between many civil activists and political actors in various parts of the Sahara come against the backdrop of statements and interpretations of the contents of Security Council Resolution No. 2797, which makes the autonomy proposal submitted by the Kingdom of Morocco since 2007 a serious and credible executive mechanism for the final resolution of the fabricated Moroccan Sahara conflict, and a consecration of the balanced application of the rules of international law related to the settlement of disputes by peaceful means, in the case of demands to complete territorial unity and strengthen regional peace of states.

Al-Kayen added, in a statement to the Hespress electronic newspaper, that addressing the legal status of the Moroccan regions adjacent to the southern provinces concerned with the conflict is not a paradox that makes ambiguity a way to give a special status to the inhabitants of the Sahara from other Moroccans, whether it is related to the colonies of France or Spain, because those have a legal status identical to the recovered southern provinces as part of a unified kingdom with a unified regionality.

The deputy coordinator of the Sahrawi NGO Alliance explained that the regions adjacent to the territories recovered from the Spanish colonizer are considered, under international law, to be undisputed Moroccan territory, while the other southern region retains the status of a disputed territory, despite being legally and institutionally equal to the rest of Morocco. The Kingdom has presented a plan to grant it autonomy that empowers its inhabitants to manage their own affairs, while the recent UN resolution enshrined this trend towards building a political future decided in favor of Moroccan sovereignty and independent self-governance, to ensure a complete closure of a conflict with multiple parties and narrow prospects for its resolution.

The same spokesperson stressed that it is necessary to contribute to the implementation of this innovative project to support stability and security in North Africa, regardless of the practical complexities that may arise from this legal duality, whether at the level of economic integration, infrastructure development, demographic flows, or administrative coordination. This is due to the need to link the adjacent regions and the recovered territories within functionally unified systems. He continued: “The heated local debate about whether or not to include the Guelmim-Oued Noun region, as an adjacent region to Saguia el-Hamra and Dakhla-Oued Ed-Dahab, as an integral and undisputed part of Morocco, and as a geographical, historical, cultural, civilizational, and administrative bridge to the recovered territories, should not distract from the unprecedented progress made in reducing tensions in international law between respecting the territorial integrity of existing states and protecting the right to self-determination leading to secession.”

The source told Hespress that the final solution to the Moroccan Sahara conflict will not perpetuate legal inequality between the Guelmim-Oued Noun region as an adjacent area and its sister regions through the implementation of expanded autonomy, nor will it contribute to awakening new separatist dreams, even though the unified legal status that brought together the three southern regions, in terms of competencies, powers, funding possibilities and means of operation, will change due to the new legal status that will be created by reaching a final agreement to adopt the autonomy proposal.

Al-Kayen pointed out that the location of Guelmim-Oued Noun, adjacent to the northern edge of the recovered territories, will not put it at the bottom of the priorities, if the political will is available to its elites and representatives of its elected bodies to take off the region and advocate for an advanced position in regional engineering, and to distance themselves from conflicts and proxy wars in order to dust off the aspirations of a population that still feels bitterness from what it suffered during the years of war and the malice of politics and peace, despite the fact that it formed a vital administrative and commercial axis.

In his interview with Hespress, the same human rights activist pointed out that the absence of a strategic vision for development and investment in the Wadi Noun region, the low levels of political debate, and the disruption of the work of institutions are what created a distinction between it and the rest of the Saharan regions, and not a government policy directed against the region's inhabitants. This is because the controversy surrounding the marginalization of Wadi Noun has not been framed in its proper context, in the absence of accountability for the political performance of the various parties in the region, and the lack of defining the voters' choices to select their representatives in relation to managing development and investment issues and the relationship with the central government, and the lack of discussion of the region's rights as a region belonging to the Saharan space and a gateway that deserves priority in public employment and economic opportunities, and the creation of economic integration between it and the recovered southern provinces, in a context that allows for the political legitimization of the democratic choice and the highlighting of effective administration and development to strengthen the sense of national belonging in all areas of the Sahara and consolidate Moroccan sovereignty over it locally and internationally.

The spokesperson added, explaining: “The repeated demands for a status similar to that of the recovered southern provinces in the 1970s have no justification in international law literature or national legislation, because the international legal framework established as a ceiling for resolving the Sahara issue does not exceed the Moroccan autonomy proposal as a horizon and reference framework, based on the issue of territorial integrity versus self-determination, while clinging to the Moroccan Sahara makes the adjacent region merely an ordinary internal administrative division of a sovereign state, subject entirely to local jurisdiction without any special international legal status, and its relationship with the recovered region is determined within the framework of a purely national administrative organization.”

Abdelwahab El Kain concluded his remarks to Hespress by emphasizing that the Guelmim-Oued Noun region will occupy a unique position in the territorial organization of Morocco, as it is a demographic, cultural, civilizational, economic, and administrative bridge between the northern regions and the future autonomy region. Granting the latter a political privilege will not create a discrepancy with the standard regional framework applied to the adjacent regions, as long as the goal is to promote development and investment and protect human rights on a broad scale, provided that there is genuine political will and that political participation and representation in elected bodies reflects the movement of Sahrawi society in its various locations. The legal status of the Sahrawi regions will remain merely a detail that develops or regresses according to the vitality or stagnation of the components of the Sahrawi regions and their victory for the homeland and the choices of the unifying state, instead of retreating into the sterile confines of tribalism and regionalism.

Transcendental Byzantine speech

Mohammed Salem Al-Shafei, a media figure from the southern regions and a researcher into the intricacies of the fabricated conflict, noted that the discussion about how to accommodate the updated autonomy model for the diverse and geographically expansive tribal reality is of paramount importance, especially as the international discussion approaches the adoption of the Moroccan initiative as the sole solution to the fabricated conflict over the Sahara.

In response to a question about the extent to which autonomy can accommodate the expansion of tribes beyond the maps adopted by the United Nations, Al-Shafi’i stressed that “autonomy concerns a region that was disputed and which Morocco reclaimed through the Green March after the decision of the International Court of Justice in The Hague, while the issue continued for more than five decades at the heart of the tensions of international institutions, from the Organization of African Unity to the African Union, up to the United Nations, which recently issued its decision to adopt the Moroccan proposal for autonomy.”

The same spokesperson confirmed that this region, which was historically known as the Saharan region, is inhabited by dozens of tribes whose reach is not limited to the southern regions, but extends beyond them to the north and south of the country and also extends beyond the national borders, which necessitates dealing with autonomy on a purely geographical basis, and considering it a project that reflects the cultural and social identity of the Sahrawi people.

The conflict expert stated that the geographical area concerned by the project extends from the Al-Tah group in the north (formerly known as “Lakrouchi”) to La Guera near the border with Mauritania, and that the debate taking place today about the framework of geographical affiliation of the region is “a Byzantine debate and not a political one, and therefore the actors in the legal and political field must intensify the debate on the issue of geographical affiliation of the Sahrawi identity, as it is the basic pillar of any model of self-governance capable of containing all local components.”

Regarding the recent controversy about excluding some regions from the scope of autonomy, the spokesperson explained that “any attempt to define the scope of the project according to rigid geographical criteria will be a futile discussion, while the most important thing is to focus on the identity and historical and cultural affiliation of the tribes, which extend across a large area of desert land.”

In his reading of the recent developments, Al-Shafi’i stressed that the recent speech of King Mohammed VI, in which he announced the updating of the autonomy project, confirms an exceptional national approach aimed at strengthening national belonging and regional cohesion, while preserving the uniqueness of the pure Moroccan model, which reflects the Kingdom’s desire to unite local energies without compromising the historical Sahrawi identity.

The journalist and researcher concluded his remarks by emphasizing that the next stage requires concerted efforts from the state and local elites, and focusing the discussion on identity and social and tribal representation, as they are essential elements to ensure the success of the self-governance project, and to make the region a space for development and coexistence.

Comprehensive historical extension

Mohamed Fadel Bekada, head of the Center for Political and Strategic Studies of the “Sahrawis for Peace” movement, believes that any discussion about implementing the autonomy project in the southern provinces cannot be separated from the nature of Hassani society, as it is a society that was formed within a cohesive geographical area that historically extended from Wadi Noun to the borders of Chinguetti, and from Saguia el-Hamra towards the eastern depth of the Sahara. He added: “This extension is still influential in the form of relations within the tribes, and in how individuals represent their identity and paths of belonging, which gives the political project proposed today a uniqueness that differs from other comparable experiences.”

In a statement to Hespress, Baqada said that the tribal structure in the Sahara, despite its many branches and the different paths of its settlement, has succeeded over time in forming a single societal core united by the Hassaniya language, the Maliki school of thought, and a shared heritage, which has made the borders drawn by the colonial powers incapable of separating these ties.

In this regard, the head of the Center for Political and Strategic Studies pointed out that an important part of families and clans has a natural extension outside the area adopted by the United Nations in its discussions, and this should be present when discussing the identity of the groups included in the self-rule project.

The same spokesperson continued, saying that when Morocco presented the autonomy initiative in 2007, it chose an open model that takes into account the particularities of Sahrawi society, without replicating any ready-made international experience. He added: “With the increasing number of international positions supporting the initiative, and the subsequent Security Council Resolution 2797 in October 2025, the discussion moved to a more precise stage related to how to prepare the mechanisms for implementation on the ground, in a way that ensures complete harmony with the unity of national sovereignty, the customs of the region, and its social structure.”

The source told Hespress that dealing with the category of returnees from abroad requires a realistic approach that appreciates the conditions of asylum that have lasted for decades, and the accompanying attempts to influence the mental and identity structure of a number of individuals, noting that “the state is required to take precise measures that ensure the arrangement of the legal and social status of this category without harming local balances or arousing tribal sensitivities.”

The same source explained that since the Security Council resolution was issued, the desert cities have been experiencing an excessive surge of consultative meetings and community initiatives, indicating that the discussion is no longer limited to diplomatic dimensions only, but has become part of a broad internal dialogue seeking to form a common vision about the structure of the next stage and to strengthen national belonging.

In this context, Mohamed Fadel Bakada believes that the success of autonomy is linked to the Kingdom’s ability to integrate the socio-tribal particularity of the region into a coherent institutional project that consolidates stability and restores the geographical and social space in which the Sahrawi society was formed over centuries, within the framework of respecting the sovereignty of the state and the unity of its territory.