On November 5, 2025, from Brussels, the Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for the Sahara, Staffan de Mistura, spoke for the first time since the Security Council adopted Resolution 2797 on October 31. This landmark resolution, championed by the United States and widely supported within the Council, enshrined the Moroccan autonomy plan as the only realistic, serious, and credible basis for achieving a lasting political solution to the regional dispute over the Sahara.
Organized via videoconference between Brussels and UN headquarters in New York, the press briefing marks a major turning point in UN diplomacy. Staffan de Mistura clarified the framework, the actors, and the method of the future political process. Through his measured yet unequivocal remarks, de Mistura outlined a new diplomatic paradigm where the autonomy plan is no longer just one option among others, but the structuring reference point for the upcoming negotiations.
The core of De Mistura's message is contained in a simple but politically significant sentence: We will, of course, take Morocco's 2007 autonomy plan as the basis for these negotiations, as indicated in resolution 2797. This wording eliminates any ambiguity regarding the future working framework. The Special Envoy is no longer referring to it as simply one starting point among others, but as a basis recognized by the Security Council and supported by a renewed international dynamic. He also confirmed that he expects an update to this proposal. We eagerly await Morocco's submission of an expanded and updated autonomy plan, as I requested in my briefing to the Security Council on October 16, 2024, and as His Majesty King Mohammed VI announced in his recent speech. With the framework clearly defined, this should not be long in coming. In line with the UN resolution, Morocco will update and refine its autonomy proposal for subsequent submission to the United Nations. As a realistic and applicable solution, it will constitute the sole basis for negotiation, announced King Mohammed VI in his speech on October 31, 2025.
Meanwhile, the invitation extended by Antonio Guterres's personal envoy confirms that the centrality of the Moroccan plan is now accompanied by a process of consolidation. The UN's role is therefore no longer to juxtapose contradictory positions, but to structure a process based on a single, evolving, and realistic project.
However, true to the diplomatic prudence that characterizes the UN system, Staffan de Mistura is careful to avoid upsetting other actors, adding:"All of this is based on the autonomy plan, but we remain open to other constructive ideas," he said. The openness he mentions in no way calls into question the primacy of the autonomy plan. Rather, it stems from a strategy of inclusion, designed to prevent other parties (particularly Algeria) from feeling marginalized or constrained.
In other words, the special envoy is practicing a diplomacy of balance. He firmly maintains the political framework adopted by the Security Council, while offering a symbolic margin of participation to those who contest this framework. The objective is to create a space for dialogue where everyone can sit down, but around a single table: the table of autonomy. It is in this spirit that he suggests that engaging in negotiations does not automatically mean accepting their outcome. The important thing is to participate, he insisted.
The clearly identified parts
One of the most revealing moments of the press conference occurred during an exchange with a Palestinian journalist, accredited to the UN and well-known for his close ties to the Algerian regime, who mentioned two parties to the conflict. De Mistura then firmly corrected him: The parties are now clearly identified: Morocco, the Polisario Front, Algeria, and Mauritania.
This seemingly innocuous sentence marks a fundamental shift in the diplomatic paradigm. By explicitly naming Algeria among the parties, De Mistura puts an end to a decades-old ambiguity and aligns his discourse with the very content of Resolution 2797. The text says nothing different. All parties are called upon to engage in the new process. The Security Council never refers to two parties, supposedly Morocco and the Polisario Front, but to all, including Mauritania, and, most importantly, Algeria. Staffan de Mistura's precise statement conveys a twofold message: firstly, the conflict cannot be reduced to a dispute between Morocco and the Polisario Front. Secondly, any lasting solution requires the direct engagement of Algeria, a key player in the conflict.
This clarification, supported by the Security Council, strengthens the position of the personal envoy, now backed by a stronger mandate and a defined working framework.
The other key message from the press briefing lies in defining the role of the UN Secretary-General and his Personal Envoy. De Mistura emphasized that the resolution gives them a proactive mandate. “A role and a mandate are entrusted to the Secretary-General and the Personal Envoy, not only to facilitate, but to lead the negotiations,” he stressed. “Leading implies direct responsibility, an obligation to achieve results. This places the organization in a steering role, where it becomes the driving force and guarantor of the political process.”
The decisive role of the United States
From the outset of his remarks, De Mistura emphasized the leading role of the United States in drafting the resolution. Resolution 2797 is the result of a very proactive engagement by the sponsoring country, through Dr. Massad Boulos (Senior Advisor to President Donald Trump on Africa and the Middle East), Ambassador Mike Waltz (United States Ambassador to the United Nations), and other relevant members of the Council.
This explicit recognition illustrates the American desire to reaffirm its leadership position on this issue. Since Washington's recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over the Sahara in 2020, the United States has consistently pushed for the consolidation of the autonomy plan as the only viable solution. And this is not the end of it. Staffan de Mistura's expression of a renewed international energy underscores this revitalization of diplomatic momentum thanks to Washington's involvement.
The Personal Envoy outlined the next steps in his mandate in concrete terms. “The real work begins now, to reach a mutually agreed solution to this fifty-year-old conflict,” he commented. He further clarified that he and the Secretary-General have a substantial mandate to lead this process, in accordance with resolution 2797, which requires them to report to the Security Council within six months.
This deadline introduces a culture of results and accountability within the UN mediation, breaking with the inertia that has long characterized the issue. De Mistura is thus committing the UN to a logic of measurable action, where the credibility of the process will depend on its ability to produce tangible progress within a set timeframe.
In this respect, the Brussels press conference was not merely a public relations exercise. It constituted a genuine declaration of method and political orientation. De Mistura confirmed that the Moroccan autonomy plan now represents the only valid framework for a political solution. His speech also redefined the diplomatic geography of the conflict, explicitly including Algeria, while affirming the direct responsibility of the UN and the strategic support of the United States. This new configuration profoundly transforms the regional dynamic: the debate is no longer between autonomy or an impossible referendum, but between constructive participation and diplomatic isolation. The press conference of November 5, 2025, formalized what Resolution 2797 had politically sealed: the era of ambiguities is over, and that of UN realism has begun. The process leading to a definitive solution to the Western Sahara conflict is now underway.
