Algeria said on Tuesday it was ready to support mediation between Morocco and the Polisario Front to secure a just and lasting settlement.
The announcement marked a notable shift for Algiers, which severed ties with Rabat in 2021 and long championed a referendum on Sahrawi self-determination.
The move followed an October 31 UN Security Council vote endorsing Morocco’s autonomy plan, which envisions Western Sahara governing itself under the kingdom’s exclusive sovereignty.
Western Sahara, a vast and mineral-rich former Spanish colony, remains controlled largely by Morocco but contested by the pro-independence Polisario movement.
Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf said Algeria would “spare no effort” to support any mediation effort that aligns with UN principles and seeks a fair and definitive resolution.
The Security Council earlier urged Morocco, the Polisario Front, Algeria and Mauritania to return to negotiations to craft a broad political agreement.
The latest resolution, shaped during the Trump administration, reaffirmed support for Morocco’s 2007 proposal and described genuine autonomy as the most realistic way forward.
Morocco is now expected to update its offer to achieve what the council called a mutually acceptable final settlement.
Western Sahara remains on the UN list of non-self-governing territories, underscoring the unresolved nature of the decades-long conflict.
The Polisario continues to demand a long-promised UN-supervised referendum on self-determination that has never materialised under the 1991 ceasefire.