Staffan de Mistura is approaching his mission with renewed optimism, promising to present a new roadmap for the Sahara to the parties involved in the coming months. This marks a shift from last October, when the UN envoy had expressed a desire to resign.
Can Morocco succeed in having the Polisario Front listed as a terrorist organization by the United States? As tensions escalate in the Sahara and the Sahel, Rachid Benlabbah, a Moroccan academic and specialist in Sahara and Sahel studies at the University Institute of African, Euro-Mediterranean, and Ibero-American Studies in Rabat, examines the legal, political, and security dynamics of Morocco's diplomatic offensive against a militarized Polisario and a weakened Algeria.
The Algerians have spared no effort in trying to win over President Donald Trump, even going so far as to grant the exploitation rights for the Gara Djebilet iron mine in the Tindouf region. Under the terms of the 1972 agreement between King Hassan II and President Boumediene, half of the mine was to be allocated to Morocco.