Hisn Al-Mateen Bloc gives its reading of the Security Council resolution on Western Sahara

A reading of the UN Security Council session on Western Sahara

Hisn Al-Mateen Bloc Foundation – Algiers, 31 October 2025

The Hisn Al-Mateen Bloc Foundation followed with great attention the UN Security Council meeting held in late October 2025 on developments in the Western Sahara question. The meeting adopted a new resolution succeeding Resolution 2756 of 2024, extending the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) for another year, until 31 October 2026.

The draft, tabled by the United States, was supported by a majority of Council members, while some countries, such as Russia and China, abstained, and Algeria withdrew from the vote to express its rejection of the resolution's content.

1. Content and political significance. The resolution renewed the call on the parties – Morocco, Algeria, the Polisario Front and Mauritania – to resume negotiations under the auspices of the Secretary-General's Personal Envoy, with a view to a just, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution guaranteeing the Sahrawi people's right to self-determination. However, as in the previous year, the text highlighted Morocco's 2007 autonomy proposal as “serious, credible and realistic”, which many countries, led by Algeria, regard as clear bias towards Morocco and a serious retreat from the principle of self-determination on which MINURSO was founded under Resolution 690 of 1991.

2. The US position and its implications. The US initiative reflects continued American support for Morocco, with Washington viewing autonomy as “the most feasible solution”. It reveals a desire to consolidate Moroccan influence in North Africa within a three-way strategic alliance of Washington, Rabat and Tel Aviv, turning the issue from a UN matter into a geopolitical card for reshaping the balance of power in the Maghreb and the Sahel.

3. Algeria's position: principled constancy and diplomatic courage. Algeria proposed two key amendments: extending MINURSO's mandate to monitor human rights in the occupied territories, and allowing the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to visit the territory regularly. When the Western bloc rejected them, Algeria withdrew from the vote as a symbolic protest, affirming its rejection of any formula that ignores the core of the issue: the Sahrawi people's right to self-determination. The Foundation sees this as faithful to Algeria's liberation tradition and a natural extension of the principles of the November Revolution. Any serious approach must rest on clear international legal references, above all Resolution 690 of 1991; removing this principle from recent resolutions is a departure from the essence of the UN process.

4. The Foundation's vision. As an independent civil framework with a participatory vision serving the causes of liberation and justice, the Hisn Al-Mateen Bloc Foundation affirms that Western Sahara is not merely a political file but a human cause requiring fair solutions based on international law and UN resolutions. It calls on the international community to shoulder its historic responsibility towards the Sahrawi people and guarantee the exercise of their inalienable right to self-determination.

Djelloul Chetouane, President of the Hisn Al-Mateen Bloc