Letter from the Polisario Front to the Security Council, by Sidi M. Omar
by Sidi M. Omar
Voltaire Network | New York (USA) | 23 October 2025
© Les Échos
Upon instructions from my Authorities, I am writing to you with a sense of urgency to inform you that the Frente POLISARIO has taken note of the draft resolution circulated, on 22 October 2025, to the members of the Security Council by the United States of America as the penholder on the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO).
The Frente POLISARIO underscores that the draft resolution, which reflects the national position of the penholder, is a very dangerous, unprecedented departure not only from the principles of international law underpinning Western Sahara as a question of decolonization, but also from the basis upon which the Security Council has addressed Western Sahara. It also contains elements that strike at the heart of the foundations of the United Nations peace process in Western Sahara and constitute a grave violation of the international status of the Territory.
Acting under the relevant chapters of the Charter of the United Nations, the Security Council has firmly and consensually established the basis for the solution and the process leading to it, namely, negotiations under the auspices of the Secretary-General without preconditions and in good faith with a view to achieving a just, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution, which will provide for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara in the context of arrangements consistent with the principles and purposes of the Charter of the United Nations.
As confirmed by the International Court of Justice, sovereignty over Western Sahara belongs exclusively to the Sahrawi people, who have an inalienable, non negotiable and imprescriptible right to self-determination to be exercised freely and democratically under the auspices of the United Nations. Therefore, any approach that sets a prefixed framework for the negotiations or predetermines their outcome, circumscribes the free exercise by the Sahrawi people of their right to self-determination or imposes a solution against their will is utterly unacceptable to the Frente POLISARIO.
The Frente POLISARIO remains committed to achieving just and lasting peace, for which it has made tremendous concessions and sacrifices since the inception of the United Nations-led peace process in Western Sahara. In this context, as a goodwill gesture and in response to Security Council resolutions, the Frente POLISARIO submitted an expanded proposal to the Secretary-General on 20 October 2025, and it remains ready to engage positively in the peace process based on the spirit and content of its expanded proposal.
The Frente POLISARIO stresses however that, if the draft resolution were to be adopted without taking into account and effectively addressing the foregoing elements, it would not engage in any political process or negotiations based on the content of the draft resolution.
The Frente POLISARIO trusts that members of the Security Council will always be bound and guided by the principles and purposes of the Charter of the United Nations and the relevant principles of international law applicable to Western Sahara.
It urges all stakeholders to use their leverage constructively to create the necessary conditions for the two parties, the Frente POLISARIO and Morocco, to engage in serious, credible and time-bound negotiations, without preconditions and in good faith, under the auspices of the United Nations, with a view to achieving a just, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution, which will provide for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara. This is the only viable path that would lead to achieving just and enduring peace in our region.
I would be most grateful if you would bring the present letter to the attention of the Members of the Security Council.