Party leader Benali calls for 'rational, future-oriented' narrative on Sahara issue

Mustapha Benaali, secretary-general of the Front of Democratic Forces party, said Morocco’s post–Oct. 31 political discourse is capable of mobilizing young people to defend the autonomy proposal, describing it as a discourse rooted in state institutions and one that “knows how to connect memory with the future.”

Speaking Saturday, Nov. 22, at the first Diplomatic Forum at the International University of Laayoune, Benaali said political parties have a central role in preparing youth to advocate for Morocco’s autonomy plan for the Sahara. He argued that Morocco has reframed the territorial issue as a “struggle for regional stability and development,” rather than a historical grievance.

He said the Sahara question is “a matter of existence, not a matter of borders,” adding that, for younger generations, the issue concerns “opening horizons rather than closing boundaries.” Presenting the dispute with this forward-looking approach, he said, positions youth as contributors to decision-making and as a “core driver for building a modern Morocco.”

Benaali argued that Morocco transformed the autonomy proposal from a political tool aimed at facilitating a peaceful resolution to the regional dispute into an institutional project centered on good governance. This shift, he said, allowed the international community to better understand the nature of the conflict and the realism of Morocco’s approach.

He added that Morocco, as a state of institutions, grounds its sovereignty over the Sahara in legal legitimacy upheld by the International Court of Justice, in an expanding base of international recognition and in the system of allegiance, which he described as a pillar of the country’s constitutional history. He emphasized that both the world and young Moroccans understand bay’ah today “as an institutional framework, not an identity narrative.”

According to Benaali, the southern provinces have become a space for advanced development and democratic experimentation under the king’s leadership, making sovereignty “an expression of citizenship” and positioning autonomy as a “leading model for integration, stability and genuine local participation,” particularly for young Sahrawis.

He said the role of political parties now goes beyond traditional mobilization. Parties must build a rational narrative that explains the conflict as a political dispute shaped by “historical layers that made Algeria a direct party to it.” He urged parties to adopt a discourse that names issues clearly and embraces political realism and firmness.

On Algeria, Benaali called for “dismantling the Algerian narrative calmly and scientifically, without hostility,” adding that relations between the two countries require recognizing a “coexistence of interests and necessities,” rather than relying on emotional slogans such as khawa khawa (brothers), which he said have become “daydreams” in light of Algeria’s persistent hostility.

Benaali concluded by urging political parties to articulate a message that reflects Morocco’s position as an emerging institutional state capable of addressing both youth and the international community in clear, pragmatic terms.

He said modern sovereignty is an expression of citizenship, and that the future of the Sahara issue is Moroccan, “a space for development and geo-economic leadership, and a historic opportunity for youth to integrate into the state’s project, not into a border conflict.”