Former UN envoy Christopher Ross said efforts to resolve the Western Sahara dispute have entered a new phase after Security Council Resolution 2797, arguing that the text has given the United States a more visible role in steering talks alongside UN envoy Staffan de Mistura.
Resolution 2797, adopted on Oct. 31, 2025, renewed MINURSO’s mandate for one year and urged the parties to resume negotiations under UN auspices.
In an analytical article, Ross said that shift had helped produce new diplomatic movement after years of deadlock.
His remarks come as Spanish media have reported previously undisclosed meetings in Washington in January and in Madrid on Feb. 8 and 9 involving Morocco, the Polisario Front, Algeria and Mauritania, with US officials playing a central role and the UN participating under tight secrecy.
Ross said the new approach appears to place Morocco’s autonomy proposal at the center of discussion, while the referendum option long backed by the Polisario has lost ground in recent Security Council language.
The UN resolution itself does not explicitly endorse independence as an outcome, but it reaffirms support for a “realistic, practicable, enduring and mutually acceptable” political solution based on compromise.
He nevertheless argued that any lasting settlement would still need broad acceptance among Sahrawis inside the territory, in the refugee camps and in the diaspora, warning that a deal lacking legitimacy could prove unstable.
Ross also said international guarantees would be essential, given deep mistrust among the parties and the repeated collapse of earlier negotiating rounds. His conclusion was that renewed US engagement is significant, but still fragile, because the dispute remains entangled in unresolved legal, political and representation questions.
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