U.S. envoy Mike Waltz tells Polisario ‘basis for a solution’ is already on the table

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz met Wednesday with a delegation from the Polisario Front in New York, urging progress toward a political settlement of the long-running Sahara dispute as the United Nations prepares to review the issue.

After the meeting, Waltz posted a photograph of the encounter on X and highlighted the situation of people living in the Tindouf camps in Algeria.

“Refugees in the Tindouf camps have waited 50 years. They deserve real choices, not another decade of waiting. The basis for a solution is on the table,” Waltz wrote.

Waltz did not specify in his post which proposals were discussed during the meeting. The statement comes amid renewed diplomatic efforts to revive negotiations between Morocco and the Polisario Front.

The meeting also comes ahead of the Security Council’s annual review of the Sahara file and the expected renewal of the U.N. Mission for the Referendum in the Sahara, or MINURSO, whose mandate expires Oct. 31. The council adopted Resolution 2797 in October 2025, calling on the parties to engage in negotiations with Morocco’s autonomy proposal as a basis for discussions while also referring to the need for a mutually acceptable political solution that provides for self-determination.

The United States has played a prominent role in the Security Council’s handling of the dispute. When Resolution 2797 was adopted, Washington urged the parties to engage in serious discussions using Morocco’s autonomy proposal as the basis for a political settlement.

The Polisario delegation included senior representatives of the movement, according to reports of the meeting.