Sahara: Rachid Lazrak analyses Russia’s 30 October veto
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Le Matin
Analyst Rachid Lazrak says the Russian veto on 30 October interrupted the negotiating momentum based on Morocco’s autonomy plan for the Sahara. He links the break to Algeria and the Polisario returning to a referendum demand, as well as Rabat’s announced change of approach, according to Le Matin.
The Russian veto on 30 October at the UN Security Council forms part, according to Moroccan analyst Rachid Lazrak, of a break in the discussions launched around the autonomy plan under Moroccan sovereignty for resolving the Sahara conflict. In an analysis published by Le Matin, he says Algeria and the Polisario’s return to demanding a referendum interrupted the momentum that followed the adoption of Resolution 2797.
Rachid Lazrak considers that the text, adopted on 31 October 2025, made the Moroccan plan the basis for negotiations rather than a proposal placed on the same level as other options. Meetings held in Washington on 18 and 19 January 2026, in Madrid on 8 and 9 February, and then in Washington on 23 and 24 February reportedly focused on an updated 39-page Moroccan document. Discussions addressed international guarantees, resource-sharing, amnesty, the return and reintegration of refugees, the demobilisation of Polisario militias, security and electoral mechanisms.
According to the analyst, the February meeting marked a return by Algiers and the Polisario to demands for a referendum. He places the significance of the Russian veto and the change of method announced by Rabat in this development.
The analysis follows the UN making Moroccan autonomy the sole basis for negotiations on the Sahara on 28 October, and then Russia’s veto of the US resolution on the Sahara on 30 October.
