The United Nations has long been engaged in the search for a peaceful resolution to the conflict over Western Sahara.

The Kingdom of Morocco and the POLISARIO Front agreed to a U.N. Settlement Plan and the deployment of peacekeepers in 1991. However, disagreements between the two parties have prevented the holding of the anticipated referendum on the territory’s future.

The Department of Political Affairs provides staff assistance and oversight to the Secretary-General’s Personal Representative for Western Sahara, who has facilitated several rounds of renewed negotiations since June 2007.  DPA previously assisted the intensive seven-year effort to break the impasse by former U.S. Secretary of State James Baker, serving as the Personal Envoy of the U.N. Secretary-General from 1997-2004.

While diplomatic efforts of the Secretary-General continue, U.N. peacekeepers remain on the ground with the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO)