Western Sahara Autonomy Proposal

Part of a series on the
Western Sahara conflict
Background
Spanish Sahara Greater Morocco Greater Mauritania Moroccan Army of Liberation Movement for the Liberation of Saguia el Hamra and Wadi el Dhahab Polisario Front Sahrawi National Union Party Madrid Accords Partition agreement
Regions
Saguia el-Hamra Río de Oro Southern Provinces Tiris al-Gharbiyya Free Zone
Politics
Annexation of Western Sahara Political status of Western Sahara Foreign relations of Morocco Makhzen Politics of the SADR Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs
Clashes
Ifni War Zemla Intifada Western Sahara War First Intifada Independence Intifada Gdeim Izik Arab Spring protests 2020–present clashes Timeline
Issues
Refugees camps Sahrawi nationality Green March Moroccan settlers Moroccan Wall Human rights
Peace process
UN resolutions UN visiting mission UN referendum mission ICJ Advisory Opinion Settlement Plan Houston Agreement Baker Plan Manhasset negotiations Autonomy Proposal
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The Western Sahara Autonomy Proposal is an initiative proposed by Morocco in 2006 as a possible solution to the Western Sahara conflict. In 2006, the Moroccan Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs (CORCAS) proposed a plan^[1] for the autonomy of Western Sahara and made visits to a number of countries to explain the proposal. The Spanish approach to regional autonomy has been named as a possible model for Western Saharan autonomy, mentioning specifically the cases of the Canary Islands, the Basque Country, Andalusia, or Catalonia. The plan was presented to the UN Security Council in April 2007^[2] and received the backing of the United States and France.^[3] This initiative constituted the main ground for the Moroccan proposal at the Manhasset negotiations.

The proposal was following the two failed proposals of the Baker Plan, which insisted on an independence referendum for Western Sahara after five years of autonomy; the plan was rejected by Morocco. A proposal was also published by Polisario to the UN on 10 April 2007, a day before the Moroccan proposal. The UN Security Council unanimously voted for Resolution 1754 on 30 April 2007 calling for talks of both parties, appreciating the proposal of Morocco and taking note of Polisario's proposal. Based on the proposal, there were four UN-sponsored peace talks between delegations of Polisario and Morocco on 18–19 June 2007, 10–11 August 2007, 7–9 January 2008, and 18–19 March 2008, all of which were held in Manhasset, New York.