Chilean Senate Unanimously Supports Moroccan Sahara Autonomy Initiative

23 January 2025 Printable Version

Santiago - The Chilean Senate has given its unanimous support to the Autonomy Initiative for the Sahara, put forward by Morocco in 2007 to resolve the dispute over its southern provinces.

The Chilean Senate unanimously adopted a resolution in which it “expresses its support for the Moroccan initiative to negotiate an autonomy statute for the Sahara region, which signifies a definitive and lasting peaceful solution” to this dispute.

The Chilean senators' resolution also calls for “the support and permanent commitment of the Government of Chile, as a UN member, to Resolution No. 1754 of the UN Security Council, adopted on April 30, 2007.”

In the recitals of the Chilean Senate's resolution, it is recalled that the Autonomy Initiative for the Sahara is supported by Spain, the U.S., France, Germany, Finland, the Netherlands, Belgium and Portugal.

The Chilean Senate sets out in detail the positions expressed by these countries in favor of the Moroccan autonomy initiative, described as “the most serious, realistic and credible basis for resolving the dispute (...) and guaranteeing peace and prosperity” in the region.

The Chilean Senate's resolution was initiated by former President of the Senate, Yasna Provoste, currently Chair of the Chile-Morocco Parliamentary Friendship Group).

It was supported by 37 senators from all ends of the political spectrum represented in the Chilean Senate, including majority and opposition members, mainly former Minister of Foreign Affairs and former Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza, current Chairperson of the External Relations Committee at the Chilean Senate.

In last December, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Chile, Alberto Van Klaveren Stork, had reiterated in Rabat Chile’s “constant support for the process led by the United Nations towards a just, pragmatic, lasting, realistic, viable, definitive and mutually acceptable solution to the question of Western Sahara, within the framework of the initiative presented by Morocco to the United Nations in April 2007.”

In a joint statement issued following the meeting between the Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates, Nasser Bourita, and his Chilean peer, Chile had also emphasized “the centrality of the United Nations in the political process and reaffirmed its support for UN Security Council Resolution 2756, dated October 31, 2024”, and “valued the serious and credible efforts made by the Kingdom of Morocco to advance the process towards a political solution.”