The United States has intensified its efforts to resolve the long-standing conflict between Morocco and Western Sahara independence supporters since last autumn, organising three secret meetings that brought together the main protagonists for the first time in years.
However, according to Middle East Eye's diplomatic sources, the task is proving more difficult than initially thought.
As with conflicts between Israelis and Palestinians in Gaza, Armenia and Azerbaijan or Thailand and Cambodia, US President Donald Trump wants to cast himself as a peacemaker on African soil as well.
Washington is keen to resolve the Western Sahara conflict in a way that satisfies Morocco without humiliating Algeria, a key backer of the Polisario Front, the armed Sahrawi liberation movement that has fought for Western Sahara’s independence since 1973.
In the last month alone, three rounds of negotiations have been convened at the foreign minister level, but with little result.
