The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic and the United States do not have diplomatic relations since 2020, as the US, with the signing of the Israel–Morocco normalization agreement as part of the Abraham Accords, recognized the region of Western Sahara as part of Morocco and the annexation of Western Sahara, making it the first country to do so. Prior to 2020, the informal position of the United States was supporting Morocco's claim to Western Sahara under autonomy for the SADR without formally recognizing Morocco's annexation. The United States has often mediated proposals for both sides to find an amicable solution to the conflict mostly through the United Nations.
History
The SADR declared independence from Spain in 1976 and has since been engaged in a territorial dispute with Morocco.
Carter administration In 1978, Jimmy Carter suspended arms sales to Morocco with the pretext being that Morocco had broken the terms of a bilateral military agreement signed in 1960 prohibiting the use of U.S. weapons outside internationally recognized borders. According to The New York Times, the agreement of which was never publicly disclosed. However, the administration in January informed Congress of its intention to resume arms sales to the Moroccans by selling aircraft and helicopters for use in the conflict. In the fall of 1977, a Moroccan delegation came to Washington with a list of arms that it wanted to purchase. The Moroccans had been warning the United States about the Soviet Union's role in North Africa and urged the United States to become more actively involved as did Saudi Arabia and Iran over the Soviet Union's and Cuba's growing influence in the civil wars in Angola and Ethiopia. The decision to do so came in response to tension with then-King Hassan II who was angry over the lack of strong support from the U.S. in the conflict. Hassan acted as an intermediary between Egypt and Israel in 1977 before Egyptian President Anwar Sadat's trip to Jerusalem and refused to accept the Egypt–Israel peace treaty brokered by the Carter administration. And was irritated at the failure of the United States to reciprocate Moroccan military support for Zaire when it was attacked from Angola by former Katangan gendarmes. But American officials were wary of being involved further as Algeria was receiving support from the Soviet Union.
In August 1979, the administration considered selling more arms to the Moroccans, but several of Carter's advisors were split on the policy. The decision to sell the arms was approved on October 22 while also encouraging peace talks between the warring sides, but the U.S. would not have a direct role in any talks.
Reagan administration Military aid to Morocco increased under Ronald Reagan without any preconditions viewing the Polisario Front as an ally of the Soviet Union. The administration did not pursue a political solution. In 1982, the administration removed all restrictions on American military equipment being used in the conflict reversing the Carter administration policy. Reagan had asked Congress for $100 million in military sales credits for Morocco. In May, Hassan II visited the U.S. with an agreement reached on the U.S. Air Force using a Moroccan base. The policy was a strategic maneuver to counter Muammar Gaddafi of Libya who provided support to the Polisario Front, his closeness with the Soviet's, and for his sponsoring of terrorist organizations in the MENA region.
H.W. Bush administration George H. W. Bush took a neutral approach to the conflict between the SADR and Morocco. Bush publicly called for talks to end the conflict, but at the same time, it continued arms sales to Morocco. The U.S. tried to move the closure of the conflict through the United Nations. During a visit by Hassan II to the U.S. on September 26, 1991, Bush stated he "applaud King Hassan for his courage to agree to the UN Secretary General's plan for a referendum," and expressed "pleasure to see the UN proceeding with its efforts to resolve the Western Sahara dispute with Morocco's support."
Clinton administration American policy under Bill Clinton did not change from the previous administration as it maintained neutrality and did not recognize Western Sahara as Moroccan territory. It continued to advocate for Sahrawi autonomy under Morocco. A position that has followed with every administration since.
James Baker, Secretary of State under H.W. Bush, was appointed special envoy for Western Sahara in 1997 for the United Nations proposed two plans named after him called the Baker Plan in 2000, none of which were presented formally to the United Nations Security Council. In the first plan, he proposed autonomy to the region with foreign affairs and defense managed by Morocco. The plan was rejected by Polisario, indicating that any proposal without independence could not be accepted. They also argued that the count of natives should be based on the census of 1975 and not based on migrants from Morocco in the interim period. The second proposal called for a referendum after five years of autonomy. The plan was accepted by Morocco initially, but later rejected quoting that any plan with proposal of independence could not be accepted. The plan was rejected by Morocco and Baker left the position in 2004.
First Baker reviewed the prior proposals and consulted with all parties involved. He, along with Chester Crocker and John Bolton, conducted private talks with Polisario and Morocco along with Algeria and Mauritania acting as observers. Eventually, the talks, which covered the "issues of refugees, reduction of Moroccan troops, prisoners of war and political prisoners," along with an agreement on a code of conduct for the voter registration, eventually led to the Houston Agreement. Voter identification began again on December 3, 1997. A referendum was meant to occur by 1998. However, due to Morocco's refusal to accept the census results, and thus the unlikelihood of accepting the referendum based on the voters proposed, the UN Secretary-General suspended the Settlement Plan.
The Baker Accord was signed at Baker Institute of Public Policy at Rice University in Houston, Texas under the aegis of the United Nations Security Council between September 14 to 16 1997. Both parties signed the final document listing all agreements and was documented as UN doc. S/1997/742 par 4-13. It was the first time in the peace process that any agreement was signed between the rival parties. Morocco wanted to augment the voter list based on the census taken during the Spanish time of the 1970s, while Polisario rejected the proposal, leading to the prevention of the referendum of the accord.
In classified documents released in 2020, Clinton encouraged Morocco to abandon the idea of a referendum in Western Sahara and "opt for a negotiated solution through direct talks with the Polisario." In a memo dated July 25, 1999, penned by National Security Adviser Sandy Berger, outlined Clinton's visit to Rabat for the funeral of Hassan II and his meetings with Mohammed VI, then Moroccan Prime Minister Abderrahmane Youssoufi, Berger emphasized that there was no future of a possible referendum in Western Sahara. Berger stated that the Moroccans wouldn't "countenance any outcome under which it would lose sovereignty over the area" and "In quiet approaches over the past several months, we had encouraged [King] Hassan to opt for a negotiated solution through direct talks with the Polisario." The administration believed that Hassan's death may have been a roadblock to ending the conflict. Nonetheless, the administration convinced Morocco to submit the autonomy and pledged its support.
Bush administration George W. Bush supported peace talks between the warring parties mostly through the United Nations. In 2003, the administration backed the Baker Plan which offered two alternative solutions. Granting autonomy to Western Sahara under Morocco with unspecified borders, or accepting the partition of the territory. However, there was no firm position as Bush reiterated that any settlement would not be imposed on Rabat, acknowledging the sensitivity of the issue to Morocco’s internal politics.
Commenting on a 2004 free trade agreement with Morocco, US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick stated in a letter to Congressman Joe Pitts in response to his questioning, "the United States and many other countries do not recognize Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara and have consistently urged the parties to work with the United Nations to resolve the conflict by peaceful means. The Free Trade Agreement will not include Western Sahara."Letter from the trade office to Congressman Joe Pitts
In 2006, the Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs (CORCAS) proposed a plan for the autonomy of Western Sahara and made visits to a number of countries to explain and gather support for their proposal. Citing the Spanish approach to regional autonomy, the Moroccan government plans to model any future agreement after the cases of the Canary Islands, Basque Country, Andalusia, or Catalonia. The plan was presented to the UN Security Council in April 2007 and received the backing of both the United States and France.
In April and October 2007, the Bush administration sought to make the Western Sahara Autonomy Proposal the basis of the U.N.-led political process when it was introduced to the UN in 2006. However, this attempt faced pushback from France, Russia, and then-Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who feared alienating the Non-Aligned Movement. And that it made no mention of the possibility of independence for Western Sahra. In a 2007 letter to President Bush, 173 members of the US congress endorsed the plan. The UN Security 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 the delegation of Polisario and Morocco 18–19 June 2007, 10–11 August 2007, 7–9 January 2008, and 7–9 January 2008, known as the Manhasset negotiations as they were held in Manhasset, New York.
Obama administration
Barack Obama at first disassociated the United States from the Moroccan autonomy plan in 2009 reversing the Bush-backed support of the Moroccan plan writing to Mohammed VI supporting U.N. efforts to settle the Sahara dispute. But later returning to a pre-Bush position, wherein the option of an independent Western Sahara was on the table again. Five months later Hillary Clinton, then-Secretary of State, told the Moroccan government during a visit meeting with then-Foreign Minister Taieb Fassi Fihri, "It is important for me to reaffirm here in Morocco that there has been no change in policy." Clinton voiced her support for the autonomy plan calling it "serious, realistic, and credible."