Mauritania reiterates neutral stance on Western Sahara at UN General Assembly

Wednesday 30 September 2026 - 15:21

New York — Mauritania’s position on the Western Sahara dispute drew attention during the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly, after Foreign Minister Mohamed Salem Ould Merzoug devoted only a brief passage of his address to the long-running regional issue.

Contrary to some accounts suggesting that Nouakchott completely omitted Western Sahara from its speech, the UN transcript shows that Ould Merzoug did refer to the dispute. He said Mauritania was maintaining its “principled position” and expressed hope for a “just and lasting” settlement accepted by all parties.

The reference came near the end of a speech largely centered on international cooperation, UN reform, the Palestinian question and conflicts affecting the Middle East and Africa. Ould Merzoug also addressed the situations in Lebanon, Sudan and Libya, while stressing Mauritania’s commitment to peaceful conflict resolution and respect for state sovereignty.

A carefully measured diplomatic message

The wording used by the Mauritanian minister is consistent with Nouakchott’s longstanding approach to the Western Sahara dispute. Rather than endorsing one side of the conflict in his UN address, Ould Merzoug reiterated a formulation centered on a negotiated settlement involving all parties.

Mauritania has historically described its approach as “positive neutrality.” President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani has previously explained that Nouakchott seeks to maintain this position while remaining attentive to developments surrounding the dispute.

That diplomatic posture gives particular weight to the wording and prominence assigned to the issue in Mauritanian international statements. In the 2026 address, the Western Sahara question appeared only after the minister had discussed several other major crises and regional challenges.

A position watched closely in the region

Mauritania’s approach is closely followed by both Morocco and the Polisario Front because of the country’s geographical position and its historical involvement in the Western Sahara conflict.

Nouakchott recognized the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic in 1984, under President Mohamed Ould Haidalla. At the same time, Mauritania has sought to avoid becoming a direct party to the current confrontation between Morocco and the Polisario Front.

The distinction between recognition of the Sahrawi entity and the policy of neutrality adopted by successive Mauritanian governments has therefore remained an important feature of Nouakchott’s diplomacy.

The 2019 precedent

The relatively limited attention given to Western Sahara in the 2026 speech also recalls a similar episode in 2019.

During his address to the 74th UN General Assembly in September that year, President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani did not address the Western Sahara dispute directly. Contemporary reporting noted that his speech instead concentrated on issues including Palestine, Libya, Yemen, Syria, Sudan and Somalia.

The omission did not, however, constitute a formal change in Mauritania’s position. The country continued to describe itself as neutral on the dispute, with the concept of “positive neutrality” becoming an established element of its diplomatic vocabulary. The Mauritanian presidency also maintains an archive of Ghazouani’s 2019 UN address.

A brief reference with regional significance

In 2026, the key distinction is therefore not an absence of the Western Sahara issue from Mauritania’s UN intervention, but the limited space it occupied within the minister’s broader message.

Ould Merzoug’s statement reaffirmed Mauritania’s established diplomatic language while avoiding an extended discussion of the dispute. For observers of North African diplomacy, the choice reflects the sensitivity surrounding Nouakchott’s relations with its neighbors and its effort to preserve room for dialogue.

The Mauritanian delegation’s participation in the 81st General Assembly also included a series of bilateral and multilateral meetings in New York, reinforcing the broader diplomatic agenda pursued by Nouakchott during the session.

Rather than signaling a publicly announced departure from its established policy, Mauritania’s 2026 intervention can therefore be read as another expression of a cautious diplomatic line: maintaining its stated position on Western Sahara while keeping the issue within a wider agenda focused on regional stability, international law and multilateral cooperation.