ABSTRACT
Three decades after the Green March, the Western Sahara dossier remains open in the United Nations. It is in fact the only decolonisation file still open in Africa. The poisoned territorial dispute over the former Spanish colony continues to represent one of the main, if not the main, threat to the stability of the North African region, obstructing dangerously the relations between Morocco, Algeria and Spain and making virtually impossible the development of the Union du Maghreb Arabe (UMA). In addition, the stagnation of the current peace process represents a blow to the already damaged credibility of the United Nations, which after 14 years of unsuccessful negotiations and several millions of dollars invested, seems unable to find or impose a definitive solution to the dispute. In many respects, it is not exaggerated to say that the political future of the area (from the regional hegemony to the very survival of the current Moroccan Monarchy) depends on the resolution of this low-intensity but persistent conflict.
