Madar (Nouakchott) - UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres's annual report on the situation in Western Sahara, submitted to the Security Council in October 2026 as S/2026/781, refers to a Mauritanian proposal for a commission to clarify "the definitive and permanent international borders of the disputed territory", according to press readings of the report, ahead of the Council's vote on renewing the mandate of the UN mission MINURSO.
A proposal at the Madrid round
According to Morocco's Hespress, citing the report, Mauritania's foreign minister presented the proposal at the second round of talks in Madrid on February 8-9, 2026, attended by Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania and the Polisario Front under the auspices of the Secretary-General's personal envoy Staffan de Mistura, with US support.
The report presents the Mauritanian initiative, according to the same source, as a contribution to framing a consensual definition of borders in a future settlement, not as a settled position or an agreement between the parties. The talks also covered a possible transition council, international guarantees, resource sharing, reconciliation, disarmament, security arrangements and electoral systems.
A vote before October 31
The Security Council is expected to vote on renewing MINURSO's mandate, which expires on October 31, after a briefing by mission head Alexander Ivanko and de Mistura, according to Security Council Report. Resolution 2797 of October 31, 2025 extended the mission for a year, taking Morocco's autonomy proposal as the basis for negotiations.
De Mistura met President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani in Nouakchott on June 18 as part of his regional consultations.
Diverging readings
Several analyses linked the border question to the Lagouira area at the territory's southern tip. Mauritanian journalist Cheikh Ahmed Amin, speaking to Hespress, said the report gives no basis to claim that Mauritania is seeking Lagouira or has changed its historical position, stressing "a fundamental difference between defining borders in a final agreement and claiming sovereignty".
He recalled that Mauritania renounced its territorial claims in the Sahara after the Algiers agreement of August 10, 1979.
Moroccan diplomat and researcher Mohammed Loulichki, in a note for the Policy Center for the New South, argued that Mauritania's approach mainly reflects economic and security concerns linked to the Ras Nouadhibou peninsula and the Lagouira area near the port of Nouadhibou, as the Dakhla Atlantic port project grows.
The Mauritanian government has not publicly commented on the mention of its proposal in the report, according to what Madar had reviewed by midday Sunday.
