On August 2, U.S. President Donald Trump voiced his support for resolving the Western Sahara issue under Moroccan sovereignty. At the same time, former U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton continued to advocate for the possibility of holding a referendum, an option no longer mentioned in United Nations resolutions. «When we established MINURSO, our intention was for it to be a short-term mission. The objectives were clear: to verify the Spanish census of 1975 and set up voting mechanisms, as the UN had successfully done in Namibia in 1989 during the first elections», Bolton said in an interview with a Spanish media outlet. «Honestly, we did not foresee a broader mandate because we did not think the mission would last this long». «The UN mission, as I have already mentioned, was to organize a referendum. There is no indication that this will ever happen. We should abolish MINURSO. If the parties are not ready to organize the referendum, maintaining MINURSO no longer makes sense. Then we will see what becomes of the ceasefire», he added. Bolton also suggested that dismantling MINURSO «might perhaps raise awareness of the need for a fair and lasting solution, as keeping the Sahrawis in refugee camps is unacceptable». Since 2007, the UN Security Council has ruled out the referendum option in its resolutions, instead calling for a «mutually acceptable political solution». That same year, Morocco submitted an autonomy plan for Western Sahara to the UN.
