Egypt backs Morocco's Sahara plan

Morocco and Egypt have taken their bilateral relationship to a new level, holding the first session of a joint coordination and monitoring committee in Egypt's new administrative capital on Monday, with Western Sahara firmly at the centre of the agenda.

Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita and his Egyptian counterpart Badr Abdelatty co-chaired the meeting, which produced a statement that will reverberate well beyond Cairo and Rabat.

Egypt came out unambiguously in Morocco's corner. Abdelatty endorsed Rabat's autonomy plan as "the most realistic solution" to the Western Sahara dispute, describing genuine autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty as the clearest path to resolving one of Africa's most protracted territorial conflicts. 

Cairo also reaffirmed its support for Morocco's territorial integrity and backed the latest UN Security Council resolution on the issue.

The declaration is a significant diplomatic win for Rabat, which has been methodically building international support for its autonomy proposal, and a direct rebuff to Algeria, which backs the Polisario Front's push for full independence and has long championed a very different outcome.

Algiers and Rabat have been at loggerheads for years, borders closed, ambassadors recalled, diplomatic relations severed in 2021. 

Egypt's alignment with Morocco on the Sahara question adds a major Arab voice to a debate Algiers has tried hard to keep open, and tightens the diplomatic noose around a position that is losing friends across the region.

For Morocco, Monday's meeting was more than a committee session. It was a message.