The plan was presented to the UN Security Council in April 2007[2] and received the backing of the United States and France.
Based on the proposal, there were four UN-sponsored peace talks between delegations of Polisario and Morocco on 18–19 June 2007, 10–11 August 2007, 7–9 January 2008, and 18–19 March 2008, all of which were held in Manhasset, New York.
Mauritania withdrew in 1979, and Morocco eventually secured control of most of the territory, including all the major cities and natural resources.
During November to December 1987, a United Nations peace mission arrived to assess the military and political impact of the wall.
They sought a face-to-face meeting with Polisario and Morocco to arrive at a ceasefire and initiate proceedings for a referendum.
During the time, Algeria, which had been a long-time ally of Polisario, held secret meetings with Morocco at the foreign ministry level.
During July 1988, Moroccan King Hassan expressed his support for a referendum, but declined to name Western Sahara an independent state, but a special administrative region.
In the first plan, he proposed autonomy to the region with foreign affairs and defense managed by Morocco.
The Moroccan authorities indicated that the failure of the proposal would increase Islamic fundamental ideas and terrorism in the region around the Sahel.
Hamid Chabar, the Moroccan representative of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara quoted that "There are a lot of young people in the Sahel who are leaning towards radical Islam, with groups such as the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat gaining ground".
[14] In 2010, a letter to Secretary of State Clinton backing the Moroccan plan for autonomy, was signed by 54 Senators.