Former Mauritanian president Ould Taya was deeply concerned about the possibility of an end to the war between Morocco and the Polisario. This is revealed in a declassified US State Department document. Towards the end of the 1980s, Mauritania observed with concern the rapprochement between Morocco and Algeria, facilitated by Saudi mediation. Mauritanian President Colonel Maaouiya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya (1984–2005) feared that dialogue between Rabat and Algiers could lead to the end of the Western Sahara war between the Royal Armed Forces (FAR) and the Polisario, as revealed in a document drafted on November 12, 1988, by the US Embassy in Nouakchott for the State Department. Colonel Taya's concerns were revealed to the Americans on October 30, 1988 by the head of the armed forces, Colonel Ahmed Ould Minnih, «during a long private conversation». The president even asked Minnih to torpedo any agreement between Morocco and the Polisario. Nevertheless, Minnih persuaded the head of state refrain from taking any action. Drawing lessons from his experience as Foreign Minister from 1980 to 1986, and his past as military attaché in Algeria, he was convinced that the UN-led initiative would not lead to an end to hostilities between the two sides. «The war serves Mauritania's interests» The army chief's remarks were corroborated by French sources in Nouakchott, who informed the US Embassy. The document highlights that, in September 1988, President Ould Taya sent a personal emissary to French President François Mitterrand, expressing his fears that a peaceful resolution to the Sahara conflict would threaten Mauritania's stability. The envoy explained that Ould Taya «fears that a hard core of Sahrawi insurgents might continue its struggle against Morocco from Northern Mauritania. He also fears that Polisario followers of Mauritanian origin might return to Mauritania and destabilize the GIRM». Historically, France played a key role in establishing the Mauritanian state on November 28, 1960, despite Morocco's protests. Rabat only recognized Mauritania in 1969. Two major developments fueled Ould Taya's concerns: the resumption of diplomatic relations between Morocco and Algeria in May 1988 and the reopening of land borders in June 1988. King Hassan II's November 6, 1988, Green March speech intensified these fears. While reaffirming Morocco's claims to Western Sahara, the king called on the Polisario for reconciliation, according to a US Embassy telegram from Rabat dated November 8. «In his Green March Anniversary address to the nation, November 6, King Hassan at once reaffirmed the validity and inalienability of Morocco's claim to the Western Sahara and issued a call to the Polisario for reconciliation with Morocco», reads the document. On January 3, 1989, a Polisario delegation led by Mustapha Bachir Sayed met King Hassan II in Marrakech. A ceasefire was signed between the two parties on September 26, 1991, under UN auspices. However, the Polisario broke the ceasefire on November 13, 2020.
