Half a century after the start of that event that resounded in the world when hundreds of thousands of Moroccans marched toward the Sahara carrying the Qur’an and the national flag, this time the anniversary comes crowned with what can be called “the completion of the national dream,” with a clear and frank international resolution that recognizes the Moroccanity of the Sahara and considers the autonomy initiative the realistic and final solution to the artificial conflict.

On October 31, 2025, the UN Security Council voted on Resolution No. 2797, which considered that the Moroccan autonomy proposal constitutes “the only realistic basis for future negotiations,” thus granting international legitimacy to a position that Morocco has been defending diplomatically, developmentally, and sovereignly for decades.

This international achievement represents the practical translation of King Mohammed VI’s vision of a “rising Morocco,” in which he placed Morocco on the path of power, sovereignty, and sustainable development, stressing that achieving international recognition of the Moroccan Sahara is not just a diplomatic gain, but rather an affirmation of a rising Moroccan model capable of imposing stability and openness to the future.

Between the moment of the Green March in 1975 and the moment of the UN resolution in 2025, a strong national thread extends. At its beginning, the march was a symbolic event that embodied the unity of the popular will on the sovereign issue, and at its end the UN resolution came to put the stamp of international legitimacy on that same will.

When King Hassan II called on Moroccans to march, he was not asking for a national show, but rather he was establishing a path of awareness, truth, and dignity. A few days ago, after fifty years, King Mohammed VI announced in his historic speech: “After fifty years of sacrifices, here we are, with God’s help and success, beginning a new breakthrough in the path of consolidating the Moroccanity of the Sahara and finally ending this artificial conflict within the framework of a consensual solution based on the autonomy initiative.”

This is how the picture is complete: the beginning was a march towards the earth, and the end was a march towards recognition. The first march was driven by popular determination, and the second was driven by diplomatic victory and insightful royal vision.

King Mohammed VI says in his last speech: “There is before October 31, 2025, and there is after.” It is a sentence that inaugurates a new era in Moroccan national and political consciousness.

Today, the Sahara issue is no longer a negotiating issue, but has become a sovereign reality enshrined in international law and recognized by the world. “Post-decision” is the time of construction and empowerment in the southern regions, the time of establishing development as another facet of sovereignty, and the time of moving the issue from the logic of defense to the logic of achievement.

Morocco won its cause through diligent work accumulated over fifty years, by adhering to the option of peace and rationality, by openness to dialogue without compromising on constants, and by field development that made the Sahara a Moroccan model of stability and prosperity.

This victory was not the result of a coincidence or a passing political deal, but rather the result of the logic of a state that maintained the clarity of its vision and the consistency of its speech and made the desert file the lens through which it builds its partnerships. Since the introduction of the autonomy initiative in 2007, Morocco has been working on two complementary axes: international persuasion and internal construction. Today, the harvest of this effort has become a reality with a UN decision that ended the ambiguity and established sovereignty.

The fiftieth anniversary that Morocco celebrates today is not an end, but rather a new beginning. Because the march was not only an event in history, but rather a renewed spirit in the Moroccan conscience. It has moved from the “march to reclaim the land” to the “march to consolidate the Moroccan model” of autonomy, development, and modernity.

This is what King Mohammed VI expressed when he said: “The time has come for a united Morocco, whose rights and historical borders will not be infringed upon by anyone.” In this sense, the march today has become a strategic project for the future, entitled “One Morocco from Tangiers to Lagouira,” and its content is building a new generation that is aware that sovereignty is not only over land, but over decision-making, identity, and dignity.

On the fiftieth anniversary of the Green March, Morocco does not celebrate a past memory, but rather a present victory. He moved from defending his right to establishing his legitimacy. Between 1975 and 2025, Morocco wrote a unique chapter in modern history: How can nations win with time, accumulated work, and steadfastness in principle?

Therefore, Morocco today is moving from the stage of management to the stage of change, as King Mohammed VI confirmed. It is the image of a “rising Morocco” that is united in its decision, identity and sovereignty.

* Jordanian writer and journalist