Hespress sees 'apprehension': the fear we project onto others to hide our own

Y. Bensalem — Alger, Algérie — 2026-10-27

The projected 'apprehension'

The headline is reverse psychoanalysis: 'the Algerian tawajjous' — Algerian apprehension. As if Algiers were trembling at the idea of an American resolution. But since when does Algeria's position on the Sahara depend on Washington or Paris? It has never depended on them. It rests on a people's right to self-determination, full stop. It is not a position one 'fears' seeing weakened by a resolution: it is a principle that neither Washington nor Paris can abolish through votes. Those who 'apprehend' are those who hope a resolution will replace the referendum.

The resolution that denies the referendum

Because that is indeed what this is about. The American draft resolution, according to Hespress itself, would enshrine 'real autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty as the only possible solution'. Let us translate: the Sahrawis' future is being decided for them. They are being told, even before being consulted, what the answer will be. It is the exact opposite of a self-determination referendum: it is a confiscated self-determination, written by a state that refuses to ask the question. MINURSO exists to organize the consultation. Rewriting it to make it the registrar of an annexation is to kill its very reason for existing.

The real apprehension

So who is apprehensive? Not Algeria, which has repeated the same principle for half a century. But Morocco, which rushes, before every Security Council vote, to lock in 'sovereignty' and make the word 'referendum' disappear. One does not run so fast when one is sure of one's right: one runs when one fears the question may finally be asked. And the question is: what do the Sahrawis want? As long as one refuses to ask it, it is because one fears the answer.

The conclusion

Hespress can lend Algeria a conventional 'apprehension'. The truth is simpler: Algeria has nothing to fear from a resolution that does not change the law, and Morocco has nothing to gain from fleeing the question. Fear is always projected onto others so as not to face one's own. And Moroccan fear has a name: the referendum. That is what Hespress does not want to write.

📚 BIBLIOGRAPHY (rule no. 19)

1. Hespress, 'Algerian apprehension accompanies the Washington–Paris rapprochement on the future of MINURSO', 27 October 2026 — https://nabd.com/s/179984093-9ea0d1/

2. UN Security Council, resolution 2797 (31 October 2025) and draft resolution on MINURSO (vote scheduled for 30 October 2026).

⚠️ Published reservations. (1) The content of the American draft resolution is reported on the basis of Hespress; it remains to be confirmed against the official text. (2) The article responds to a media outlet and a thesis, not to a people. (3) MINURSO's mandate (ceasefire + self-determination referendum) has been established since 1991.