Reports have circulated in the Moroccan media that Egypt will soon inaugurate a consulate in Laayoune, one of the largest cities in the disputed Western Sahara, the scene of decades of conflict between Morocco and the Algeria-backed Polisario Front.

Morocco’s Le360 news site reported Dec. 21 that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced plans to dispatch Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry to Rabat, where he will coordinate the opening of an Egyptian consulate in Western Sahara with his Moroccan counterpart Nasser Bourita.

The Polisario Front, a pro-independence movement established in 1973, proclaimed the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic in 1976 and joined the African Union in 1984. The group is seeking the independence of Western Sahara from Morocco, which has controlled over 80% of the vast desert since the Spanish withdrawal in 1975 and considers it an integral part of its territory. The Polisario Front and its Algerian ally, which hosts Sahrawi refugees, are campaigning for a referendum on Western Saharan independence.

Morocco is betting on foreign consulates opening in Western Sahara, Bourita says. During the opening of the Bahraini Consulate in the disputed territory on Dec. 14, Bourita said the international community is convinced that the dispute can only be resolved within the framework of Moroccan sovereignty over the territory.