was not held. In the following years, the UN argued for negotiations between Morocco and the Polisario Front to resolve the deadlock, culminating in the Manhasset negotiations in 2007–2008. As of 2020, the mandate for MINURSO has been extended 47 times and it maintains its presence in the country, but has yet to fulfill its mission by organizing a referendum. Positions of other states Some states are supportive of the "right of self-determination of the Sahrawi people", including the option of autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty. Some states have changed their opinion frequently or have given separate announcements of support for both Morocco and the Polisario Front/SADR (Egypt, Italy, Lesotho, Russia, Rwanda, Yemen, etc.). Some of the states announcing support of the "right of self-determination" currently recognize the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic. Not all of the states that have terminated diplomatic relations with or withdrawn recognition of the SADR have announced their support for the Moroccan claims. The overwhelming majority of United Nation member states have not announced any position. States supporting Polisario and the SADR on Western Sahara States supporting Morocco's autonomy proposal Position of United Nations Security Council permanent members France France claims neutrality on the Western Sahara issue, despite its military involvement in the Western Sahara War on the side of Morocco and Mauritania (see Operation Lamantin). In 2009 and 2010, France used the threat of its veto power to block the establishment of Human Rights monitoring by the MINURSO in Western Sahara. France has been a major backer of the Moroccan autonomy proposal and in the EU negotiated the concession of the advanced status to Morocco. United States The Obama administration disassociated itself from the Moroccan autonomy plan in 2009, however, reversing the Bush-backed support of the Moroccan plan, and returning to a pre-Bush position, wherein the option of an independent Western Sahara is on the table again. In April 2009, 229 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, a clear majority and more than 50 more than the number who signed the letter in 2007, called on President Obama to support Morocco's autonomy plan and to assist in drawing the conflict to a close. The signers included Democratic Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Republican Minority Leader John Boehner. In addition to acknowledging that Western Sahara has become a recruiting post for radical Islamists, the letter affirmed that the conflict is "the single greatest obstacle impending the