OMM Newsroom
The United Nations is ending its 35-year peacekeeping mission in Western Sahara. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Sunday that the Security Council had failed to agree on renewing its mandate.
According to AnewZ, the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), established in 1991, was tasked with monitoring the ceasefire between Morocco and the Algeria-backed Polisario Front and organizing a referendum on the territory’s future.
Guterres said the mission’s liquidation phase would begin on November 1. During this period, equipment and other assets will be returned to the countries that contributed troops to the mission.
No agreement reached in Security Council
The mission’s closure follows a diplomatic deadlock in the UN Security Council. Russia vetoed a US-backed resolution that would have strengthened the Council’s support for Morocco’s autonomy proposal and reduced the number of peacekeepers.
An alternative resolution submitted by Russia also failed to secure sufficient support. As a result, MINURSO’s mandate expired.
A year before this decision, the Security Council had adopted a US-drafted resolution describing Morocco’s proposal to grant Western Sahara autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty as the “most realistic” solution to the long-running dispute.
Morocco welcomes decision as Algeria and Polisario voice concern
Morocco welcomed the mission’s closure, calling it a significant step in its efforts to resolve the Western Sahara dispute. Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Burita said the referendum provision in MINURSO’s mandate was “outdated.” Rabat opposes a vote on independence.
Morocco’s royal palace described the decision as progress toward removing the Western Sahara issue from the Security Council’s agenda.
Algeria, which supports the Polisario Front’s demand for self-determination, expressed “deep regret” over the failure to renew the mandate and accused Washington of showing excessive bias toward Morocco. The Polisario Front also voiced concern over the deadlock in the Security Council.
The dispute over Western Sahara has continued since Spain withdrew from the territory in 1976. Morocco claims sovereignty over the region and proposes autonomy under its rule, while the Polisario Front seeks independence.
MINURSO was established to hold a self-determination referendum, but the vote did not take place because of disagreements over who would be eligible to vote. The mission’s closure ends more than three decades of UN peacekeeping activity in the territory but does not resolve the dispute over Western Sahara’s political status.
