UN’s Western Sahara mission ends after 35 years

The United Nations began shutting down its peacekeeping mission in Western Sahara on Sunday after 35 years, after the Security Council failed to agree on its future, and Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned of a risk of escalating hostilities in the disputed territory.

The mandate of the mission, known as MINURSO, expired at midnight on Oct. 31, UN News reported. Guterres urged all sides to show maximum restraint and said the mission’s departure “does not abrogate” the people’s “inalienable right to self-determination.”

Russia vetoed a U.S. draft on Friday that had the support of 11 of the council’s 15 members, including France and the United Kingdom, Al Jazeera reported. The draft would have extended the mission by a year, dropped “referendum” from its name and made Morocco’s autonomy proposal the only basis for further talks. A rival Russian text to renew the mission unchanged received two votes in favour, one against and 11 abstentions, short of the nine needed.

U.S. Ambassador Mike Waltz said the American proposal “would have moved the 50-year conflict forward.” Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said “the Security Council cannot automatically predetermine matters relating to sovereignty.”

Western Sahara is a former Spanish colony in northwest Africa, roughly the size of Britain. Spain withdrew in 1975 and Morocco claims the territory, while the Algeria-backed Polisario Front seeks an independent state. Al Jazeera said fighting drove at least 170,000 people into refugee camps at Tindouf, Algeria.

The UN established the mission in 1991 to monitor a ceasefire and prepare a referendum on independence or integration with Morocco. The vote was never held, and low-level fighting has continued since the Polisario resumed its armed struggle in 2020.

The reactions show how differently the parties read the outcome. Morocco’s royal palace welcomed the end of the mission, said UN staff and equipment should leave within days and asked that the issue be withdrawn from the council, while saying it remains committed to the ceasefire. Al Jazeera said Reuters video showed a festive mood in El Aaiun, the territory’s main city.

Sidi Omar, the Polisario’s UN representative, welcomed the Russian veto, saying the U.S. text would have undermined Sahrawi self-determination. Algeria expressed regret and called the American draft excessively biased toward Morocco. Oxfam warned that losing the mission’s “monitoring and de-escalation functions risks undermining security and stability.”

At its closure, the mission had a headquarters in Laayoune, nine team sites on either side of the berm that divides the territory, a liaison office in Tindouf, about 160 military observers and about 180 civilian and affiliated staff, UN News said. Twenty of its personnel died during its 35 years. A smaller team is now overseeing the disposal of UN equipment.

The UN said it will keep pursuing a solution through Staffan de Mistura, the secretary-general’s personal envoy. Historian Selim Balouati Lakhloufi told Al Jazeera he expects Morocco to consolidate its control while the Polisario finds international support harder to win.

Morocco recently swore in its first woman prime minister.

File photo: MINURSO vehicles in Laayoune (El Aaiun) in February 2019. Photo: Anass Sedrati, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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