Security Council Fails Twice on Western Sahara as UN Mission’s Mandate Runs Out

The United Nations Security Council failed Friday to renew its mission in Western Sahara, leaving the mandate of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) to expire Saturday unless the Council acts first.

Russia vetoed a US-drafted resolution that would have scaled back the mission’s military component and made Morocco’s autonomy plan the only basis for negotiating a settlement, Reuters reported. A rival Russian text that would have extended the mission for a year without changes then failed as well.

A UN Photo caption from the meeting records 11 votes in favor of the US draft, Russia against, and abstentions from China, Pakistan and Somalia. Xinhua, China’s state news agency, reported that the Russian draft drew three votes in favor, one against and 11 abstentions, short of the nine required, with the United States voting against it.

What Washington proposed

Security Council Report, an independent monitor of the Council, said the US text would have renewed the mandate for one year, until October 31, 2027, and renamed the mission the UN Mission in Western Sahara (MINUSO) from November 1. The word “Referendum” would have left the name.

The text called Morocco’s autonomy proposal the “only basis” for continuing discussions. Morocco submitted the plan in 2007. It would integrate the territory into Morocco, with the Sahrawi people managing their internal affairs and Morocco representing them abroad.

Security Council Report said Russia called the text one-sided and its revisions superficial. China advocated keeping the mission’s mandate and name. The Polisario Front warned the Council in an October 22 letter that the first US draft, if adopted without substantive changes, would leave it no choice but to disengage from the peace process.

What happens now

Resolution 2797, adopted last October 31 by 11 votes to none, backed negotiations based on Morocco’s proposal and extended the mission “until 31 October 2026.” Hespress reported that members could still seek a shorter extension, and that a lapse would leave the legal basis for ceasefire monitoring and demining in doubt. No compromise has been reported. Morocco’s Royal Cabinet called the outcome “a significant step toward the definitive closure of the Moroccan Sahara issue at the United Nations,” the news site Atalayar reported.

The Council created this mission in 1991 to support a referendum for self-determination of the people of Western Sahara. Washington told members this month that the mandate lists tasks the mission has not carried out in more than two decades, according to Security Council Report. On Friday the Council rejected one text that removed the word from the mission’s name and one that kept it.