The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Western Sahara, known as MINURSO, is set to end after 35 years following the failure of the UN Security Council to renew its mandate.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced that the mission would enter its liquidation phase from November 1, with personnel and assets being returned to troop-contributing countries.
The decision has been welcomed by Morocco but criticised by Algeria and the Algeria-backed Polisario Front, which continues to seek independence for the disputed territory.
MINURSO was established following a UN-brokered ceasefire in 1991. Its responsibilities included monitoring the ceasefire and organising a referendum on the future of Western Sahara.
However, the proposed referendum never took place because of disagreements over voter eligibility.
Guterres said the mission’s liquidation phase would involve transporting its assets back to the countries that contributed troops.
Morocco, which claims sovereignty over Western Sahara, welcomed the non-renewal of the mission’s mandate.
Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita described the referendum reference in MINURSO’s name as an anachronism. Morocco’s royal palace also called the decision a significant development in the Western Sahara issue.
The development follows a Security Council resolution adopted a year earlier that described Morocco’s proposal to grant autonomy to the territory under Moroccan sovereignty as the most feasible solution to the conflict.
Algeria’s Foreign Ministry expressed deep regret over the decision, accusing the United States of excessive bias towards Morocco’s position.
The Polisario Front also voiced concern over the deadlock at the Security Council. The group has been seeking an independent state in Western Sahara since Spain, the former colonial power, left the territory in 1976.
The latest decision has renewed diplomatic disagreements over the territory’s political future.
The Security Council’s latest discussions ended without a renewed mandate for MINURSO.
Russia vetoed a US-backed resolution that would have strengthened the UN’s preference for Morocco’s autonomy proposal while reducing the peacekeeping force. The Council subsequently rejected a competing Russian resolution, leaving the mission’s mandate to expire.
