UN peacekeeping mission in Western Sahara ends after 35 years, UN chief says

The 35-year UN peacekeeping mission in Western Sahara will end after the Security Council failed to renew its mandate , the UN chief said on Sunday. Morocco, which claims the Western Sahara as its ‌own, welcomed the decision, while its opponents in the Algeria-backed Polisario Front expressed concern. The Polisario Front has sought an independent state in Western Sahara since former colonial power Spain left in 1976. A peacekeeping mission, known as MINURSO, has been in place there ​since a UN-brokered ceasefire in 1991. November 1 would mark the start of the mission’s “liquidation phase”, with assets transported back to troop-contributing countries, UN chief Antonio Guterres said in a statement. The end of the peacekeeping mission comes ​a year after the UN Security Council adopted a US-drafted resolution that accepted Rabat’s plan to give the territory autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty as the “most feasible” solution to the conflict. Russia, which abstained ​in last year’s vote, this year vetoed another US-backed resolution that would have ​cemented the UN’s preference for the Moroccan plan while scaling back the peacekeeping force. The Security Council ‌then ⁠defeated a competing Russian resolution, leaving the mission to expire without a new mandate. Besides monitoring the ceasefire, MINURSO was tasked with organizing a referendum that has never taken place due to disagreements over voter eligibility. Morocco’s Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita told state ​media that the ​mission’s reference to ⁠a referendum – the “R” in its name – was an “anachronism”. Rabat had been informed that Russia was going to block the US-drafted resolution, but ​saw it as “an opportunity to review certain rules of the ​game”, he ⁠said. Morocco’s royal palace said the non-renewal was a “significant development” toward withdrawing the Western Sahara issue from the Security Council’s consideration. Algeria’s Foreign Ministry on Saturday expressed “deep ​regret” over the non-renewal, blaming the “excessive bias” of the US toward Morocco’s position. The Polisario said in a statement it was “concerned at the deadlock in the ​Security Council meeting.”