Western Sahara: UN Confirms Start of Process to Wind Up Western Sahara Mission

What the report says

The United Nations has begun the process of winding down its peacekeeping mission in Western Sahara after the Security Council failed to agree on an extension. According to RFI, which AllAfrica republished, Russia and the United States vetoed rival draft resolutions on the future of MINURSO, the UN mission deployed in 1991 to monitor a ceasefire and support a settlement plan between Morocco and the Polisario Front.

UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said support staff would oversee the withdrawal of the mission. The mandate expired after Russia blocked a US-led resolution that would have renewed the operation for another year and put Morocco’s autonomy proposal at the center of talks. The United States then vetoed the Russian text, which sought to extend the mission under previous terms.

Western Sahara remains a long-running territorial dispute. Morocco claims sovereignty over the territory, while the Polisario Front, backed by Algeria, seeks an independent Sahrawi state. The UN still regards the area as a non-self-governing territory. Secretary-General António Guterres urged respect for the rights of the Sahrawi people, including self-determination, and warned of possible escalation if tensions rise.

The developments matter because MINURSO has been one of the UN’s longest-running peacekeeping operations, and its winding down could affect diplomacy, ceasefire monitoring and the broader effort to resolve the decades-old conflict.