UN Peacekeeping Mission in Western Sahara Ends After 35 Years as Security Council Fails to Renew Mandate; Liquidation Phase Begins November 1
UNITED NATIONS — The 35-year-old UN peacekeeping mission in the Western Sahara region will come to an end after the Security Council failed to renew its mandate, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Sunday, November 1.
November 1 would mark the start of the “liquidation phase” of the mission, with assets transported back to troop-contributing countries, Guterres said in a statement.
The peacekeeping mission, known as MINURSO, has been in place there since a UN-brokered ceasefire in 1991. The Polisario Front has been seeking an independent state in Western Sahara since former colonial power Spain left in 1976; Morocco claims Western Sahara as its own.
The end of the 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. The Security Council then defeated a competing Russian resolution, leaving the mission to expire without a new mandate.
Morocco welcomed the decision. 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”, and Morocco's royal palace said the non-renewal was a “significant development” towards withdrawing the Western Sahara issue from consideration by the Security Council. The Polisario said in a statement it was “concerned at the deadlock in the Security Council meeting.” Algeria's Foreign Ministry on Saturday expressed “deep regret” over the non-renewal, blaming the “excessive bias” of the US towards Morocco's position.
Source: Reuters, November 1, 2026, citing the UN chief's statement and statements from Morocco, the Polisario Front and Algeria's Foreign Ministry.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：西撒哈拉拉尤恩（El Aaiun）的联合国西撒哈拉特派团（MINURSO）驻地，前景为联合国车辆。摄影：cingularite，CC BY-SA 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / The MINURSO compound in El Aaiun, Western Sahara, with UN vehicles in the foreground. Photo: cingularite, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
