UN General Assembly Hears Veto Explanations on Western Sahara on November 10: US Text Drew 11 Votes, Russian Text Drew 3
The United States and Russian representatives explained to the General Assembly on November 10 the rationale behind their vetoes, following the failure on October 30 of the Security Council to adopt draft resolutions to renew or extend the mandate of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara, known as MINURSO.
According to the UNifeed record, the first text, presented by the United States as penholder, proposed to renew the mandate for one year, until October 31, 2027, and to rename it as the UN Mission in Western Sahara. It received 11 votes in favour, 1 vote against and 3 abstentions, and was not adopted owing to the Russian veto.
Russian Ambassador Anna Evstigneeva said the decision was guided by Russia's clear and consistent position on the question of Western Sahara, and stressed that taking into consideration the point of view of both parties, the Kingdom of Morocco and the Frente Polisario, can advance the political process and help achieve a reliable and lasting solution.
She said the draft tabled by the American colleagues was fundamentally at odds with that objective, as it was based on recognition of Morocco's sovereignty over the territory of Western Sahara. She said it was important to remember that the question of Western Sahara is an issue of decolonisation, and that the final status of the territory was to be determined with the assistance of the UN, with fair and equitable consideration of the aspirations of the people of Western Sahara.
The second draft resolution, authored by Russia, proposed a renewal of the mandate for another year. It received 3 votes in favour, 1 vote against and 11 abstentions, and was not adopted, having failed to obtain the required number of votes.
US Ambassador Mike Waltz told the General Assembly that for too many decades the Western Sahara issue at the United Nations has been dominated by wishful thinking. He said that following the adoption of Resolution 2797 in 2025, there had been three rounds of high-level talks at foreign ministry level, one in Madrid and two in Washington, D.C., with the parties at the table for the first time in nearly a decade.
Waltz said Russia called its own text a technical rollover, but that it was a rollback that struck every reference to the Autonomy Proposal, which the Council endorsed as a basis for negotiations one year ago. He said just three countries supported that rollback.
来源链接： https://media.un.org/unifeed/en/asset/d368/d3684723
第5条
建议频道：世界
首发或跟进：跟进（霍尔木兹油轮袭击线新进展：周日又有 3 艘油轮被击中、周二再报 1 艘，国际海事组织确认累计 130 起事件）
拟稿时间：2026-11-10 15:05 PST
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: Wikipedia/Wikimedia Commons 词条主图：General assembly
