UN Peacekeeping Mission in Western Sahara Ends After 35 Years

The United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) ended its operations on 1 November after the Security Council failed to renew its mandate. The mission had monitored a ceasefire and prepared the ground for a referendum since 1991. UN Secretary-General António Guterres said the date marked the start of the liquidation phase, during which a smaller team will return troop-contributing countries' assets and dispose of UN equipment.

Russia vetoed a U.S.-drafted resolution that would have endorsed Morocco's autonomy plan under Moroccan sovereignty as the basis for a settlement and would have scaled back the peacekeeping force. A competing Russian proposal to extend the mission failed to secure the required votes. Morocco, which administers most of the territory, welcomed the outcome. The Algeria-backed Polisario Front, which seeks independence for the former Spanish colony, called the end of the mission unacceptable.

MINURSO was established after a UN-brokered ceasefire. Its original mandate included organising a referendum on independence or integration with Morocco. Disagreements over voter lists prevented the vote from ever taking place. Hostilities resumed in 2020 along the berm that separates Moroccan-controlled areas from the Polisario-held strip. The mission continued to report on military activity and to support mine clearance even after the ceasefire collapsed.

Guterres urged all parties to exercise maximum restraint and to avoid steps that could raise tensions. He noted that the UN remains ready to support dialogue through his Personal Envoy, Staffan de Mistura. The end of the physical presence removes an on-the-ground observer mechanism that both sides had used, at different times, to document alleged violations. Western Sahara remains on the UN list of non-self-governing territories. The territory is roughly the size of Colorado and holds phosphate deposits and rich fishing grounds off its Atlantic coast.

The Security Council stalemate leaves no agreed political framework on the table at the moment the observers leave. Morocco has long argued that its autonomy proposal is the realistic path. The Polisario maintains that only a referendum that includes independence as an option meets the principle of self-determination. With the mission winding down, any new incidents will be harder for the UN to verify independently. Regional actors, including Algeria and the broader Maghreb, now face a changed on-the-ground balance without the buffer the peacekeepers provided for three and a half decades.