The UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) has stopped operating. UN Secretary-General António Guterres confirmed the end of the mission on Sunday, 35 years after it was created to monitor the 1991 ceasefire and organise a popular vote that never took place.
The mandate expired on October 31, a day after the Security Council rejected two competing resolutions and left the mission with no legal basis to continue.
"This 1 November 2026 marks the start of the liquidation period," said spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric, in a statement attributable to the secretary-general's office. From now on, a smaller team reporting to the UN Department of Operational Support will handle the return of equipment belonging to troop-contributing countries and the disposal of the organisation's own material. Guterres asked the parties to cooperate so that the process ends "in an orderly manner" as soon as possible, and thanked the mission's personnel and his special representative, Alexander Ivanko.
Two resolutions, two defeats
The deadlock came on Friday, October 30. The text put forward by the United States drew 11 votes in favour, one against and three abstentions — and fell, because the vote against came from Russia, a permanent member with veto power. Among those who backed it were the other two Western permanent members, France and the United Kingdom.
The American proposal was not a straightforward extension. Besides running the mandate to October 31, 2027, it would have:
- dropped the word "referendum" from the mission's name, which would have become MINUSO;
- made Morocco's autonomy initiative the "exclusive basis" for future negotiations, going further than Resolution 2797 of October 2025.
Washington had rewritten the draft several times, including abandoning an earlier version that wound up peacekeeping operations in April 2027. The Council then also rejected the Russian alternative, which would have extended the mandate by one year without changing the mission's name or its tasks.
US ambassador Mike Waltz called the veto unfortunate and said the proposal would have moved a 50-year-old conflict forward, adding that the status quo is unacceptable. Russian ambassador Vassily Nebenzia replied that the text favoured one side and that the Council cannot predetermine questions of sovereignty.
Morocco celebrates; Algeria and the Polisario react
The readings of the outcome were opposite. The royal cabinet of Morocco, which has considered the territory its own since 1975, treated the non-renewal as a "significant development" because it takes the issue off the Security Council's agenda.
Algeria's foreign ministry expressed "deep regret" and blamed the outcome on American bias in favour of Rabat. The Polisario Front, which claims an independent Sahrawi republic and is backed by Algeria, said it was concerned about the deadlock.
What is left without the mission
Through his spokesperson, Guterres said he remains concerned about the security situation and the risk of hostilities escalating, and urged the parties to avoid actions that could raise tensions. He added that the UN stands ready to support dialogue and a peaceful settlement.
The practical point is that Western Sahara is left without international observers on the ground for the first time since 1991 — and the referendum that gave the mission its name drops out of the Council's vocabulary without ever having been held.
With information from Al Jazeera, Morocco World News and Hespress.
