The UN’s Western Sahara mission ends after 35 years as Russia vetoes a US plan to rename it and drop the referendum

CAIRO — The United Nations mission in Western Sahara has come to an end after 35 years, because the Security Council could not agree on its future. The mandate of MINURSO expired at midnight on Saturday, after Russia vetoed a US draft on Friday and a rival Russian text failed to get the nine votes it needed, UN News reported.

MINURSO was created in 1991 to monitor a ceasefire between Morocco and the Polisario Front and to organise a referendum in which the people of Western Sahara would choose between independence and integration with Morocco. The vote never happened. The US draft would have renewed the mission for one year, dropped “referendum” from its name and made Morocco’s autonomy plan, which keeps the territory under Moroccan sovereignty, the basis for further talks.

What the Council said

The US delegate said it was “truly unfortunate” that the veto had been used to “preserve the letter R” for referendum, and that the UN had not been preparing for a referendum for decades, according to the UN’s record of the meeting. “We have been clear that renewing mandates year after year for decade after decade — mandates that haven’t worked or cannot work — was not something we can support,” he said.

Russia’s delegate said the US text “could have reversed the entire resolution process” and described his vote “as a life-saving veto, so to speak”. China said there had not been enough consultation. France warned that an abrupt closure “would be exceedingly alarming in the context of resumed tensions”, and the United Kingdom expressed “immense disappointment” at the veto.

Algeria, which hosts the Sahrawi refugee camps around Tindouf, decried the “failure of this Security Council”. Morocco’s delegate accused Algeria of undermining the Council and said of the people in the camps: “Let these people go back to Morocco.” The Polisario Front said it welcomed the defeat of the US draft.

What happens now

In a statement on Sunday, Secretary-General António Guterres said the mission’s departure “does not abrogate” the people of Western Sahara’s “inalienable right to self-determination”. The UN will keep working towards a settlement through his Personal Envoy, Staffan de Mistura.

AB24’s reading from Cairo: MINURSO’s military observers have for decades been the main international presence along the sand berm that divides the territory. Watch how the drawdown is handled on the ground, whether the US returns with a new text, and how Algiers and Rabat respond in the weeks ahead.

Sources: UN Meetings Coverage, 30 Oct 2026; UN News, 1 Nov 2026.

— AB24 · Cairo