The mandate of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (Minurso) has expired after 35 years. At the Security Council on Friday October 30, a US draft that would have changed the mission’s mandate and name won eleven votes but was vetoed by Russia, while Moscow’s rival text to keep the existing arrangement was vetoed by the US and was not adopted. The Royal Cabinet called the outcome “important” and a “significant step toward the definitive closure” of the Sahara file at the United Nations.
Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita said on 2M on Saturday that Morocco knew days in advance that Russia would veto the US text. Rather than renegotiating to avoid the veto, Rabat chose to treat the moment as a chance to change mechanisms it considers outdated.
Bourita argued that the mission had lost relevance. The referendum the mission was created to prepare was abandoned more than two decades ago. On ceasefire monitoring, the Polisario declared in November 2020 that it no longer considered itself bound, and of 157 military personnel only 43 were deployed east of the Moroccan defense wall.
Morocco says it will manage the withdrawal responsibly, giving time and logistical facilities, and reaffirms its commitment to the ceasefire. It expects the end of the mission to bring the end of the Council’s periodic review of the issue and sees the General Assembly’s Fourth Committee, where no state holds a veto, as another avenue, as more than two-thirds of UN members back autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty.
Analysts deem the end of the mission as a shift from managing the file to transforming its parameters.