Russia vetoes renewal of UN mission for Western Sahara

MINURSO's mandate expires on 31 October after Moscow blocked a US draft that would have cut the mission's military component by at least half. Morocco's Royal Cabinet says the mission's personnel should leave the southern provinces in the coming days.

On 30 October the Security Council failed to renew MINURSO's mandate: 11 votes for the US draft, one Russian veto, three abstentions. It was the first such failure since the mission began, and it means MINURSO expires on 31 October.

The expiry leaves the legal basis for monitoring the ceasefire and clearing mines in limbo. Council members could still negotiate a transition arrangement for the work, but nothing has been announced so far. The United States said it stands ready to work with the Secretary-General on an orderly drawdown of the mission. That drawdown, it said, should protect UN personnel and address security and humanitarian needs on the ground.

The American text would have kept MINURSO running until 31 October 2027. It would have stripped the mission of its referendum role and asked the Secretary-General for restructuring proposals by 30 January 2027. The draft set a strategic review and cut the military component by at least half by 31 January 2027. Peacekeeping functions would have ended on 30 April 2027, leaving the mission purely political. Russia countered with its own draft, S/2026/870, a technical one-year extension that would change neither the mandate nor the name.

Washington said the resolution would have supported self-determination and moved the 50-year conflict forward. Nebenzia called the veto a 'veto of salvation' and his text a last chance to keep MINURSO in its original form. He said opponents would bear responsibility for the mission's disappearance. Before the vote, Polisario's UN representative Sidi Omar threatened in a 22 October letter to quit the process if the zero draft passed unchanged.

In a Friday evening statement, the Royal Cabinet said MINURSO's personnel and symbols should leave the southern provinces in the coming days. The Cabinet said the non-renewal should end the Security Council's seizure of the Western Sahara file.