The United Nations Security Council failed to approve a new mandate for its Western Sahara mission, which expired Oct. 31 after Russia vetoed a U.S. plan and a Russian draft fell short of the votes needed for adoption.
The U.S. draft proposed a one-year renewal and a new name, the United Nations Mission in Western Sahara (MINUSO). It also would have made Morocco's Autonomy Proposal the basis for negotiations. The draft received 11 votes in favor and three abstentions; Russia cast the only opposing vote, blocking its adoption with a veto.
Russia put forward a separate text seeking a one-year extension on the mission's existing terms. It received three votes in favor, one against from the United States and 11 abstentions. Security Council resolutions require at least nine affirmative votes, so the Russian proposal lacked enough support to pass regardless of the U.S. vote.
The Council voted on Oct. 30, a day before the previous mandate's end date. In Resolution 2797 (2025), it had linked negotiations to Morocco's autonomy plan while also calling for a mutually acceptable settlement that provides for the people of Western Sahara to exercise self-determination.
Created in 1991, MINURSO was part of a U.N. settlement framework that included monitoring a ceasefire between Morocco and the Polisario Front and preparing a referendum. That vote has never taken place.
Morocco's Royal Office welcomed the failure to renew the mandate and said MINURSO's presence in the kingdom's “Southern provinces” should end in the coming days. The statement did not set a U.N. withdrawal schedule. The Associated Press reported that Sidi Omar, the Polisario Front's representative at the U.N., said the U.S. draft would have undermined the Sahrawi people's right to self-determination and independence.
