A Sahrawi woman who has spent her life displaced in Algeria says she wants her daughters to see Western Sahara, a day after a U.N. mission there ended as the dispute remained unresolved.
Reuters reported that Binina Mohamed, 51, has lived in a refugee camp in southern Algeria since being displaced from Western Sahara. Her daughters are in their 20s and 30s, and have never visited the homeland she left. “I do not want them to reach the age of 50 without seeing their homeland,” she told Reuters.
MINURSO’s mandate expired Oct. 31, and peacekeeping activity in the territory stopped the following day, as EconoTimes noted in its earlier report on the mission’s closure. The mission had monitored a ceasefire since 1991, after years of fighting between Morocco and the Algeria-backed Polisario Front. Morocco claims Western Sahara, while the Polisario seeks an independent state.
In 2025, the Security Council linked negotiations to Morocco’s autonomy proposal while also calling for a mutually acceptable settlement that allows Western Sahara’s people to exercise self-determination. Reuters reported that Russia vetoed a U.S. draft on Oct. 30, and the Security Council did not adopt a separate Russian proposal. The mandate was not renewed.
Estimates of the camps’ population differ. Algeria and the Polisario say more than 160,000 people live there. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says its aid reaches an estimated 90,000 refugees among the most vulnerable. Morocco disputes both figures, citing the absence of a U.N. census, Reuters reported. A World Food Programme statement earlier this year said more than 80% of camp residents depend on aid for basic food. Mohamed’s family also described difficulty getting water and coping with the harsh climate.
Reuters reported that Algeria’s envoy highlighted declining aid and refugees’ hardship at the Security Council. Morocco’s envoy blamed Algeria for conditions in the camps, accused it of denying refugees the right to return and urged the United Nations to register residents. Algeria rejects Morocco’s broader accusation that it and the Polisario use Sahrawis as political pawns. “We want stability. We are tired of being refugees,” Mohamed told Reuters.
