UN Western Sahara peacekeeping mandate set to expire after vetoes

The United Nations Security Council failed to pass a resolution to extend the peacekeeping mission in Western Sahara before its mandate expires on October 31. DW, Arab News, and Reuters all report that Russia and the United States vetoed each other's draft resolutions, leaving the future of the peacekeeping mission in uncertainty. [1][3][4][6]

According to the United States Mission to the United Nations, Russia vetoed a resolution drafted by the United States. UK government statements at the UN Security Council added that Russia's decision risks setting back progress on the political process for the territory. [2][5]

The peacekeeping force, known as MINURSO, was established in 1991 to oversee a settlement plan and a ceasefire between Morocco and the pro-independence Polisario Front, DW reported. Morocco claims Western Sahara, a mineral-rich former Spanish colony, as part of its territory. [1]

Western Sahara is a non-self-governing territory in north-western Africa with an estimated 600,000 inhabitants. Morocco administers approximately 80 percent of the land following its annexation in 1975, while the Polisario Front controls an eastern strip. A 1991 ceasefire monitored by MINURSO halted a guerrilla war, but hostilities resumed in 2020 after the Polisario declared the truce broken. [7][9]