The United Nations announced this Sunday, November 1, the beginning of the dismantling of its mission for Western Sahara (Minurso), after the UN Security Council failed to renew its mandate after 35 years. The entity, created after the 1991 ceasefire between Morocco and the Polisario Front, concludes its work without having achieved the call for a self-determination referendum for the Sahrawi people and fuels fear of a reactivation of the conflict.

First modification: 01/11/2026 - 19:43

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After 35 uninterrupted years of operations, the UN Mission for Western Sahara (Minurso) began its dismantling process on November 1, after the crossed veto between the United States and Russia prevented the renewal of its mandate in the Security Council last Friday.

"November 1, 2026 marks the beginning of the mission's liquidation period, during which a small team will oversee the orderly withdrawal of its resources and troops," announced the spokesman for the UN Secretary General, Stéphane Dujarric, in a statement published on the organization's website.

Thus, the force created in 1991 to supervise the ceasefire between Morocco and the Polisario Front – the legitimate representative of the Sahrawi people, the indigenous population of the area – is preparing to close its tasks with a large outstanding debt: the call for a self-determination referendum in the disputed territory, a former Spanish colony annexed in 1975 by Morocco, which controls 80% of the region rich in phosphate and offshore oil deposits.

Read alsoUncertainty over the Sahara: US and Russia cross vetoes over the UN mission

Why did the renewal of the Security Council mandate fail?

The collapse of the mission can be understood as a sign of the changing times of the international position regarding this five-decade dispute.

If the renewal of Minurso's mandate in the UN Security Council was almost a procedure repeated year after year, this time it clashed with the position of the United States, which under the Donald Trump Administration had already broken the international consensus in 2020 by recognizing Moroccan sovereignty in Western Sahara.

In this second term of the Republican, Washington had already gotten the Security Council to renew the mandate of Minurso last year with a text that took Morocco's autonomy plan as a basis for resolving the conflict.

However, this year, the United States went a step further by proposing a resolution to remove the reference to a referendum from the entity's name, renaming it the United Nations Mission in Western Sahara (MINUSO).

The US ambassador to the UN, Michael Waltz, justified the idea, claiming that such a referendum has never been held due to long-standing disagreements over who has the right to vote and that "the United Nations has not made preparations to hold such a vote for decades."

Despite receiving eleven votes in favor – including those of France and the United Kingdom, permanent members of the Council – Russia's veto prevented the US draft from progressing. Moscow rejected the text, saying it went too far in endorsing Morocco's position on the disputed territory.

The Russian representative to the UN, Vassily Nebenzi, stressed that the most powerful body of the United Nations "cannot automatically predetermine issues related to sovereignty" nor "give its approval to such a unilateral approach."

Russia, for its part, presented its own proposed resolution, which maintained the mention of the self-determination referendum, but it was vetoed by the United States.

Read also Western Sahara: Washington intensifies pressure to impose the Moroccan autonomy plan

Why is Morocco celebrating the end of Minurso?

Although Morocco welcomed either of the two scenarios – both the veto and the extension of the resolution that recognizes its autonomy plan for Western Sahara – the Moroccan Foreign Minister, Naser Burita, considered in an interview with the state channel 2M that the departure of Minurso is an "opportunity" to modify a conflict resolution framework that he considers "outdated" because it sought to manage the crisis instead of resolving it.

In a similar vein, the Moroccan Government spokesperson, Samir Belfqih, assured the Moroccan press agency MAP that Minurso is "heir to a context that has already been overcome" and that, since its creation in 1991, it had become an "instrument for the internationalization of a regional conflict."

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Already on Friday night, after the veto crossed in the UN, the Cabinet of King Mohamed VI of Morocco had terminated the presence of Minurso in what it considers "the southern provinces of the kingdom" and had indicated that "its personnel, its vehicles, its equipment and its symbols" should be removed "in the coming days."

The monarch's position received the support of the official and opposition Moroccan political parties, such as the Islamist Party of Justice and Development (PJD), which expressed its "total commitment" to "the defense of the sovereignty, national unity and territorial integrity" of the country.

The news was also received in a festive manner in some Sahrawi cities, such as El Aaiún, capital of Western Sahara, coinciding with the first anniversary of the Unity Festival, established by Mohamed VI to commemorate resolution 2797 of 2025 of the Security Council, which formalized support for the Moroccan autonomy plan as the basis of negotiations for the resolution of the conflict.

Read alsoSecurity Council supports autonomy plan for Western Sahara, a "victory" for Morocco

What was the reaction of the Polisario Front?

Paradoxically, in part, the Polisario Front also welcomed the Russian veto of a US resolution that, if passed, "would have seriously undermined the foundations of the peace project (...) and would have constituted a dangerous precedent with destabilizing repercussions for regional and international peace and security."

"Any attempt to unilaterally deviate from this framework accepted by both parties and to modify the mission's mandate to adjust to the position of the Moroccan occupying State is totally rejected," he stressed.

In any case, the representative of the Sahrawi people – who control 20% of Western Sahara, a desert and almost inhospitable portion – expressed his concern about the "blockade" to the renewal of Minurso and warned of the "serious consequences" for regional peace and security that may arise from "any measure" adopted by Morocco, while reiterating his "firm commitment" to cooperate with the UN in the search for a "just solution, lasting and definitive for the decolonization of Western Sahara, Africa's last colony".

For its part, Algeria – which hosts the leaders of the Polisario Front and tens of thousands of Sahrawi refugees in camps located in the Tindouf region, in the southwest of the country – considered that the Russian veto of the US resolution was the "inevitable" result of a proposal "excessively and blatantly inclined to benefit Morocco."

For the Government of the North African country, which maintains historical tensions with its neighbor Morocco, the priority is that a possible solution to the conflict "allows the Sahrawi people to exercise their right to free self-determination."

Read alsoWestern Sahara: after returning to war, the Polisario Front holds its XVI Congress

What can happen with the departure of Minurso?

After learning of the departure of the UN mission and amid fears of an escalation in the low-intensity war that both have waged since the breakdown of the ceasefire at the end of 2020, both Morocco and the Polisario Front have ratified their commitment to the peace process.

However, some analysts have recalled that the vacuum left by Minurso – neither Morocco nor the Polisario Front operated in the area where the peace forces were deployed – could lead to skirmishes spreading on both sides of the wall of earth and sand that has divided Western Sahara since the 1980s.

Oxfam warned that "the loss of Minurso's supervision and de-escalation functions risks undermining security and stability, with serious consequences for the civilian population and for the prospects for a peaceful solution."

UN Secretary General António Guterres also expressed concern "about the risk of an escalation of hostilities" and urged all actors involved to exercise "maximum restraint and refrain from adopting measures that could aggravate tensions or undermine regional stability."

At the same time, he claimed the search for a "just, lasting and mutually acceptable" political solution that guarantees "the right of the people of Western Sahara to self-determination" and ratified the availability of the UN to contribute to that process, through the personal envoy of the Secretary General for Western Sahara, Staffan de Mistura.

In practical terms, a small team – which will report to the United Nations Department of Operations Support – will be responsible for coordinating the transfer of its 155 soldiers to their respective countries and for properly managing the equipment owned by the organization.

During his speech on Moroccan public television 2M, Foreign Minister Naser Burita guaranteed that his country "will assume its responsibility, cooperate and provide the necessary time, means and logistics" so that the Minurso withdrawal process "is exemplary."

Read alsoFrance changes its position and supports Moroccan autonomy plan for Western Sahara

On the political level, the Moroccan foreign minister anticipated that Rabat will seek to withdraw the Western Sahara file from the Fourth Committee of the UN General Assembly, in charge of decolonization, an objective that he described as "easy" to achieve given the increase in the number of countries that recognize Moroccan sovereignty in the territory, as did the United States, Spain, France or the United Kingdom in recent years.

For former minister and analyst Lahcen Haddad, Morocco could advance in the effective development of its autonomy plan.

"Perhaps Morocco will open a debate in the Sahara and with the Saharawi diaspora (...) then the necessary measures will be defined: changes in the Constitution or in the laws if necessary, elections if they are also necessary," he explained to the EFE agency.

With Reuters, AP and EFE

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