Why is Morocco celebrating the defeat of a UN resolution on Western Sahara?
Summary
Russia vetoed a U.S.-drafted resolution to renew the UN mission in Western Sahara, and the mission’s mandate expired on Saturday. Morocco welcomed the outcome because the draft would have made its autonomy plan the sole basis for talks and removed “referendum” from the mission’s name; Algeria criticized the draft as biased toward Morocco.Key Facts
- The UN established MINURSO in 1991 to monitor a ceasefire and prepare a referendum on Western Sahara’s future.
- The U.S. resolution would have extended MINURSO’s mandate for one year and made Morocco’s autonomy proposal the only basis for further talks.
- Russia vetoed the U.S. draft, which had support from 11 of the Security Council’s 15 members.
- A Russian proposal to renew the existing mission without the U.S. draft’s changes also failed to win adoption.
- MINURSO’s mandate expired on Saturday, leaving the future of the mission uncertain.
- Morocco’s royal palace welcomed the failed renewal and called for UN personnel and equipment to leave the territory in the coming days.
- Algeria regretted the failure to renew the mandate and criticized the U.S. draft as excessively biased toward Morocco.
- Morocco claims Western Sahara, while the Algeria-backed Polisario Front seeks an independent Sahrawi Republic.
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