US and Russia veto rival UN drafts as Western Sahara mission ends

The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Western Sahara was to end on Saturday after the United States and Russia vetoed each other's competing resolutions on extending a mandate that has run for 35 years, and the UN began winding the force down.

MINURSO was set up in 1991 to oversee a ceasefire and a settlement plan between Morocco and the pro-independence Polisario Front, which have disputed control of the territory for 50 years. As of June it comprised 359 civilian and military personnel, according to figures on its website cited by RFI.

The US draft, tabled on Friday, would have extended the mission to 30 April 2027, placed Morocco's autonomy plan at the centre of efforts to settle the conflict and cut the military component. It would also have renamed the force MINUSO, dropping the "R" for referendum. Eleven of the council's 15 members voted in favour and three abstained, among them China and Pakistan, RFI reported.

Russia's ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, said the Security Council "cannot automatically pre-determine matters relating to sovereignty" and that Moscow was "compelled to block" a one-sided approach. Russia proposed renewing the mandate on existing terms. The US vetoed that text, and the countries that had backed the American resolution abstained.

US ambassador Mike Waltz said some council members had used their veto "to preserve the letter 'R'" for the referendum, and a name the UN "hasn't even been preparing to hold for decades". France's representative, Jerome Bonnafont, denounced "Russia's obstruction".

Morocco's royal cabinet welcomed the non-renewal, saying it "should mark the end of the Security Council's involvement" and the removal of the issue from its agenda. Algeria's ambassador, Amar Bendjama, thanked Russia "as well as all the countries that chose not to be associated with such a blatant injustice", and said Algiers would keep promoting "a solution that guarantees the Sahrawi people's right to self-determination". The Polisario Front's representative in New York, Sidi Omar, expressed "satisfaction" at the rejection of the US text.

Western Sahara, a Spanish colony until 1975, is mineral-rich, largely controlled by Morocco and classed by the UN as a non-self-governing territory. Morocco claims sovereignty over it; the Polisario Front, backed by Algeria and representing the indigenous Sahrawi, seeks an independent Sahrawi Republic.

Last year the Security Council, under US leadership, described Morocco's autonomy plan as the "most feasible" solution despite Algeria's opposition. On Sunday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the organisation remained committed to "a just, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution" providing for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara, and that it stood ready to keep supporting peace efforts.