Morocco has welcomed the defeat of a US-drafted resolution which sought to extend the mandate of the UN mission in the disputed Western Sahara.
The mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) expired on Saturday after a veto by Russia, leaving the future of the peacekeeping mission in limbo. In ۱۹۹۱, the UN established MINURSO to monitor a ceasefire and prepare a referendum on the territory’s future.
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Morocco has considered Western Sahara its own territory since ۱۹۷۵, when Spain withdrew from the desert region in northwest Africa which is roughly the size of Britain. The Algeria-backed Polisario Front seeks to establish an independent state called the Sahrawi Republic.
So, why is Morocco celebrating the failed UN resolution? What does it mean for the future of the disputed region?
Here is what we know:
What happened at the UN Security Council?
On Friday, the US, which is a permanent member of the UN Security Council, proposed a resolution to support the principle of self-determination in the disputed Western Sahara.
Russia vetoed the resolution, despite support from ۱۱ of the ۱۵ council members, including fellow permanent members France and the United Kingdom.
The US draft would have extended the mission for a year, removed “referendum” from its name and made Morocco’s autonomy proposal the only basis for further talks.
Last October, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution that offered genuine autonomy to Western Sahara. Under that plan, the territory would manage its internal affairs, but remain under Moroccan sovereignty.
The Security Council had already made the proposal a basis for negotiations last year and asked UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to submit a review of the peacekeeping mission.
Speaking after the vote, US ambassador Mike Waltz said it was truly unfortunate that in ۲۰۲۶ the veto was used to “preserve the letter R (in the Mission’s name) for referendum”.
He added that Washington’s proposal “would have moved the ۵۰-year conflict forward” and added that the status quo is not acceptable.
Russia’s UN ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, said at the same meeting that Moscow opposed the draft because it favoured one side.
“We stress the fact that the Security Council cannot automatically predetermine matters relating to sovereignty,” he said.
Instead, Russia proposed renewing the existing mission without those changes. But that draft also failed to secure the nine votes needed for adoption, receiving two votes in favour, one against and ۱۱ abstentions.
MINURSO’s mission has ۱۵۵ military personnel and is set to cost $۶۲m in the fiscal year that began in June, according to a UN report. But its mandate expired on Saturday.
How did Morocco and Algeria react to the failure of the UN mission?
Morocco’s royal palace welcomed the failure to renew MINURSO, saying on Friday that UN personnel and equipment should leave the territory in the coming days and that the Western Sahara issue should now be withdrawn from the Security Council’s consideration. Morocco said it remained committed to the ceasefire.
According to a UN media statement, Morocco’s UN representative also questioned why Algeria’s delegate was giving the Security Council “lectures” on the Western Sahara.
“Let these people [in the Western Sahara] go back to Morocco,” he said, “let them go home”.
Algeria expressed regret on Saturday over the failure to renew MINURSO’s mandate. Its foreign ministry criticised what it described as the US draft’s excessive bias towards Morocco.
According to a UN media statement, Algeria’s delegate to the UN thanked Russia for its draft resolution and all other member nations “who have chosen not to associate themselves” with an egregious injustice and a flagrant attack on “the very foundation of our organisation”.
Algeria’s UN representative noted that the country has been a refuge for hundreds of thousands of Sahrawi people who have been denied their right to self-determination.
The “tragedy being endured by the Sahrawi people has oddly been diluted to the concept of refugee populations”, he added.
Sidi Omar, the Polisario Front’s representative at the UN, told reporters on Friday that he welcomed Russia’s veto because the US proposal would undermine Sahrawi self-determination.
What is the Western Sahara dispute all about?
The Polisario Front, the political and military representative, does not recognise Morocco’s annexation of the territory following Spain’s withdrawal in ۱۹۷۵. It has been seeking a UN-supervised referendum for self-determination.
In ۱۹۷۶, it declared the independent Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.
Decades of fighting drove at least ۱۷۰,۰۰۰ Indigenous people into refugee camps in Tindouf in neighbouring Algeria, which backs the Polisario Front.
The Polisario Front signed a UN-brokered ceasefire with Morocco in ۱۹۹۱. It called for a referendum within six months, but it was never held.
Morocco, which retains control of its lucrative phosphate and fishing resources in Western Sahara, claims historic and pre-colonial ties to the land and views the region as an integral part of its territory [“Greater Morocco”].
For decades, the US has provided military and diplomatic support to Morocco. But in ۲۰۲۰, Donald Trump recognised Moroccan sovereignty over the territory during his first term in office. Morocco soon established diplomatic ties with Israel as part of the so-called Abraham Accords.
The region is now the last United Nations-designated “non-self-governing territory” in Africa, where between ۱۰۰,۰۰۰ and ۱۴۰,۰۰۰ Moroccan military personnel are based.
Low-level fighting has also continued since the Polisario Front said it was resuming armed struggle in ۲۰۲۰.
Why is Morocco celebrating the failed UN resolution?
MINURSO was set up to monitor the ۱۹۹۱ ceasefire and hold a referendum in Western Sahara. The expiry of its mandate will likely boost Morocco’s stance on the referendum question, though its autonomy proposal has already been adopted by the UN.
On Saturday, according to a video report by the Reuters news agency, a festive atmosphere prevailed in the streets of El Aaiun, the capital of Western Sahara.
In the central Mechoua Square, dozens of people were wearing melfas, the traditional Sahrawi women’s garments, and long robes known as darra, as they waved Moroccan flags and displayed portraits of Morocco’s King Mohammed VI.
Selim Balouati Lakhloufi, a historian and researcher based in Morocco, said that Morocco is pleased because “diplomatic developments at the United Nations are supporting its strategy regarding the [disputed Western] Sahara”.
“The support of powers such as the United States, France and the United Kingdom for Morocco’s autonomy proposal strengthens its international position and is gradually shifting the debate away from the right to self-determination and the possibility of independence toward a solution based on autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty,” he told Al Jazeera.
What does this mean for the future of the Western Sahara?
The collapse of MINURSO’s mandate could escalate the dispute in the Western Sahara, according to aid organisations.
Oxfam has warned that losing MINURSO’s “monitoring and de-escalation functions risks undermining security and stability”.
Lakhloufi said that the UN mission’s expiry is also unfavourable for Sahrawi independence aspirations.
Regarding the future of the Western Sahara, he said that Morocco will likely continue to consolidate its territorial, economic and administrative control, while the Polisario Front will face greater difficulties in securing international support.
“The proposal for autonomy could end up becoming the main framework for negotiations, pushing independence further and further out of reach,” he added.
