Monday 2 November 2026
The UN peacekeeping mission in Western Sahara ends after 35 years, killed by a standoff between Washington and Moscow
The United Nations mission in Western Sahara ceased operations on Sunday, November 1, ending a 35 year presence in the disputed desert territory on Africa's northwest coast. The mission, known as MINURSO, was created in 1991 to monitor a ceasefire and run a referendum on independence that was never held. It died in the Security Council on Friday, when Russia vetoed an American draft resolution that backed Morocco's claim to sovereignty and would have wound the mission down next year, and a rival Russian resolution to extend the mission was then voted down. The territory, about the size of Colorado, is claimed by Morocco and by the Polisario Front, which seeks an independent Sahrawi republic and is backed by Algeria.
“This 1 November 2026 marks the start of the liquidation period,” said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the secretary general. Liquidation is the United Nations word for packing up: the peacekeepers leave, the bases close, and what remains is a diplomatic envoy, Staffan de Mistura, and a dispute that has outlived the mission sent to settle it.
Spain ruled the territory until the 1970s. Morocco annexed most of it, the Polisario Front fought a guerrilla war for independence, and the 1991 ceasefire was supposed to lead to a vote in which the Sahrawi people chose between the two. The vote never happened, because the two sides never agreed on who counted as a voter. The ceasefire itself broke down in 2020, and low level fighting has run since then. Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned of escalating hostilities and urged restraint as the mission closed.
Morocco calls the territory its southern provinces and has gathered backing for its position from a growing list of Western capitals, including Washington, Paris and London. The Polisario, based among refugee camps around Tindouf in Algeria, has watched its international support narrow to Algeria, Russia, South Africa and a shrinking group of others. The American draft that Russia vetoed would have put the Security Council behind Moroccan sovereignty. With both drafts dead, the mission's mandate simply expired, and the last international presence on the ground in one of Africa's oldest territorial disputes went with it.
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