US and Russia block competing UN resolutions on Western Sahara

The peacekeeping force, known by the acronym MINURSO, was established in 1991 to oversee a ceasefire and settlement plan between Morocco and the pro-independence Polisario Front who've disputed control of Western Sahara for 50 years.

Morocco claims soverignty over the former Spanish colony of Western Sahara while Polisario Front separatists, supported by Algeria and who represent the indigenous Sahrawi people, are seeking to establish an independent state called the Sahrawi Republic.

As of June this year MINURSO comprised 359 civilian and military personnel, according to its website. 

US and Russia vetoes

On Friday, the United States tabled a draft resolution a the UN Security Council to extend the mission until 30 April, 2027. It would have put a Moroccan autonomy plan at the centre of efforts to settle the conflict and cut the mission's military component.

It would also have changed the name of the force from MINURSO to MINUSO, dropping the "R" that refers to a referendum on the territory's self-determination.

Eleven of the council's 15 members voted in favour, and three countries including China and Pakistan abstained.

However Russia, a permament council member, used its veto to block the US proposal, slamming it as a "unilateral approach". Moscow proposed the mission's mandate be renewed under the same terms as before.

"We stress the fact that the Security Council cannot automatically pre-determine matters relating to sovereignty,"  Russia's permanent representative to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, said.

"The Security Council must not give a blessing to such a one-sided approach. Therefore we were compelled to block the adoption of ⁠the draft." 

The US then vetoed the Russian proposal, and the countries that supported the American resolution abstained.

"Some members of this council have used their veto to preserve the letter 'R' – for the referendum – and the name that the United Nations hasn't even been preparing to hold for decades," said US Ambassador Mike Waltz. 

The representative of France, Jerome Bonnafont, denounced "Russia's obstruction".

Ceuta and Western Sahara at heart of US-Morocco rapprochement

Satisfaction 

Morocco's Royal Cabinet on Friday welcomed the nonrenewal of the peacekeeping mandate and said this "should mark the end of the Security Council's involvement and the removal of this issue from its agenda".

Algeria's representative to the UN, Amar Bendjama, thanked Russia "as well as all the countries that chose not to be associated with such a blatant injustice".

Bendjama affirmed that Algeria would continue to promote "a solution that guarantees the Sahrawi people's right to self-determination".

The Polisario Front's representative in New York, Sidi Omar, also expressed his "satisfaction" following the rejection of the US resolution.

Last year, the Security Council under US leadership gave unprecedented support to Morocco's autonomy plan for Western Sahara, deeming it the "most feasible" solution, despite Algeria's hostility.

A Spanish colony until 1975, mineral-rich Western Sahara is largely controlled by Morocco but is considered a non-self-governing territory by the UN.

Macron renews French support for Moroccan rule in disputed Western Sahara

(with newswires)