Russia Vetoes U.S. Western Sahara Draft; Both UN Resolutions Fail

Russia vetoed a U.S.-sponsored Security Council draft on Western Sahara on October 30, and neither of the two competing resolutions was adopted. Britain said the unsuccessful votes left the UN mission known as MINURSO facing the expiration of its mandate on October 31. The U.S. text received 11 votes in favour. British ambassador Sarah MacIntosh urged Council members that had not supported the U.S. proposal to seek an agreement on its basis. She linked further efforts to regional stability and the position of people who have spent generations in refugee camps. “This is our shared responsibility,” MacIntosh said. Russian ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said Moscow opposed the U.S. draft because it considered the text one-sided toward Morocco’s autonomy proposal. He said a settlement must be acceptable to both Morocco and the Polisario Front and preserve the Sahrawi people’s right to self-determination. Morocco’s Royal Office welcomed the failure to renew MINURSO and portrayed it as progress toward closing the dispute’s UN chapter. It called for the mission’s personnel and equipment to leave in the coming days while affirming Morocco’s commitment to the ceasefire. That was the palace’s position, rather than an agreed UN withdrawal timetable. MINURSO was established in 1991 to support settlement proposals and the ceasefire between Morocco and the Polisario Front. The mission says hostilities resumed in November 2020. Its stated work includes monitoring military activity and security developments, advocating an end to hostilities, mine action and logistical support for the UN Secretary-General’s personal envoy.