On Thursday, the UN Security Council called for a “realistic” political solution in the contested territory of Western Sahara, passing a resolution to extend the UN mission there for another year. The US-sponsored resolution renewed the mandate of MINURSO, the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara, until October 31, 2025.
The resolution was supported by 12 of the Security Council’s 15 member states. Algeria, which had submitted two rejected amendments, abstained from voting in protest, while Russia and Mozambique also abstained. The Security Council emphasized the importance of aligning MINURSO’s strategic focus and orienting UN resources accordingly for the former Spanish colony.
Western Sahara, considered a “non-autonomous territory” by the United Nations, spans approximately 103,000 square miles (266,000 square kilometers) north of Mauritania. The territory, rich in mineral deposits and fisheries, is largely controlled by Morocco.
However, around 20 percent remains under the Polisario Front, a movement backed by Algeria that has sought independence for the territory since the end of Spanish rule in 1975.
Earlier this month, UN envoy for Western Sahara, Staffan de Mistura, announced renewed efforts to create an official “partition” of the territory. However, the Polisario Front rejected any proposal that did not ensure the Sahrawi people’s right to self-determination, expressing their “total and categorical rejection” of such plans.
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