US-Russia showdown leaves Morocco celebrating as UN Western Sahara mission ends

Morocco has welcomed the end of a decades-long UN peacekeeping mission in Western Sahara, after a diplomatic showdown between the US and Russia left the Security Council unable to agree on its future. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing BBC News.

The council failed on Friday to renew the mandate of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (Minurso) after Russia vetoed a US-backed proposal. A rival Russian draft to extend the mission also failed to secure enough votes.

The decision raises questions about the future of Africa's longest territorial dispute and the fragile ceasefire between Morocco, which claims Western Sahara, and the Polisario Front which has been fighting for the territory's independence for more than 50 years.

Western Sahara, on Africa's north-west coast, was a Spanish colony until 1975. It has significant phosphate reserves and valuable fishing grounds along its Atlantic coast.

As Spain prepared to withdraw, both Morocco and Mauritania claimed the territory.

The International Court of Justice found historical ties of allegiance but no territorial sovereignty that overrode the Sahrawi people's right to self-determination.

Morocco's then King Hassan II responded by organising the Green March. On 6 November 1975 about 350,000 Moroccan civilians entered the territory in a mass demonstration intended to put pressure on Spain.

Days later, Spain signed the Madrid Accords with Morocco and Mauritania, agreeing to transfer administrative control. Morocco took the northern two-thirds and Mauritania the southern third. The agreement did not settle the question of sovereignty.

The Polisario Front, an independence movement founded in 1973, opposed the deal. It saw it as replacing Spanish colonial rule with Moroccan and Mauritanian control.

Mauritania renounced its claim in 1979, but Morocco continued fighting Polisario.

Algeria became Polisario main regional ally, providing military support and hosting its leadership and thousands of Sahrawi refugees in camps near the city of Tindouf.

The North African country says its position is based on the right to self-determination, while Morocco sees Western Sahara as an integral part of its territory.

Morocco and Algeria fought a brief border war in 1963 over disagreements about territory inherited from French colonial rule. Their relationship has remained tense, with Western Sahara at the centre of their dispute.

After 16 years of fighting, Morocco and Polisario agreed to a UN-brokered ceasefire in 1991, with the territory divided by a sand wall, or berm, to keep the rival forces apart.

The UN established Minurso to monitor the ceasefire and organise a referendum on the territory's future. Sahrawis were meant to choose between independence and integration with Morocco.

The vote was scheduled for 1992 but never took place. The two sides could not agree on who would be eligible to participate, with disputes over voter identification becoming a major obstacle.

In 2007, Morocco put forward a proposal for autonomy, which would see Sahrawis managing their internal affairs, while Rabat retained control over defence and foreign relations.

The Polisario Front and Algeria rejected the plan, insisting on a referendum that included independence as an option.

Years of UN-sponsored negotiations failed to produce a breakthrough.

The ceasefire broke down in November 2020, when Polisario said it was resuming armed struggle.

But following a long diplomatic campaign by Morocco, the UN Security Council voted in 2025 in favour of a resolution backing the autonomy plan as the "most feasible" solution for the disputed territory.

While most Sahrawis live in the part of Western Sahara controlled by Morocco, tens of thousands are estimated to be in refugee camps in Algeria.

The US proposed extending Minurso's mandate for another year, but its draft went beyond the usual renewal.

It would have removed the word "referendum" from the mission's name and made Morocco's autonomy proposal the sole basis for further negotiations.

The draft received the support of 11 of the Security Council's 15 members, including France and the UK but Russia vetoed it, arguing that it was too favourable to Morocco.

Russia then proposed extending Minurso's mandate without changing its terms. That draft also failed, receiving only two votes in favour.

Minurso's mandate expired at the end of Saturday, 31 October. The UN said the following day that the mission had entered a liquidation period, with a reduced team overseeing the transfer of military equipment and other assets.