UN Begins Winding Down Its Western Sahara Mission After Rival Vetoes End Its Mandate

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MINURSO headquarters in Laayoune (El Aaiún), Western Sahara, in 2012 (file photo). Photo: cingularite, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.

The United Nations began the liquidation period of its peacekeeping mission in Western Sahara, MINURSO, on Nov. 1, after the mission’s mandate expired at the end of October when the Security Council failed to renew it, EFE reported via Infobae. “November 1, 2026 marks the beginning of the liquidation period of the mission, during which a reduced team will oversee the orderly drawdown of its resources and personnel,” UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said in a statement, according to EFE’s Spanish-language report (TBR translation).

Key figures: 1991 year minurso was deployed in western sahara · 11-1-3 security council vote on the u.s. draft, vetoed by russia · 5,000+ ebola deaths in congo’s deadliest outbreak

How the mandate ran out

On Oct. 30, the Security Council rejected two rival draft resolutions, UN meetings coverage showed. A U.S.-drafted text received 11 votes in favor but was vetoed by Russia, with three abstentions. A Russian draft that would have extended the mission until Oct. 31, 2027, received three votes in favor, from China, Somalia and Russia, with the United States voting against and 11 abstaining.

U.S. Ambassador Mike Waltz said that “Russia vetoed what 11 other members of this Council supported,” describing the U.S. text as “taking historic steps toward finally ending a 50-year conflict in the Western Sahara,” the U.S. Mission said. MINURSO was set up in 1991 to prepare a referendum on the territory’s future that has never been held, according to the UN.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres expressed concern about the security situation and “the risk of an escalation of hostilities,” and urged all sides to exercise maximum restraint, EFE reported. He paid tribute to the 20 mission members who died during its 35 years. The UN said it remained available to support dialogue through its personal envoy, Staffan de Mistura. Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita told public broadcaster 2M that Morocco would provide the time, means and logistics needed for the withdrawal to be “exemplary.”

By the numbers

Fourteen of the Council’s 15 members either backed or abstained on the U.S. draft, while only three backed the Russian one, according to the UN vote record. A single negative vote from a permanent member is enough to block a resolution, which is why each draft failed.

Sudan accuses Ethiopia over drone strikes

Sudan’s foreign ministry urged the international community to act against Ethiopia, accusing it of allowing drone strikes on Sudanese infrastructure to be launched from its Assosa air base, Sudan Tribune reported. More than 13 electricity distribution stations in Gedaref, Khartoum, Al Jazirah, Red Sea, Sennar, White Nile and South Kordofan states were severely damaged, causing widespread outages. Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Muawiya Osman told diplomats in Port Sudan that Sudan retains “its full right under international law to respond,” and Sudan’s defense ministry said drone data pointed to launch sites inside Ethiopia, including Bahir Dar airport. Ethiopia had not responded in the sources checked.

Guterres is “appalled” by the impact of drone attacks on civilians in Sudan, Dujarric said, after an army drone strike Monday on Tanqonj Market in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, killed at least 102 people, AFP reported via Arab News. “The secretary-general strongly condemns the escalating drone attacks in Sudan by the parties to the conflict,” Dujarric said. Our Oct. 30 report covered an earlier drone strike on an Ethiopian camp.

Ebola, Nigeria and Ethiopia

More than 5,000 people have died in Congo’s Ebola outbreak, the country’s deadliest, with more than 10,300 confirmed cases across eight of 26 provinces and a case fatality rate of 48.6%, the BBC reported, citing government data. The epicenter remains Ituri province. There is no approved vaccine or treatment for the Bundibugyo strain behind the outbreak, and a nurse was killed this week in an attack while responding to an Ebola alert.

In Nigeria’s Kebbi State, troops rescued 11 kidnapping victims in two operations in Danko-Wasagu on Oct. 30 and 31, army spokesman Lt. Col. Olaniyi Osoba said, The Punch reported. In Ethiopia, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed put cabinet ministers through military training at the Hurso training center, saying, “Soldiers have targets while civilians have goals. The objective of both is victory,” the BBC reported.

Watch for the pace of MINURSO’s drawdown, any Ethiopian reply to Sudan’s accusations, and Congo’s next Ebola update. Today’s Russia-Ukraine report covers Russia’s diplomacy at the G20.

Sources

• Infobae: La ONU inicia el desmantelamiento de su misión en Sáhara Occidental tras fin de su mandato
• UN Meetings Coverage and Press Releases: Following Contentious Debate, Security Council Fails to Adopt Resolution to Extend UN Mission for Referendum in Western Sahara
• US Mission to the United Nations: Statement on a U.S.-Drafted UN Security Council Resolution on the Western Sahara Vetoed by the Russian Federation
• Sudan Tribune: Sudan accuses Ethiopia of facilitating drone strikes on infrastructure
• Arab News: UN chief 'appalled' by Sudan drone strikes on civilians
• BBC News: More than 5,000 die from Ebola in DR Congo's deadliest outbreak
• The Punch: Soldiers rescue 11 kidnapped victims in Kebbi
• BBC News: Ethiopian PM Abiy Ahmed puts ministers through military training

Additional sources

• UNifeed: Security Council vote on Western Sahara
• U.S. Department of War news releases