UN leaves its Western Sahara mission without a mandate as the US and Russia veto each other's plans
The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Western Sahara has been left without a mandate. At the Security Council on Friday 30 October, Russia vetoed a United States draft that would have reworked the mission around Morocco's autonomy plan, and the United States then vetoed Russia's draft of a straight one-year extension. MINURSO's mandate expired at midnight on Saturday 31 October with nothing agreed to replace it; its operations have ended and a liquidation period began on Sunday 1 November. Secretary-General António Guterres said the departure does not remove the Sahrawi people's right to self-determination, and urged maximum restraint as he warned of the risk of hostilities escalating. Morocco welcomed the failure and says the mission should leave within days; the Polisario Front thanked Russia for defending the referendum the mission was created, in 1991, to organise — a vote that has still never been held.