The United States has circulated a draft Security Council resolution that would radically reshape the United Nations presence in Western Sahara, endorsing Morocco's autonomy plan as the only basis for a settlement and setting a timetable to end the UN peacekeeping mission there after 35 years. The zero draft was circulated to the Council's 15 members on October 22, only nine days before the current mandate of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) expires on October 31, according to PassBlue, the UN-focused news outlet that reviewed the text.

Source: PassBlue

Under the draft, dated October 20, the mission would be renamed MINUSO, dropping the word 'referendum' from its name, and the text would affirm that 'genuine autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty is the only feasible solution' to the dispute, with Morocco's expanded and updated autonomy proposal as the only basis for continuing negotiations. The peacekeeping mandate would end on April 30, 2027, and the mission would continue as a special political mission from May 1 until October 31, 2027. Uniformed personnel would be reduced by at least 50 per cent by January 31, 2027, and the UN Secretary-General would have to present the proposed structure of the new mission by December 15, 2026.

Source: The Europe Today

1991MINURSO created to prepare a referendum
31 Oct 2026Current MINURSO mandate expires
30 Apr 2027Peacekeeping mandate would end under the US draft
50%Minimum cut in uniformed personnel by 31 Jan 2027, under the draft

The Polisario Front, which seeks independence for Western Sahara, reacted angrily. Its representative to the UN and coordinator with MINURSO, Sidi Mohamed Omar, wrote to the Council's president, Greece's ambassador Aglaia Balta, calling the draft 'a very serious and unprecedented departure' from international law and from the basis on which the Council has treated Western Sahara as a decolonisation question, the Sahrawi Press Service reported on Saturday. Omar warned that adopting the text without substantial amendments could force the Polisario Front to withdraw from the political process, and PassBlue reported the group had threatened to quit the peace process if the resolution passes.

Source: Sahrawi Press Service (SPS)

Morocco, meanwhile, stepped up diplomacy ahead of the vote. Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita held a telephone conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Friday, at Morocco's initiative, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry. The two reviewed bilateral relations and preparations for the third Russia-Africa Summit and discussed regional issues and coordination at the United Nations, The Europe Today reported. Morocco's Foreign Ministry said the two ministers expressed satisfaction with the 'quality of friendship and cooperation' between their countries and confirmed a shared commitment to deepening the partnership, the North Africa Post reported. Russia is a permanent, veto-wielding member of the Security Council.

Source: North Africa Post

MINURSO was created in 1991 under Security Council Resolution 690 to monitor a ceasefire between Morocco and the Polisario Front and to prepare a referendum on self-determination for the territory's roughly 500,000 Indigenous Sahrawi people. That referendum never took place because of disputes over who would be eligible to vote, and the ceasefire broke down in November 2020. The United States recognised Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara in 2020, during President Donald Trump's first term.

Source: PassBlue

What is solid

  • The US, the Council's penholder on Western Sahara, circulated a zero draft on October 22, nine days before MINURSO's mandate expires on October 31.
  • As reported from the draft text, it would rename the mission MINUSO, end peacekeeping on April 30, 2027 and make Morocco's autonomy proposal the only basis for negotiations.
  • Polisario's UN representative has formally protested to the Council president and warned the movement could leave the political process.

What is only claimed

  • Polisario says the draft is an unprecedented departure from international law and Western Sahara's status as a decolonisation issue.
  • The draft itself frames autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty as 'the only feasible solution' — a position Polisario and its backers reject.

Council members have until October 26 to comment on the draft, and a vote could be scheduled for around October 30, PassBlue reported. What the Council decides in the coming days will determine whether a mission created to organise a referendum that never happened is wound down on Washington's timetable — or whether the text is amended under pressure from Polisario's protest and the diplomacy now under way.

Source: PassBlue