UN Security Council extends MINURSO mandate by one year

As was expected, the UN Security Council extended the UN mission in the Sahara (MINURSO) for another year while lauding Morocco’s autonomy initiative to end the over four-decade dispute.

Resolution 2494, adopted by a sweeping majority at the Security Council, Wednesday oct. 30, restored the tradition of extending the MINURSO by one year after an interruption last year in which the mandate was only extended by six month.

The UN Security Council stressed the need for achieving “a realistic, practical and sustainable political solution” to the Sahara issue, “on the basis of compromise”.

It also underscored Algeria’s responsibility in the conflict, a role Morocco’s eastern neighbor has always denied publicly while continuing to host, arm and back diplomatically the separatist Polisario militias.

In this regards, the council called for “resuming talks” between the next personal envoy of the UN Chief for the Sahara and the parties to the regional dispute, namely Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania and Polisario.

It also reiterated the call for the parties to show realism and a spirit of compromise to make progress in the UN-led talks while underscoring that “a political solution to this long-standing dispute and the strengthening of cooperation amongst Arab Maghreb Union member states would contribute to stability and security, which will boost the creation of jobs, growth and opportunities for all the peoples of the Sahel region.”