Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita said the non-renewal of the UN mission MINURSO mandate marks a decisive shift from managing the
Sahara issue under outdated rules to changing them, presenting Russia’s veto as an anticipated opportunity rather than a setback.
Speaking on a special 2M broadcast on 31 October, Bourita recalled King Mohammed VI’s doctrine of moving “from management to change.”
He said this year’s Security Council resolution was intended to be decisive, clarifying the basis for negotiations, the parties involved, and the situation in the Tindouf camps, building on Resolution 2797.
Morocco knew Russia might veto the text and chose not to weaken it to secure passage, he said.
“What Russia seeks to do is perhaps not a danger… It is an opportunity to review certain rules,” Bourita said.
He stressed that the party that cast the veto is the one that ended the mission, which is ironically the only peacekeeping mission chaired by Russia.
Bourita described MINURSO as an anachronism that refers in its name to the inapplicable referendum option.
Since the Polisario unilaterally abandoned the ceasefire in 2020 with Algerian support, the mission has had little left to monitor.
Only 43 observers remain east of the berm, he noted, while the rest are on the Moroccan side.
MINURSO personnel, vehicles, equipment, and UN symbols must leave the southern provinces in the coming days, he said.
“When you go to Laayoune, you will no longer see UNmarked cars, just as you do not see them in Rabat or Casablanca,” Bourita said.
The end of the mandate also removes key markers of internationalization, he said. Bourita reaffirmed Morocco’s commitment to the 1991 ceasefire and reiterated that Morocco’s autonomy plan under Moroccan sovereignty remains the sole serious basis for a solution.
