Sahara: Security Council Meets Today for Renewal of MINURSO Mandate

The Security Council is expected to adopt this Wednesday (30 Oct.) a US draft resolution, renewing the mandate of the MINURSO for one year instead of six months. The current mandate expires on 31 October.

France and other Security Council members have also been advocating a return to a yearlong mandate for several months. A 12-month mandate was the norm until 2018, when Washington, and particularly the former US national security advisor John Bolton, pushed for a six-month mandate to increase pressure on the parties to work towards a peaceful solution.

The US welcomes Morocco’s autonomy plan as a “credible and serious” initiative offering a lasting and pragmatic political solution, while opposing separatism.

Prior to the negotiations on a draft extending the MINURSO’s mandate, the Security Council members met in consultations with the Special Representative and Head of MINURSO Colin Stewart on October 16. He voiced concerns over rising frustration among young Sahrawis in the polisario-controlled Tindouf camps due to lack of opportunities or any final settlement.

According to UN press reports, Security Council members were concerned about the human rights violations and the restrictions imposed by the armed militias of the separatists on the rights of Sahrawis to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association.

In his latest report to the Security Council on the Sahara, the UN Secretary General said he remains confident that a political solution to the Sahara dispute is possible.

“I remain convinced that a solution to the Western Sahara issue is possible,” Antonio Guterres said, noting that a just, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution, based on Resolutions 2440 and 2468, will require the firm commitment of all parties until the political process is completed.

Guterres, who reaffirmed the parameters of the political solution to the regional dispute, welcomed the efforts of his resigning Personal Envoy, Horst Kohler, who succeeded in relaunching the political process and creating a dynamic that made it possible to achieve a new momentum, particularly through the organization of two roundtable meetings that brought together the parties to the dispute, namely Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania and the polisario.

Guterres said the participation of the four parties was essential to continue the political process and maintain the current momentum, pending the appointment of a new Personal Envoy.