MINURSO to suspend Sahara operations at midnight on 31 October
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Yabiladi
The UN has confirmed that MINURSO operations in the Sahara will end at midnight on 31 October because its mandate was not renewed. The organisation has not ordered its personnel to withdraw and says it fears an escalation of hostilities, according to Spain’s EFE news agency.
The United Nations Mission for the Referendum in the Sahara (MINURSO) is due to suspend all its operations at midnight on Saturday 31 October if its mandate is not renewed, a spokesman for UN peacekeeping operations in New York confirmed, according to Spain’s EFE news agency. The deadline follows Russia’s veto of a US draft resolution and the failure of a Russian proposal for a one-year extension, which did not receive the nine votes required in the Security Council.
The UN said no instructions had been given to withdraw MINURSO personnel or order them to remain in their accommodation. It expressed concern about the risk of an escalation of hostilities in the Sahara and said it was available to help the parties seek a fair, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution.
The mission, deployed in 1991, monitors the ceasefire and was meant to prepare a self-determination referendum that was never held. The non-extension of its mandate, announced on 31 October, follows the two rejected extension proposals and the non-renewal of MINURSO’s mandate.
