Moroccan expert backs MINURSO mandate shift towards autonomy in Sahara
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Yabiladi
Mohamed Elghet Malainine, vice-president of the Moroccan Centre for Parallel Diplomacy and Civilisations Dialogue, traces the evolution of MINURSO’s mandate, created in 1991, towards a role linked to implementing autonomy in the Sahara. He draws on several Security Council resolutions, notably those of 2001, 2018 and 2024, in an interview with Yabiladi.
Mohamed Elghet Malainine, vice-president of the Moroccan Centre for Parallel Diplomacy and Civilisations Dialogue, believes that the evolution of MINURSO’s mandate should accompany the political framework based on Moroccan autonomy in the Sahara. In an interview with Yabiladi, he recalled that the UN Security Council called for a strategic review of the mission in its Resolution 2797, adopted in 2025.
The expert stressed that the US resolution presented on 20 October 2026, currently under discussion, could constitute a new stage in this evolution. The Security Council had already called for MINURSO’s action to be adapted, notably in its resolutions 2414 of 2018 and 2756 of 2024, but the reports of the UN secretary-general between 2018 and 2025 did not reflect this direction in the mission’s operation, according to Malainine.
Resolution 2797 adopted the Moroccan autonomy plan as the basis for negotiations and called for a review of MINURSO’s mandate in light of the political discussions. The mission, created in 1991, is the subject of a debate over its renewal scheduled for 31 October, while Washington has proposed halving its military personnel.
The statement came after the adoption, on 15 October, of a UN resolution making Moroccan autonomy a basis for a settlement in the Sahara, by 152 votes. It also follows US proposals to reform the mandate, presented on 22 October, and the Polisario’s threat to leave the peace process, made the same day. The renewal of MINURSO’s mandate is due to be examined on 31 October.
