UN:UN peacekeeping mission in Western Sahara ends after 35 years

The 35-year-old UN peacekeeping mission in the Western Sahara region will come to an end after the Security Council failed to renew its mandate, the UN chief said on Sunday.



Morocco, which claims the Western Sahara as its own, welcomed the decision, while its opponents in the Algeria-backed Polisario Front expressed concern.

The Polisario Front has been seeking an independent state in Western Sahara since former colonial power Spain left in 1976.



A peacekeeping mission, known as MINURSO, has been in place there since a UN-brokered ceasefire in 1991.



November 1 would mark the start of the “liquidation phase” of the mission, with assets transported back to troop-contributing countries, UN chief Antonio Guterres said in a statement.



The end of the peacekeeping mission comes a year after the UN Security Council adopted a US-drafted resolution that accepted Rabat's plan to give the territory autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty as the "most feasible" solution to the conflict.