MINURSO Vacates Posts East of the Wall After 35 Years

The UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) has begun vacating its observation posts east of the security wall, after more than 35 years of deployment in the region, according to Chouf TV, citing informed sources. The sites being vacated are Bir Lahlou, Tifariti, Mehaires and Lemhabes, with the first flights carrying personnel to Laayoune departing last Thursday, as part of an operation organised from New York by the UN Department of Operational Support, which includes regrouping staff and moving equipment.

Why wasn't the mission's mandate renewed?

MINURSO's mandate ended on 31 October 2026 without renewal by the Security Council, and the mission entered a liquidation phase starting 1 November, after the Council failed to adopt either of two competing draft resolutions, according to GNA, citing Xinhua. The US draft, which proposed substantial changes to the mission's mandate and future presence, received 11 votes in favour but was vetoed by Russia. The alternative Russian draft, a simple one-year renewal, received only 3 votes in favour, with the United States voting against and 11 members abstaining, far short of the 9 votes required. The mission had originally been deployed under the ceasefire signed in 1991 between Morocco and the Polisario Front.

WaFinkom had previously reported that about 340 staff, including 160 military observers and 180 civilian personnel, would leave the mission, and that 13 UN sites would be handed over — a process now visibly under way with the evacuation of the four sites east of the wall.

Bourita steps up regional diplomacy after the UN mission's end

Amid these developments, Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates Nasser Bourita made an undisclosed visit to Nouakchott, where he met Mauritanian officials, according to the Mauritanian Independent News Agency. The visit comes as Morocco steps up its diplomacy with neighbouring countries following the recent UN developments on the Sahara issue, to exchange views on the road ahead.

For its part, Mauritania reaffirmed its commitment to positive neutrality toward the conflict and its non-alignment with either party, expressing a wish to be part of the solution rather than the problem, which it says helps it preserve the balance of its regional relations and avoid the fallout of tensions.

What does this mean for the future of the settlement process?

Researcher Abdellatif Birou, a former member of parliament specialising in public finance and public-policy evaluation, said in remarks to Al3omk that the mission's end without renewal effectively rules out the referendum option, after the UN concluded over two decades that it could not be organised on the ground. He added that, in his view, Morocco's autonomy initiative now carries greater weight in the political process, given the current absence of any other UN mechanism to monitor the ceasefire.

Separately, informed sources at the El Guerguarat border crossing with Mauritania denied, in remarks to Hespress, reports circulating in some media that traffic had stopped at the crossing, saying it was running normally. They explained that trucks carrying agricultural and food products covered by the export suspension to Africa are being prevented from crossing and are turned back or redirected inland, while other goods and passengers continue to cross normally in both directions under the supervision of the crossing's authorities.