The United Nations Security Council is approaching a deadline for one of its longest-running missions. The mandate of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara, known as MINURSO, expires on 31 October 2026, and the Council is expected to vote on its future before that date.

MINURSO was established in 1991 to monitor a ceasefire and organise a referendum on Western Sahara's future. That vote has never taken place, largely over disagreement about voter eligibility. Morocco claims the territory and proposes autonomy under its sovereignty; the Polisario Front seeks self-determination for the Sahrawi people.

What last year's resolution decided

In October 2025, Resolution 2797 renewed MINURSO for a year, calling for negotiations based on Morocco's autonomy proposal and describing genuine autonomy as potentially the most feasible outcome, while still requiring a settlement providing for self-determination. Algeria did not take part in that vote; the Polisario Front refused talks it said would legitimise Moroccan control.

What the new US draft would change

A US draft circulated on 20–22 October 2026 goes further, according to reporting on its contents. It would call genuine autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty the only feasible solution, rename the mission the United Nations Mission for Western Sahara — dropping the referendum reference — end its peacekeeping mandate on 30 April 2027, and continue it as a smaller political mission until 31 October 2027.

Opposition and the road to the vote

The draft has drawn strong objections. The Polisario Front's UN representative warned it would prejudge the territory's final status, and Sahrawi rights defenders urged rejection. Morocco has lobbied permanent members, with Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita meeting Russia's Sergei Lavrov in Moscow on 28 October; Russia abstained in 2025. Nothing is settled until the Council formally adopts a text.

Sources: IR Insider; The Europe Today.