The United Nations’ peacekeeping mission in Western Sahara ended operations on Sunday, Nov. 1, after 35 years, removing an international monitoring presence from a disputed territory where low-intensity hostilities have continued since a ceasefire broke down in 2020.

The mission, known as MINURSO, began a winding-down process after the Security Council failed to renew its mandate. Secretary-General António Guterres warned of escalation risks and urged restraint, while reaffirming that the people of Western Sahara retain their right to self-determination.

The closure leaves the central dispute unresolved. Morocco claims sovereignty and controls most of the territory; the Algeria-backed Polisario Front seeks independence. Ending a field mission changes the international presence on the ground, but it does not amount to an agreed settlement between those parties.

A withdrawal begins after Council deadlock

In his Sunday statement, issued through his spokesperson, Guterres said a smaller team under the U.N. Department of Operational Support would oversee the return of troop-contributing countries’ assets and disposal of U.N. equipment. He called for cooperation so the process could proceed in an orderly manner.

The change follows the failure of rival proposals at the Security Council on Friday. Russia vetoed a U.S.-backed draft favoring Morocco’s autonomy proposal, and a competing Russian renewal proposal was rejected. AP reported that the standoff brought an abrupt end to a mandate repeatedly extended since 1991.

A winding-down period means the peacekeeping operation has ended while administrative and logistical work continues. It does not mean every person and vehicle departed immediately on Sunday. The smaller team’s task is to manage the closure rather than continue the mission’s former security functions.

The political framework had already shifted

The last renewal, Resolution 2797, extended MINURSO until Oct. 31, 2026. Adopted a year earlier, it supported negotiations taking Morocco’s autonomy proposal as their basis while retaining the objective of a mutually acceptable solution providing for the self-determination of Western Sahara’s people.

That wording matters. The Council recognized genuine autonomy as a potentially most feasible outcome, but also called for discussions and constructive responses from the parties. An autonomy proposal envisages self-government under Moroccan sovereignty; the Polisario Front’s demand for independence remains a different outcome. Those positions were not reconciled by the mandate’s expiration.

The shift is clearer when compared with Resolution 2756, adopted in 2024. That earlier text called for negotiations without preconditions, a realistic and mutually acceptable political solution based on compromise, and engagement by Morocco, Polisario, Algeria and Mauritania with the secretary-general’s envoy. It also emphasized cooperation with the mission and safe access to its team sites.

The successive resolutions show how the political process and the field presence were connected. The Council was seeking movement toward a settlement while authorizing a mission to remain deployed. This year’s deadlock broke the agreement needed to sustain that presence.

More than a referendum mission

MINURSO’s mandate history explains that it was established in April 1991 under U.N.-Organization of African Unity settlement proposals accepted by Morocco and Polisario. The plan provided for a referendum offering a choice between independence and integration with Morocco. That referendum never occurred.

Its practical role subsequently extended beyond preparing a vote. After hostilities resumed in 2020, the mission observed military activity on both sides of the disputed territory, investigated and reported conflict-related incidents, and worked to reduce tensions. Its responsibilities also included mine action and logistical support for the secretary-general’s personal envoy.

The original settlement design also envisaged identifying and registering eligible voters, monitoring troop arrangements, supporting prisoner exchanges and repatriating refugees through the relevant humanitarian agencies. That ambitious transition never culminated in the promised vote. The mission’s name preserved its founding purpose even as its daily work increasingly centered on managing an unresolved conflict.

Those functions explain why closure has security implications even though the referendum remained stalled. Monitoring supplies information about incidents; contacts with the parties provide a channel for de-escalation. Removing the mission ends those activities under its mandate, creating a gap that political declarations alone do not fill.

Opposing reactions, unresolved risks

Morocco welcomed the mission’s non-renewal, while Algeria expressed regret and Polisario voiced concern about the Council’s deadlock, according to Reuters. The contrast reflects the underlying disagreement over whether autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty can provide an acceptable settlement.

Guterres said the departure does not extinguish the people’s rights and that the United Nations remains available to support dialogue through Personal Envoy Staffan de Mistura. That preserves a diplomatic role, even as the peacekeeping operation closes. It leaves the parties facing the same substantive question about the territory’s future with fewer international mechanisms in the field.

The immediate tests are an orderly withdrawal, restraint by the parties and a viable path back to negotiations. The end of a 35-year deployment is a concrete institutional change. Whether it produces renewed diplomacy or greater insecurity will depend on decisions that the failed renewal votes did not resolve.