Morocco keeps ceasefire pledge as UN Western Sahara mission winds down

Rabat sets its course after the mandate lapses

King Mohammed VI chaired a working session at the Royal Palace in Rabat on 4 November, according to a Royal Cabinet communiqué, focusing on the stage after the UN mission's work ends. Attending were head of government Fatima Zahara el Mansouri, royal adviser Fouad Ali El Himma, Interior Minister Abdelouafi Laftit and General Mohammed Berrid.

The king set three priorities: respect for the Kingdom's territorial integrity, safeguarding national security and protecting the tranquillity of citizens, particularly in the southern provinces. Officials were told to implement them firmly and vigilantly, each within their own remit, while continuing development programmes in the south.

The Interior Ministry's MINURSO coordination office was tasked with overseeing the winding-down and withdrawal, with the aim of a smooth and orderly process. The communiqué also reaffirmed the ceasefire commitment.

“Morocco's commitment to the ceasefire will not change with the end of the mandate of the UN mission.”

Security Council failure and Russia's veto

The Security Council did not agree to renew MINURSO at a meeting on 30 October, so the mission's mandate lapsed. Europa Press reports that Russia vetoed a US draft resolution that day, one backing Morocco's autonomy plan for the territory. Deutsche Welle describes Washington's push to restructure the mission so that autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty would replace the planned referendum at its centre, a move Russia opposed. No compromise followed.

Morocco's communiqué says the mission repeatedly failed to monitor ceasefire compliance or set consequences for violations, and that its founding context has become obsolete. It frames the withdrawal as a matter of cooperation with the UN.

Ceasefire, fighting and the mission's record

The 1991 ceasefire ended open war between Moroccan forces and the Polisario Front and created the basis for MINURSO. After the Polisario declared the truce over in 2020, fighting resumed. Deutsche Welle reports a Polisario attack on a Moroccan base in May and the killing of a Polisario military leader in a Moroccan drone strike in June. A Security Council Report analysis describes low to medium intensity hostilities that keep the region unstable.

Anja Freudenreich, head of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung office in Rabat, says the mission supplied independent information on a situation the parties describe very differently, and cleared mines along the heavily mined defensive line.

“MINURSO has not solved the conflict, but for decades it has also helped to contain it.”

Riccardo Fabiani of the International Crisis Group does not expect any other international organisation to replace MINURSO.

Reactions in Brussels and Mauritania

Oubi Bucharaya, legal affairs adviser to Polisario leader Brahim Ghali, spoke at a press conference in the European Parliament on 4 November, urging the EU to play an important and positive role after the mission's end. He said Brussels should stop looking the other way, and blamed EU institutions and Spain for the non-renewal. He also argued the bloc cannot keep a legal vacuum while it has not applied European Court of Justice rulings against the Morocco trade agreement, which covers products from Western Sahara under Moroccan control. He put the point plainly:

“The non-renewal of MINURSO must serve to challenge the European Union as a whole.”

Al-Akhbar reports that Mauritanian district governors, especially in Dakhlet Nouadhibou, warned citizens near the Moroccan border to return immediately, particularly herders and nomadic tribes, and to avoid areas that could endanger them.