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Security Council Extends MINURSO Mandate in Western Sahara

Smoke from burning waste behind a Moroccan border crossing point between Morocco and Mauritania in Guerguerat located in Western Sahara, Nov. 24, 2020. (AFP)
Smoke from burning waste behind a Moroccan border crossing point between Morocco and Mauritania in Guerguerat located in Western Sahara, Nov. 24, 2020. (AFP)
    Washington, Rabat - Ali Barada and Asharq Al-Awsat
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Security Council Extends MINURSO Mandate in Western Sahara

Smoke from burning waste behind a Moroccan border crossing point between Morocco and Mauritania in Guerguerat located in Western Sahara, Nov. 24, 2020. (AFP)
Smoke from burning waste behind a Moroccan border crossing point between Morocco and Mauritania in Guerguerat located in Western Sahara, Nov. 24, 2020. (AFP)

The United Nations Security Council on Friday extended for one year the mandate of the UN Mission for the Referendum on Western Sahara (MINURSO), noting with deep concern the possible breakdown of the ceasefire between Morocco and the Polisario Front.

The Security Council “decides to extend the mandate of MINURSO until 31 October 2022,” read the text of the resolution presented by the United States.

The resolution was adopted in a vote of 13 in favor to none against, with two abstentions from Russia and Tunisia. It called on parties to resume negotiations without preconditions and in good faith.

Speaking after the vote, the US welcomed the extension of MINURSO’ mandate.

Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said her country’s priority is to work with all members of the Council to support the parties in finding lasting peace.

Complications related to the file of extending the mandate of MINURSO have increased due to the recent tension between Morocco and Algeria, which supports the Polisario Front, in addition to tension in the Guerguerat region on the border with Mauritania.

Staffan de Mistura was recently appointed as the new Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General for Western Sahara, ending an over two year-long vacancy and renewing the prospects of reinvigorating peace talks initiated by his predecessor Horst Kohler.

Meanwhile, in a major breakthrough for Moroccan diplomacy, Colombia’s Foreign Minister Marta Lucia Ramirez announced on Thursday that instructions have been given to the new Colombian Ambassador in Rabat to extend the consular jurisdiction of the Embassy in the kingdom over all Moroccan territories, including the Sahara.

The Columbian minister had met in Rabat with her Moroccan counterpart Nasser Bourita, who informed her of the latest developments related to the autonomy initiative for the Sahara region, presented by Morocco in 2007.

Ramirez stressed “the serious efforts made by Morocco in the search for a pragmatic, realistic and lasting political solution to this dispute, within the framework of the political process conducted under the exclusive auspices of the UN.”

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Sudan's RSF Conducts First Drone Attack on Port Sudan

Smoke rises from the airport of Port Sudan following reported attacks early on May 4, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
Smoke rises from the airport of Port Sudan following reported attacks early on May 4, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
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Sudan's RSF Conducts First Drone Attack on Port Sudan

Smoke rises from the airport of Port Sudan following reported attacks early on May 4, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
Smoke rises from the airport of Port Sudan following reported attacks early on May 4, 2025. (Photo by AFP)

Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) carried out a drone attack on a military air base and other facilities in the vicinity of Port Sudan Airport, a Sudanese army spokesperson said on Sunday, in the first RSF attack to reach the eastern port city.
No casualties were reported from the attacks, the spokesperson said.
The RSF has not commented on the incident, Reuters said.
The RSF has targeted power stations in army-controlled locations in central and northern Sudan for the past several months but the strikes had not inflicted heavy casualties.
The drone attack on Port Sudan indicates a major shift in the two-year conflict between the Sudanese army and the RSF. The eastern regions, which shelter a large number of displaced people, had so far avoided bombardment.
The army has responded by beefing up its deployment around vital facilities in Port Sudan and has closed roads leading to the presidential palace and army command.
Port Sudan, home to the country's primary airport, army headquarters and a seaport, has been perceived as the safest place in the war-ravaged nation.
In March, the army ousted the RSF from its last footholds in Khartoum, Sudan's capital, but the paramilitary RSF holds some areas in Omdurman, directly across the Nile River, and has consolidated its position in west Sudan, splitting the nation into rival zones.
The conflict between the army and the RSF has unleashed waves of ethnic violence and created what the United Nations calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis, with several areas plunged into famine.
The war erupted in April 2023 amid a power struggle between the army and RSF ahead of a planned transition to civilian rule. It ruined much of Khartoum, uprooted more than 12 million Sudanese from their homes and left about half of the 50 million population suffering from acute hunger.
Overall deaths are hard to estimate but a study published last year said the toll may have reached 61,000 in Khartoum state alone in the first 14 months of the conflict.