Peacekeeping mission in limbo as nations spar at UN

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

56% : " With 155 military personnel, the mission, tasked with organising a referendum as part of a UN-brokered ceasefire, is set to cost $US62 million ($A88 million) in the fiscal year that started in June 2026, according to a UN Secretary General report.
54% : Unless the Security Council agrees to a last-minute extension, the mandate for the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara, known as MINURSO, will expire on Saturday.
50% : Polisario representative Sidi Omar thanked Russia for vetoing a resolution that he said would "torpedo the foundations of the UN peace process.
50% : "UN officials have been telling us this reality for 30 years," he said.
44% : The failed US resolution would have gone further, removing the reference to a referendum from the mission's name, renaming it the United Nations Mission in Western Sahara, or MINUSO.
43% : Russia and the United States have vetoed rival resolutions on Western Sahara at the Security Council, leaving the UN peacekeeping mission there without a renewed mandate just a day before it expires.
43% : Last year, the Security Council dealt a blow to Polisario's ambitions when it backed Morocco's autonomy proposal as a basis for resolving the conflict and asked UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to submit a review of the peacekeeping mission.
42% : "We stress the fact that the Security Council cannot automatically predetermine matters relating to sovereignty," said Russia's UN envoy, Vassily Nebenzia.
40% : "Unfortunately, some members of this council have used their veto to preserve the letter 'R' for ⁠referendum in the mission's name, even though the United Nations has not been preparing to hold such a vote for decades," he added.

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