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UN Chief Says End of MINURSO Does Not Erase Sahrawi Right to Self-Determination

2 November 2026 · Algeria Now

ALGIERS — UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Sunday that the end of the UN mission in Western Sahara does not cancel the rights of the Sahrawi people, days after the Security Council let the mission's mandate lapse on 30 October.

In a statement issued through his spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, Guterres called on all parties to respect and promote the rights of the people of Western Sahara. He said the United Nations remains committed to helping the parties reach a just, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution that provides for self-determination, and that his Personal Envoy, Staffan de Mistura, will continue to support dialogue.

A mission without a successor

The UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) was created by Security Council Resolution 690 in 1991, under a settlement plan agreed by Morocco and the Polisario Front, the Sahrawi liberation movement, to organize a referendum. On 30 October the Council failed to adopt any text to extend it, after rival drafts did not pass.

The Polisario Front said on Sunday that it will keep cooperating with the UN and the Council. It recalled its expanded proposal to the Secretary-General of 20 October 2025, and held Morocco responsible for any serious consequences for regional peace if it imposes unilateral facts.

Two readings

The Makhzen, in a statement on 30 October, called the lapse a significant step toward the definitive closure of the Sahara issue at the United Nations. It said the UN political process was suspended and that the mission's presence should end within days, while pledging respect for the ceasefire.

International law does not support that reading. Western Sahara has been on the UN list of Non-Self-Governing Territories since 1963, and in 1975 the International Court of Justice found no tie of territorial sovereignty between the territory and Morocco. The Secretary-General's statement itself refers to self-determination rather than to a closed file.

Algeria's foreign ministry said on 31 October that it deeply regrets the failure to renew the mandate, and reaffirmed support for a lasting political solution that allows the Sahrawi people to exercise self-determination under the UN Charter. A day earlier, its delegation at the UN warned that a predetermined outcome would depart from international law.

What comes next

Moroccan parliamentarians were due to meet in joint session on Monday. At the UN, attention turns to the mission's wind-down, to whether the General Assembly and its decolonisation bodies take up the file, and to the ceasefire, which collapsed in November 2020.

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