The Security Council votes on a draft resolution renewing the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) presented by the United States, during the Security Council meeting on the situation concerning Western Sahara.
The resolution received 11 votes in favour, 1 against (Russian Federation) and 3 abstentions (China, Pakistan and Somalia). The resolution was not adopted due to the veto.
MINURSO mandate expires on October 31 unless Security Council agrees last-minute extension
US draft would cut mission’s military component and drop referendum from its name mission has 155 military personnel and costs $62 million this fiscal year, UN report says.
Russia vetoed a US-drafted resolution on Western Sahara at the Security Council on ​Friday, leaving the UN peacekeeping mission there without a renewed mandate just a day before it expires.
The resolution would have extended the mission for another year while ‌cementing Morocco’s autonomy plan as the only basis for talks to settle the half-century-old conflict and scaling back its military component.
