World Pressenza
Russia Vetoes UN Resolution Supporting Self-Determination for Western Sahara
After 35 years of presence in Western Sahara, the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) has ended its mission after a tense Security Council debate that ended with Russ
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After 35 years of presence in Western Sahara, the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) has ended its mission after a tense Security Council debate that ended with Russia’s veto, defending the self-determination of the Sahrawi people.
Ever since I can remember the many United Nations resolutions on Western Sahara, I have been certain that the United States and France would prevent, at all costs, a referendum on self-determination for the people of Western Sahara. I remember French planes bombing Sahrawi army units in the 1970s in Tiris; the image of the U.S. flag during the Green March remains vivid in my memory, as does the figure of Kissinger—the architect of that flagrant violation of the sovereignty of a Non-Self-Governing Territory like Western Sahara—when it was invaded and occupied by Morocco.
With the end of the UN mission in Western Sahara, it seems that Morocco is tempted to occupy the territories under Sahrawi control; on the one hand, it celebrates the end of the United Nations’ presence in the territory, and on the other, it seeks to accelerate its policy of annexation by force and impose a new reality on the region.
Algeria, Mauritania, and the Polisario Front must prevent any reckless move by the Moroccan Makhzen that threatens regional stability; we must not allow Morocco to turn Sahrawi territory into a new Gaza, as Israel has done in much of the Strip by annexing it by force.
The Makhzen feels backed by France and the Trump administration; the Abraham Accords—through which Israel was recognized in exchange for the United States legitimizing its occupation of Western Sahara—will play a role in this new situation that the Makhzen has sought to create in order to dismantle the UN mission in Western Sahara.
UN Security Council Resolution 2797 of 2025, drafted by the United States with the aim of imposing autonomy on the Sahrawi people through a series of negotiations designed to block the path to a referendum and self-determination, served as a warning of what was to come in late October 2026. Russia vetoed any attempt to alter or undermine the right to self-determination, reminding us that half a century of military occupation does not legitimize an illegal presence in a Non-Self-Governing Territory according to UN doctrine.
The Sahrawi people may become a refugee people spanning several generations; they may live in exile and even see their land occupied, but they will never be forced to become Moroccans. No power, however mighty, can veto a people’s genuine will to exist, nor can it arbitrarily alter international law. Namibia, South Sudan, and Eritrea have achieved their independence. The Sahara remains Africa’s last colony; its people have been waiting half a century for a solution.
Etched in our memory are the images of our grandparents buried in the Hammada of Tindouf, and of the men and women who have fallen in an unequal battle; that is why dignity and determination—and the inevitable destiny toward a new horizon of freedom—persist in every new generation of Sahrawis.
No Security Council resolution imposed upon the rights of a people—one that violates the very nature of the right to self-determination and decolonization—can succeed. The future of the Sahara is decided solely by the Sahrawis. Neither the Abraham Accords, nor Trump’s recognition of Morocco’s purported sovereignty, nor the Green March can erase the Sahrawi people’s right to self-determination.
The Moroccan Makhzen knows only how to occupy territories; Ceuta and Western Sahara are examples of that expansionist zeal that recognizes no borders and respects no peoples.