The Aporia
The Straits Times. (2026, November 2). As peacekeepers leave Western Sahara, refugees yearn to end a half-century wait. The Straits Times. https://www.straitstimes.com/world/middle-east/as-peacekeepers-leave-western-sahara-refugees-yearn-to-end-a-half-century-wait
The Straits Times. “As peacekeepers leave Western Sahara, refugees yearn to end a half-century wait.” The Straits Times, 2 Nov. 2026, https://www.straitstimes.com/world/middle-east/as-peacekeepers-leave-western-sahara-refugees-yearn-to-end-a-half-century-wait.
The Straits Times. “As peacekeepers leave Western Sahara, refugees yearn to end a half-century wait.” The Straits Times, November 2, 2026. https://www.straitstimes.com/world/middle-east/as-peacekeepers-leave-western-sahara-refugees-yearn-to-end-a-half-century-wait.
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As of November 2, 2026, the United Nations ended its 35-year peacekeeping mission in the disputed territory of Western Sahara. The UN Security Council had previously failed to agree on extending the mandate due to vetoes from both Russia and the United States over rival resolutions. Morocco, which considers Western Sahara part of its territory, welcomed the move, seeing it as support for their autonomy proposal. Meanwhile, the Polisario Front, a separatist group backed by Algeria, continues to seek an independent state for the region. The UN mission, known as MINURSO (United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara), was originally established in 1991 to monitor a ceasefire and prepare for a referendum on the territory's future but has been unable to resolve the dispute over voting rights. With the end of the peacekeeping mission, thousands of refugees from Tindouf, Algeria, remain hopeful for a resolution that would allow their return home after decades in exile.
The confrontation over her native land, often described as Africa's longest-running territorial dispute, was brought back into focus this weekend by a UN Security Council spat that led to the end of a decades-old peacekeeping mission there.
The Western Sahara conflict pits Morocco, which considers the territory its own, against the Algeria-backed Polisario Front, a political and military organisation that has been seeking a separate state there since the departure of former colonial power Spain in 1976.
Peacekeepers have watched over the territory since 1991, when the UN brokered a ceasefire ending years of guerrilla warfare between the two sides.