UNITED NATIONS, United States, Nov 1, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - The UN Security
Council on Thursday called for a "realistic" political solution in the
contested territory of Western Sahara as it passed a resolution extending the
UN mission there for another year.

The US-sponsored resolution renewed the mandate of MINURSO, also known as the
United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara, until October
31, 2025.

The resolution passed with support from 12 of the Security Council's 15
member states; Algeria -- which submitted two rejected amendments -- refused
to vote in protest, while Russia and Mozambique abstained.

In a statement on the resolution, the Security Council emphasized "the
importance of aligning the strategic focus of MINURSO and orienting resources
of the United Nations to this end" for the former Spanish colony.

Considered a "non-autonomous territory" by the United Nations, Western Sahara
covers approximately 103,000 square miles (266,000 square kilometers) north
of Mauritania.

The territory, which contains valuable mineral deposits and long stretches of
coastline fisheries, is largely controlled by Morocco.

However, roughly 20 percent remains under the Polisario Front -- a movement
backed by Morocco's regional rival Algeria -- which seeks independence for
the territory for decades, predating the end of Spanish rule in 1975.

Earlier this month, the UN envoy for Western Sahara, Staffan de Mistura,
announced he had renewed efforts to create an official "partition" of the
territory.

However, his plans were rebuffed by the Polisario Front, which expressed its
"total and categorical rejection" of any proposal that did not "ensure the
inalienable, non-negotiable and imprescriptible right of the Sahrawi people
to self-determination," referencing the ethnic group native to Western
Sahara.