On 30 October 2019, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 2494, extending the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) for 12 months, until 31 October 2020.
The Resolution, which was adopted by 13 votes in favour and 2 abstentions (Russia and South Africa), “emphasised the need for a realistic, practicable, enduring and compromise?based political solution to the Western Sahara question.“
MINURSO was first established in 1991 but despite several attempts at resolving the political conflict between the Polisario Front and Morocco, the parties have been unable to find common ground and move past a conflict that, in its modern form, dates back to 1973.
This entry provides a simplified chronology and outline of this quasi-forgotten conflict.
Chronology of the conflict
The dimensions of the conflict
Proposed forms of governance
