The mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) expired at midnight on Saturday, after the Security Council failed on Friday to agree on its future: a US draft was vetoed by Russia and a rival Russian text failed to win the nine votes needed. Secretary-General António Guterres said the departure of the mission “does not abrogate” the Sahrawi people's “inalienable right to self-determination”, in a statement delivered by his spokesperson. Russia vetoed the US draft despite support from 11 of the 15 Council members, including France and the United Kingdom; the US text would have extended the mission for a year, removed “referendum” from its name and made Morocco's autonomy proposal the only basis for further talks. When the mandate ended, the mission was headquartered in Laayoune, with nine team sites — four west of the sand wall and five east of it — and a liaison office in Tindouf, with about 200 civilian staff, military observers and staff officers from over 35 countries. Morocco's royal palace said that Rabat's “voluntary commitment” to the ceasefire would not change with the end of the mission, following a meeting chaired by King Mohammed VI with the prime minister, a royal adviser and the army chief — according to Reuters, in a text republished by Yahoo News Malaysia. The same statement called the fact that the mission was not renewed a “significant development” that withdraws the issue from the Security Council's consideration. Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita told state media that Rabat's next step would be to remove Western Sahara from the UN's decolonization committee, saying Rabat had the support of two-thirds of UN member states.
Theme: Morocco
Articles and notes where Morocco is a central actor.
The United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) ceased operations on November 1, 2026, after 35 years, and entered a liquidation period, after its mandate expired on October 31 with the Security Council approving neither of the two draft resolutions. The United States text received 11 votes in favor, 1 Russian veto and 3 abstentions, and the alternative Russian text, which extended the mission until October 31, 2027, received 3 votes in favor, 1 vote against from the United States and 11 abstentions. The US text removed the word referendum from the mission’s name and made the Moroccan autonomy proposal the sole basis for further negotiations. The Russian delegation said it could reverse the entire resolution process and called the vote a life-saving veto, Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita said the end of the mission does not mean the end of the ceasefire, and Oxfam warned that losing the monitoring role could undermine stability, with serious consequences for civilians.
Cartoonist and graffiti artist Yasser Mounbir was sentenced at first instance in Casablanca to four years in prison for insulting the king and fined 40,000 dirhams, with his lawyers announcing an appeal.
Cartoonist and graffiti artist Yasser Mounbir was sentenced on Friday, October 30, to four years in prison in Morocco over caricatures of the king, according to Le Monde.
The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Western Sahara (MINURSO) has ended its operations after its mandate expired at midnight on Saturday, and a liquidation period began on Sunday, November 1. Secretary-General António Guterres said the mission’s departure “does not abrogate” the people of the territory’s “inalienable right to self-determination” and that the UN continues to seek a political solution through his Personal Envoy, Staffan de Mistura. He recognized MINURSO’s central role since 1991 and paid tribute to the 20 mission personnel who died during its 35 years in the territory. Meanwhile, Sahrawi refugees cling to hopes of return.
The United Nations Security Council rejected a US-drafted resolution seeking to extend the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), with 11 votes in favor, one veto from Russia and three abstentions. The mission’s mandate expired at midnight on Saturday, October 31. Morocco celebrated the defeat of the resolution, according to Al Jazeera.
The rivalry between Algeria and Morocco is projecting further south, into the Sahel, the Middle East Eye points out. In the region, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, united in the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), are trying to diversify their partners as they distance themselves from several of their former Western allies, according to the outlet.
Russia vetoed on Friday the US-backed resolution on Western Sahara, which had the support of 11 of the 15 members of the Security Council, according to Al Jazeera. A rival Russian draft failed to secure the nine votes needed for adoption. The mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) expires on Saturday unless the council reaches a last-minute agreement. The US text would have affirmed that genuine autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty is “the only feasible solution to negotiate a mutually acceptable solution”, according to the Associated Press (AP), in a text republished by U.S. News.
Russia and the United States vetoed each other’s rival Western Sahara resolutions at the Security Council on Friday, leaving the United Nations (UN) peacekeeping mission there without a renewal a day before its mandate expires, according to Reuters, in a text republished by The Star. The US-drafted resolution would have cemented Morocco’s autonomy plan as the only basis for talks and scaled back the military component of the mission. The Russian-drafted resolution, which would have extended the mandate for another year without changes, was vetoed by the United States.
US President Donald Trump said Morocco had named the highway between Tiznit and Dakhla after him, a 1,055 km road in operation since January after a decade of construction; Rabat has not commented on the tribute, according to Al Jazeera. The road links southern Morocco with Mauritania and crosses Western Sahara, a territory the UN classes as non-self-governing, which Rabat calls its southern provinces and which the Polisario Front disputes, according to Le Monde.
Up to 500 Moroccan personnel have undergone training in Morocco to join the International Stabilization Force in Gaza, a Board of Peace official told The Times of Israel on Monday. According to the official, the training began in late August and was conducted by the US-led force, which he could not confirm had been fully completed. Morocco committed in February to sending police officers and military personnel to postwar Gaza, becoming the first Arab country to do so publicly, and is slated to be the first to deploy personnel, ahead of Albania, Kazakhstan and Kosovo, according to the newspaper.
Israel barred a US contractor from Gaza, blocking the base for Moroccan and Kosovan troops, according to Middle East Eye. The contractor was building a fortified compound for approximately 150 international troops, according to Ynetnews, citing the Guardian.
King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia are visiting Ceuta months after more than 70,000 migrants arrived from Morocco, France24 reported. The visit has divided residents and risks reigniting diplomatic tensions with Morocco, which claims sovereignty over Ceuta and Melilla.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said Moroccan navy vessels entered Spanish waters off Ceuta without permission after late July’s mass migrant crossing, according to Reuters, in a text republished by The Straits Times. Sánchez played down the incidents, calling them isolated.
Algerian authorities announced on Sunday the arrest of 61 Moroccan nationals earlier this month on suspicion of planning “acts of sabotage”, according to Hespress, with AFP. The General Directorate of National Security (DGSN) said the 61, including a former soldier in the Moroccan army, “were preparing to commit acts of sabotage undermining security and public order”. Le Monde reported the same arrests.
Eight Israeli arms manufacturers, including the three giants Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), Elbit Systems and Rafael, are participating in the 2026 Marrakech Air Show for the first time, Middle East Eye reported. Morocco and Israel formalised ties in 2020 under a US-brokered normalisation agreement, in exchange for Washington’s recognition of Moroccan sovereignty claim over Western Sahara. Hundreds gathered outside parliament in Rabat to denounce the deepening ties with Israel on the first day of the air show.
The king of Morocco on Tuesday named Marrakesh mayor Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri the country’s first woman prime minister, after her centre-right Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) won last week’s parliamentary elections. PAM won 97 of 395 seats in the House of Representatives — 31 more than the next closest competitor, Dawn reported. “For the first time in our country’s history, a woman is taking on the responsibility of leading the government”, El Mansouri said.
Pro-Palestine protests have spread across Moroccan cities demanding an end to diplomatic normalization with Israel as Rabat deepens ties with Tel Aviv, according to Al Jazeera. The demonstrations followed the September 16 announcement that Morocco and Israel would elevate their missions to full embassies and appoint ambassadors. In Tangier, authorities banned the planned September 27 demonstration and security forces dispersed hundreds of participants, with more than 12 detained, according to the outlet, citing its own sources.
Fatima Zahra El Mansouri has been named Morocco’s first female prime minister, after her centrist Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) won the most seats in last week’s parliamentary elections, according to BBC News. She was appointed by King Mohammed VI and is only the second woman to lead a government in the Arab world, after Tunisia’s Najla Bouden.
Morocco’s Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) won the parliamentary elections with 97 of the 395 seats in the House of Representatives, according to final results announced by the Interior Ministry. The party fell well short of the 198 seats needed for an outright majority and will need to build a coalition with other parties to govern. The Associated Press confirmed the figure from the Interior Ministry.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov discussed with Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita the further development of bilateral relations and the resolution of regional crises on the basis of the UN Charter, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry. The meeting took place in New York during the high-level week of the UN General Assembly. The two ministers reaffirmed their commitment to maintaining effective foreign policy coordination on pressing issues on the regional agenda, including with a view to resolving the issue of Western Sahara and other ongoing conflicts through political and diplomatic means.
Moroccans vote on Wednesday, September 23, 2026, to elect the 395 seats of the House of Representatives, the 12th legislative election since independence, with 28 parties and two lists of independent candidates running, according to the government’s official portal Maroc.ma. The registered electorate stands at 15,801,162, of whom 55% live in urban areas and 46% are women, the portal says. Polls open at 8 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. local time, and preliminary results usually come the following day, according to Reuters. France 24 reports that the vote follows a rush of migrants to the Spanish enclave of Ceuta and comes amid young people’s disenchantment with politics, with turnout read as a barometer of confidence in elected institutions.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said on Tuesday, 22 September 2026, that a failure of Morocco’s border controls was to blame for the mass entry of migrants into Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta. He said Spain was investigating what happened in July and had asked Rabat for “actions and also for answers because it is also clear that its border control failed”, in an interview with the US broadcaster CNN in New York, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP) and Le Monde. More than 70,000 migrants entered Ceuta on 30 and 31 July 2026 in an unprecedented and deadly rush, AFP reported. Most returned to Morocco in the following hours; several thousand remained in the enclave, where the situation has since deteriorated, leading to episodes of violence and almost daily demonstrations by residents. A Spanish police report seen by AFP said the number of Moroccan police officers around the border crossing was “clearly smaller than usual” and that officers “made no serious attempt” to stem the surge, based on satellite images, open-source videos and testimonies from migrants. Speaking in parliament on 3 September 2026, Sánchez had said Madrid needed to ask Morocco for “explanations and changes” to avoid a repeat, while stressing there was no “solid proof” that Morocco had orchestrated the influx, according to AFP and Le Monde.
Moroccans vote on Wednesday in the first parliamentary election since the youth-led protests that filled the country’s streets in late 2025, with 7,288 candidates from 27 parties competing for the 395 seats in the House of Representatives, according to Africanews and Al Jazeera. Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch of the National Rally of Independents (RNI), elected in 2021, is trying to hold on to office. The Gen Z 212 movement, named after the country’s dialling code, began on Discord after eight women died at a public maternity hospital in Agadir and went on to demand that the budget go to hospitals and schools, criticising the stadiums built for the 2030 World Cup; Akhannouch’s resignation never came, and the government responded with higher health and education spending and incentives for young candidates, according to Middle East Eye and The Washington Institute. People aged 18 to 24 are about 12 percent of the population but only 4 percent of the country’s 15.8 million registered voters, according to Africanews. In July, about 72,000 Moroccans crossed into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, according to Middle East Eye; Rabat denies organising the crossings.