The process of ending the UN peacekeeping mission in Western Sahara has begun, after Russia and the United States vetoed each other’s draft resolutions on extending the 35-year-old deployment, the UN confirmed, according to RFI, in a text republished by AllAfrica.

Also according to RFI, the secretary-general’s spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, said a support team would oversee the withdrawal of the Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO). The mandate expired on Saturday after Russia vetoed the US draft, backed by 11 of the Security Council’s 15 members, which would have extended the mission for a year and placed Morocco’s autonomy plan at the center of efforts to settle the conflict. Secretary-General António Guterres urged that the rights of the people of Western Sahara, including their inalienable right to self-determination, be respected and promoted. Morocco’s Royal Cabinet welcomed the non-renewal of the peacekeeping mandate.