UN peacekeeping mission in Western Sahara to expire amid US, Russia vetoes

The fate of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Western Sahara has been left in a limbo after Russia and the United States vetoed each other's draft resolutions on extending the mission that is over three decades long — just one day before the mandate expires. The peacekeeping mission, known as MINURSO, was established in 1991 to oversee a settlement plan and ceasefire between Morocco and the pro-independence Polisario Front in a territorial dispute spanning half a century. Morocco considers Western Sahara, a mineral-rich former Spanish colony, as its territory, The Polisario Front, which is supported by Algeria and represents the indigenous Sahrawi people, seeks to establish an independent state called the Sahrawi Republic.