United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara
United Nations peacekeeping mission in Western Sahara / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (Arabic: بعثة الأمم المتحدة لتنظيم استفتاء في الصحراء الغربية; French: Mission des Nations Unies pour l'Organisation d'un Référendum au Sahara Occidental; Spanish: Misión de las Naciones Unidas para la Organización de un Referéndum en el Sáhara Occidental; MINURSO) is the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Western Sahara, established in 1991 under United Nations Security Council Resolution 690[1] as part of the Settlement Plan, which had paved way for a cease-fire in the conflict between Morocco and the Polisario Front (representing the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic) over the contested territory of Western Sahara (formerly Spanish Sahara).
Abbreviation | MINURSO |
---|---|
Formation | 24 April 1991 |
Type | Peacekeeping Mission |
Legal status | Active |
Headquarters | Laayoune, Western Sahara |
Head | Alexander Ivanko [ru] (Russia), Special Representative |
Force Commander | Major General Fakhrul Ahsan |
Parent organization | United Nations Security Council |
Website | minurso.unmissions.org |
MINURSO's mission was to monitor the cease-fire and to organize and conduct a referendum in accordance with the Settlement Plan, which would enable the Sahrawi people of Western Sahara to choose between integration with Morocco and independence. This was intended to constitute a Sahrawi exercise of self-determination, and thus complete Western Sahara's still-unfinished process of decolonization (Western Sahara is the last major territory remaining on the UN's list of non-decolonized territories.)