Western Sahara refugees still yearn for home as UN peacekeepers leave

Why in the News

Western Sahara, often described as Africa’s longest-running territorial dispute, has gone from a UN-monitored ceasefire to having no UN peacekeeping mission at all. The change followed a spat at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) over a United States (U.S.) drafted resolution.

What is the Western Sahara dispute?

1. Rival claims: Morocco considers Western Sahara its own territory. The Algeria-backed Polisario Front, a political and military organisation, seeks a separate state there.
2. Colonial origin: The Polisario has pursued that state since Spain, the former colonial power, left the territory in 1976.
3. Ceasefire and peacekeepers: In 1991 the UN brokered a ceasefire that ended years of guerrilla warfare between the two sides. Peacekeepers had watched over the territory ever since.
4. Tindouf camps: Thousands of Sahrawis, the territory’s people, fled the fighting to the Tindouf area of southwestern Algeria. The Polisario administers five refugee camps there.
5. The takeaway: The UN has withdrawn from a territory whose two claimants never settled their dispute.

How did the UN mission end?

1. Autonomy plan: Last year the UNSC backed Rabat’s plan to give the region autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty. It called this the “most feasible” way to resolve the conflict.
2. Russia’s veto: Russia had abstained on that vote last year. This year it vetoed (blocked, as a permanent member) a U.S. drafted resolution reaffirming that position.
3. Rival draft defeated: A competing Russian resolution was then defeated. With neither text adopted, the mission was left without a renewal of its mandate, so it ended.

Why are the refugee camps at the centre of the contest?

1. Algeria’s case: Algeria’s UN envoy defended the Polisario’s stance, citing a decline in aid and the refugees’ suffering.
2. Morocco’s case: Morocco’s envoy blamed Algeria, a longtime Russian ally, for the harsh conditions. He accused it of denying the refugees their right to return home.
3. Registration demand: Morocco urged Algiers to let the UN register the refugees, saying other nationalities were present in the camps.
4. Disputed headcount: Algeria and the Polisario say over 160,000 people live in the camps. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) assists an estimated 90,000 of the “most vulnerable“.
5. Census dispute: Morocco rejects both figures, citing the lack of a UN census, and accuses Algeria and the Polisario of using Sahrawis as “political pawns“. Algiers denies this.

What do refugees in the camps face?

1. Daily hardship: Families struggle with access to water and a harsh climate.
2. Food dependence: The World Food Programme (WFP) said earlier this year that more than 80% of camp residents rely on humanitarian assistance for basic food needs.
3. Lifelong exile: One refugee, aged 51, is as old as the conflict. Her adult daughters have never seen the region she came from.
4. Younger generation: Another daughter, a Polisario fighter aged 24, says the young do not want to live through the “displacement and deprivation” their grandparents did.

Challenges

1. No monitoring presence: With the mandate lapsed, no UN force watches over a territory peacekeepers had overseen since the ceasefire.
2. Council deadlock: The split vote leaves the Council with no agreed position to build on.
3. Contested numbers: Without a census, each side cites its own refugee count, so humanitarian need becomes a political argument.

Way Forward

1. Successor mandate: Council members should negotiate a text restoring a UN presence, kept separate from the dispute over who owns the territory.
2. Agreed registration: Algeria and the UN should agree on registering camp residents, so aid is planned on accepted numbers.
3. Resumed talks: Morocco and the Polisario Front should return to UN facilitated talks on a settlement both can accept.

Conclusion

Western Sahara has lost its UN peacekeepers with neither side closer to a settlement, and refugees who have spent their lives in camps bear the cost. Whether the Council can agree on any successor text is the next test.

Back2Basics: United Nations Security Council (UNSC)

1. Formation: Set up in 1945, with its headquarters in New York City.
2. Permanent members: The U.S., the United Kingdom, France, Russia and China (the P5) each hold a veto, so any one of them can block a resolution.
3. Elected members: Ten non permanent members are elected for two year terms.
4. Powers: It holds primary responsibility for international peace and security, and can authorise peacekeeping and sanctions.

Matching Previous Year Question

“[2026] Match List I (UN Peacekeeping Operation) with List II (Period of Operation): A. UNMIL 1. 2007-2010 B. MINURCAT 2. 2002-2005 C. MINUSTAH 3. 2003-2018 D. UNMISET 4. 2004-2017 (a) A-3, B-4, C-1, D-2 (b) A-3, B-1, C-4, D-2 (c) A-2, B-1, C-4, D-3 (d) A-2, B-4, C-1, D-3 ANSWER: B”