{"id":878,"date":"2026-10-31T00:27:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T00:27:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/naftimes.com\/?p=878"},"modified":"2026-10-31T00:27:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T00:27:11","slug":"why-is-the-non-extension-of-minursos-mandate-considered-a-significant-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/naftimes.com\/?p=878","title":{"rendered":"Why is the non-extension of MINURSO\u2019s mandate considered a &#8220;significant development&#8221;?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>By Dr. Said Tamam<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Indeed, the non-extension of the MINURSO mission&#8217;s mandate is considered a significant development, as described in the Royal Cabinet&#8217;s statement on Friday, following Russia\u2019s veto of the U.S. draft resolution which aimed to alter the mission&#8217;s mandates. On the one hand, this has long been a Moroccan demand on multiple occasions, calling for either its total or partial termination.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, 10 years ago today\u2014specifically in March 2016\u2014Morocco &#8220;expelled&#8221; around 84 civilian staff members of the mission (retaining only the military component) following the &#8220;slip of the tongue&#8221; or verbal lapse made by the then-UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, during his visit to the Tindouf camps.<\/p>\n<p>Therefore, while legally the Security Council has the power to hold another meeting to issue a new resolution\u2014particularly to extend the mission&#8217;s mandate before the end of tomorrow, Saturday\u2014Morocco&#8217;s swift and significant statement preempted this, putting an end to such a possibility. Since our country is the host nation and exercises full sovereignty, implementing such a scenario would be difficult, if not impossible.<\/p>\n<p>This historical shift\u2014which can be described as a strategic investment in Russia&#8217;s &#8220;veto&#8221;\u2014does not conflict in any way with the Kingdom&#8217;s positions regarding a peaceful solution to the 51-year-old artificial conflict. This was reiterated in the Royal Cabinet&#8217;s statement, which stressed its &#8220;strong commitment to the ceasefire, while fully respecting its territorial integrity and unity, its national security, and the peace of its citizens.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Royal Cabinet&#8217;s statement is not a response to a &#8220;defeat,&#8221; as some might think\u2014especially the fifth column of the other world\u2014but rather a strategic investment in the political deadlock (&#8220;blocage&#8221;) of the dossier, which was confirmed by the outcomes of this evening&#8217;s Security Council meeting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Dr. Said Tamam Indeed, the non-extension of the MINURSO mission&#8217;s mandate is considered a significant development, as described in the Royal Cabinet&#8217;s statement on Friday, following Russia\u2019s veto of the U.S. draft resolution which aimed to alter the mission&#8217;s mandates. On the one hand, this has long been a Moroccan demand on multiple occasions, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":880,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-morocco"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naftimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naftimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naftimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naftimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naftimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=878"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/naftimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":881,"href":"https:\/\/naftimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878\/revisions\/881"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naftimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naftimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naftimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naftimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}