UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- The UN Security Council on Wednesday adopted a resolution that extends for six months the mandate of the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) till April 30, 2019.
Resolution 2440, adopted by the 15-member Security Council with 12 votes in favor, 0 against and 3 abstentions, expresses full support for the intention of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and his personal envoy to initiate a renewed negotiations process before the end of the year.
The resolution emphasizes the need to achieve "a realistic, practicable and enduring political solution" to the question of Western Sahara based on compromise and the importance of aligning the strategic focus of MINURSO.
It calls upon the parties to resume negotiations under the auspices of the secretary-general without preconditions and in good faith, taking into account the efforts made since 2006 and subsequent developments with a view to achieving a just, lasting, and mutually acceptable political solution.
Western Sahara was partitioned between Morocco and Mauritania at the end of Spain's colonial rule in 1976. When Mauritania, under pressure from Polisario guerrillas, abandoned all claims to its portion in August 1979, Morocco moved to occupy that sector and asserted administrative control over the whole territory.
Fighting broke out between Morocco and the pro-independence Polisario Front. A cease-fire was signed in 1991. The UN mission was deployed that year to monitor the cease-fire and to organize, if possible, a referendum on self-determination of the people of Western Sahara.
