UN Mission extended for two months

The UN Security Council voted unanimously on Friday to extend until 30 June the mandate of the UN Mission in Western Sahara. It ended on 30 April. The mandate, on the recommendation of Secretary-General Kofi Annan, was extended with the expectation that the parties, under the auspices of the secretary-general’s personal envoy, will continue to try to resolve “the multiple problems relating to the implementation of the settlement plan and try to agree upon a mutually political solution to their dispute over Western Sahara”, the council said in a statement. The mission, better known by its French acronym MINURSO, was deployed in 1991 to conduct a referendum for the people of Western Sahara to choose between independence and integration with Morocco. Annan’s recommendation followed partial improvement of the situation as Morocco, the administrative power, is prepared to offer or support “some devolution of authority” for all inhabitants and former inhabitants of the territory.