The UN Security Council voted on Wednesday, October 31, on a new resolution extending the mandate of MINURSO in Western Sahara for an additional year. The text proposed by the United States received the support of 12 members of the UN executive body, including four with veto power, while Russia and Mozambique abstained. However, Algeria did not wish to participate in the vote. Its representative justified this position by refusing to participate due to «the attitude of the penholder», referring to the United States. Indeed, at the beginning of the session, the representative of Algeria requested to speak to criticize the American rejection of the amendments presented by his country during the closed-door consultations. These proposals concerned human rights, he specified. The representative of Algeria mentioned «pressure» that the members of the Security Council would have faced «here in New York and in your capitals». The president of the session then submitted the Algerian proposals to a vote. They were also rejected. A decision that paved the way for the vote on resolution no. 2756.
