DR ‹ › MINURSO continues to scale down its staff. The United Nations mission in Western Sahara has recently terminated the contracts of ten senior international officials, including a general who served as the peacekeeping force's second-in-command, a source close to the matter told Yabiladi. These departures are primarily part of a cost-cutting drive. The officials concerned were receiving high salaries paid in US dollars. MINURSO is therefore aligning itself with policies promoted under the Trump administration, aimed at reducing the United States' annual contribution to the UN budget. As a reminder, Morocco's Minister of Foreign Affairs Nasser Bourita stated in an interview aired on 2M on November 1 that MINURSO's budget had been cut by 22%. This move marks the start of a broader restructuring of the mission, which is expected to be outlined next April during a briefing by the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in line with Security Council Resolution 2797 adopted on October 31. In that resolution, Security Council members requested the Secretary-General to «present, within six months of the mandate's extension, a strategic review of the future mandate of MINURSO, taking into account the outcome of negotiations». It is worth recalling that MINURSO had already relinquished, last November, a helicopter used to monitor the ceasefire. The mission had also decided in September to shut down two observation posts east of the Sand Wall, as well as another post located in the area under Moroccan control. The restructuring of MINURSO was a central topic during discussions held in Rabat last November between the mission's head, Alexander Ivanko, and the ambassadors of the five permanent members of the Security Council.
