DR ‹ › U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has issued a stark warning to United Nations peacekeeping missions. «The Department will lead efforts to wind down costly and ineffective peacekeeping and special political missions around the world», he stated in an official document outlining plans from 2026 to 2030. The MINURSO mission, active since 1991, is directly in Rubio's crosshairs. This UN operation has yet to successfully organize a referendum in Western Sahara. Back in 2000, as the voter identification process hit an impasse, then-UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan disbanded the MINURSO Voter Identification Commission. Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita revealed in a November 1st interview on 2M that the MINURSO budget has been slashed by 22%. In recent months, the mission has started to gradually reduce its personnel. This move signals the onset of a significant restructuring, which will be detailed next April in a briefing by UN Secretary-General António Guterres, as per Security Council Resolution 2797, adopted on October 31st. During this meeting, Council members requested Guterres to «present, within six months following the extension of the mandate, a strategic review concerning the future mandate of MINURSO, taking into account the outcome of negotiations». It is worth noting that the mission had already relinquished a helicopter used for ceasefire monitoring last November. In September, it also shuttered two observation posts east of the Sand Wall, along with another in the area under Moroccan control. The restructuring of MINURSO has been a central topic in discussions between its head, Alexander Ivanko, and the ambassadors of the five permanent members of the Security Council during meetings held in November in Rabat.
