The Security Council has refused to extend the mandate of the UN mission in Western Sahara, Reuters reports. The agency writes that on Friday, October 30, Russia vetoed a resolution drafted by the US on Western Sahara in the Security Council, leaving the UN peacekeeping mission in the region without a mandate extension just a day before its expiration. Then, according to Reuters, the Security Council rejected a rival Russian resolution proposing a technical extension of the existing mandate: the draft received three votes in favor and one American vote against, with 11 abstentions, missing the nine votes needed for adoption. "The draft resolution presented by the American authors, if accepted, could overturn the entire process of solving the Western Sahara problem," Russia's permanent representative to the UN, Vassili Nevantsi, is quoted as saying.

The Security Council has refused to extend the mandate of the UN mission in Western Sahara, Reuters reports. The agency writes that on Friday, October 30, Russia vetoed a resolution drafted by the US on Western Sahara in the Security Council, leaving the UN peacekeeping mission in the region without a mandate extension just a day before its expiration. Then, according to Reuters, the Security Council rejected a rival Russian resolution proposing a technical extension of the existing mandate: the draft received three votes in favor and one American vote against, with 11 abstentions, missing the nine votes needed for adoption. "The draft resolution presented by the American authors, if accepted, could overturn the entire process of solving the Western Sahara problem," Russia's permanent representative to the UN, Vassili Nevantsi, is quoted as saying.