The United Nations Mission for the Referendum in the Sahara has dismissed several of its highest-paid officials as part of a cost-cutting drive triggered by mounting financial pressure on the UN peacekeeping budget and a review of the mission’s mandate, UN and diplomatic sources said.
The restructuring affected four senior figures, the heads of human resources, security, procurement and aviation, whose salaries placed them among the mission’s top earners.
Internal sources said the dismissals are part of a wider austerity plan to reduce administrative spending and focus resources on core monitoring tasks.
The mission, headquartered in Laayoune, operates with about 500 staff and a budget of roughly $70 million a year, according to UN documents, one of the leanest of the UN’s 11 active peacekeeping operations.
Global funding shortfalls have intensified the squeeze, with the UN Department of Peace Operations warning of a $2 billion deficit in the 2025–26 peacekeeping budget, driven by delayed member-state payments and cuts in U.S. contributions.
MINURSO, established in 1991 to monitor a ceasefire between Morocco and the Polisario Front, has faced pressure to justify its costs amid limited progress toward a political settlement.
The UN Security Council last month renewed the mission’s mandate under Resolution 2797 for another year and instructed the Secretary-General to reassess the mission’s scope within six months.
The resolution reaffirmed Morocco’s autonomy plan under its sovereignty as a “realistic, pragmatic and durable” solution to the dispute,a position backed by Washington, Paris and Madrid.
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