Former MINURSO chief Julian Harston has called for the UN mission’s closure, describing its mandate as obsolete and endorsing autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty as the only solution to the Sahara dispute.
In a LinkedIn post titled “The end of Minurso. My last UN mission,” Harston said the peacekeeping operation belonged to another era and that nearly all the requirements of its original mandate were no longer relevant.
“MINURSO should be closed. It is anachronistic,” he wrote, arguing that a referendum had never been a realistic possibility.
Harston also accused Algeria of obstructing efforts to resolve the dispute and keeping thousands of Sahrawis in the Tindouf camps under unacceptable conditions.
“A ceasefire was never accepted by Polisario or indeed by Algeria . Through out the years Algeria has been a spoiler. Simply taking every opportunity to oppose while keeping 1000s of Sahara wi hostage under intolerable conditions
under an aged leadership.”
He argued that international support for Morocco’s autonomy initiative should translate into a corresponding UN position.
“The autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty is the unique solution. The international community supports that. The UN should do the same,” he wrote.
Harston served as the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative and head of MINURSO from February 2007 to October 2009, a period that included Morocco’s submission of its autonomy initiative to the United Nations.
His remarks come as MINURSO enters liquidation following the Security Council’s failure to renew its mandate on October 30.
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