Explaining the US position on the non-renewal of Minurso’s mandate, Ambassador Mike Waltz told the Security Council the mission had outlived its purpose and called for a new diplomatic approach.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz told the Security Council on Friday that Minurso, whose mandate was not renewed, “unfortunately became a permanent monument to something that could not work”.
In his explanation of vote, Waltz said Washington could not support renewing mandates year after year, decade after decade, that have not worked or cannot work. After 35 years, he said, Minurso has not delivered its original purpose.
“We cannot perpetuate a mission whose very name does not reflect the reality on the ground and choose a status quo”. Mike Waltz, US Ambassador to the United Nations
By the mission staff’s own account, he added, Minurso spends roughly 80% of its time resupplying itself. He recalled that, back in 2002, then UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan put to the Council that the mandate be ended, and noted that 24 years later the conversation is still going on.
The Tindouf camps
Meanwhile, Waltz said, thousands of people remain stranded in the Tindouf camps. Citing UN findings, he said two-thirds of children under five suffer from anemia, one-third from stunted growth, and only ten percent receive the minimum acceptable diet. An entire generation has grown up in the camps, he said, and a status quo that produces another one should not continue.
Waltz called for continued diplomatic efforts, noting that President Donald Trump had brought the parties back to the negotiating table, alongside the United Nations and the Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy. That work should not stop, he said: “We have to try something new”.