The Security Council session on Friday, October 30, will be remembered as a lesson in arithmetic. In the first vote, the US-drafted resolution, which established autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty as the sole basis for negotiations, secured 11 votes in favour, one against and three abstentions. It was defeated by Russia’s veto. In the second vote, Moscow’s counterproposal, which sought to extend MINURSO’s mandate for another year without changing its name or responsibilities, received just three votes in favour, 11 abstentions and one vote against, from the United States. It fell six votes short of the nine required for adoption. The American vote against it was not even needed to defeat it.
The breakdown is even more damning for Algiers. Britain and France, both permanent members, abstained. So did the elected members Bahrain, Colombia, Denmark, Greece, Latvia, Liberia, Panama, Pakistan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Not a single Latin American, European or Arab country voted for the Russian proposal. Of the three African countries on the Council, two — Liberia and the DRC — declined to support it. Even Pakistan, which had abstained alongside Moscow on the American draft, refused to follow Russia on its own.
That leaves three votes. Russia’s, as the author of the proposal. China’s, which had chosen to abstain on the American draft rather than block it and had nothing to lose by backing a Russian proposal already destined to fail. And Somalia’s. That is the sum total of the support Algerian diplomacy managed to muster in the Security Council, despite its visits to Moscow, its official statements and its appeals to “international legality.”
Consider how far things have shifted. Just two years ago, Algeria held a seat on the Council and presented itself as the voice of Africa and the Arab world. It has been off the Council since January, and its positions no longer find champions there. The proposal reflecting its preferred approach to the dispute—keeping a UN mission unchanged since 1991—failed to persuade a single elected member apart from Somalia.
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The outcome of the two votes presents a paradox for which Algiers bears much of the responsibility. By pushing Moscow to block the American draft, Algeria hoped to preserve MINURSO as it likes it, complete with the “R” for referendum. Instead, neither resolution was adopted, and the mission’s mandate expires on October 31. France’s representative warned that an abrupt end to the mandate would be “particularly concerning.” Several options remain on the table, including a shorter extension of six months, for example. But for now, the very mission Algeria claimed to be defending has been left without a renewed mandate.
Morocco, meanwhile, has lost nothing. Resolution 2797, adopted in October 2025, which establishes the autonomy plan as the basis for a settlement, remains in force: the veto did not overturn it. Talks launched in Washington and Madrid are continuing. And through two successive votes, the Security Council has demonstrated that most of its members have no intention of turning back the clock.
Algiers liked to say the world stood with “the Sahrawi people.” On October 30, the votes were counted. There were three.
