UN begins phased closure of Western Sahara mission as Yemen and Afghanistan crises deepen

The United Nations has begun the phased closure of its peacekeeping mission in Western Sahara after the Security Council did not renew its mandate. The process will see about 160 military observers repatriated and 13 facilities and team sites closed, while a smaller UN team oversees the withdrawal and handover. UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said the liquidation period began Sunday.

Around 180 civilian and affiliated personnel are also expected to leave. The remaining team will supervise the removal or transfer of UN property, the shutdown of communications and logistics systems, the archiving of records and the closure of local contracts. The UN said administrative, financial and security oversight would continue during the process.

Dujarric stressed that the mission’s departure did not cancel the right of the people of Western Sahara to self-determination. He also repeated the Secretary-General’s call for all parties to exercise maximum restraint and cooperate with the closure. NPR described the mission, known as MINURSO, as having operated for 35 years in the disputed territory, which is claimed by Morocco and the pro-independence Polisario Front.

The UN’s account focused on the practical winding-down arrangements and did not provide further detail on the political dispute. In Yemen, the UN’s aid coordination office, OCHA, said the humanitarian situation was worsening in the southwestern city of Taiz, where fighting involving Iran-backed Houthi forces has closed all roads and stopped commercial supplies from entering. Nearly 250,000 people have lost access to essential healthcare, including more than 186,000 children under five and 23,000 pregnant women.

Twelve hospitals in Taiz are at risk of closing as living conditions deteriorate and demand rises. OCHA reported more than 1,400 cases of acute diarrhoea and suspected cholera in a single week. Nearly 300,000 people have been displaced across Yemen since the beginning of August, while 5.2 million were already displaced before the latest escalation, according to the UN office.

Afghanistan is facing a separate health-care emergency linked to funding cuts. OCHA said vital health centres were reducing services or closing, leaving people in remote areas such as Badakhshan province with long and dangerous journeys to medical care. UN spokesperson Olga Cherevko reported worsening malnutrition at Kishim District Hospital and said nearly 22 million people in Afghanistan need humanitarian assistance.

The UN said it had provided food, hygiene supplies and emergency cash assistance to about 254,000 displaced people in Yemen. Its wider warning was that access to care was deteriorating in both Yemen and Afghanistan while Western Sahara entered a carefully managed but politically sensitive transition.