U.N. warns of Western Sahara war if peacekeeping mission ends
UNITED NATIONS- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has recommended extending the mandate of a peacekeeping mission in the disputed territory of Western Sahara for a year, warning that the conflict there was in danger of reigniting, according to a new report.
"The risk of a rupture of the ceasefire and a resumption of hostilities, with its attendant danger of escalation into full-scale war, will grow significantly in the event that MINURSO is forced to depart or finds itself unable to execute the mandate that the Security Council has set," Ban said in the report, which was seen by Reuters on Tuesday.
Morocco expelled dozens of UN staff from the mission in Western Sahara, known as MINURSO, after Ban last month referred to the North African nation's 1975 annexation of the region from Spain as an "occupation."
