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Doha – “The U.S. today recognizes Western Sahara as part of Morocco, thus subsidizing an organization that represents a betrayal of an Abraham Accords participant that constantly has America’s back,” proclaims a scathing op-ed criticizing the continued operation of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Western Sahara.
In an article published in the Washington Examiner on March 19, Michael Rubin of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) urges the Trump administration to eliminate what he describes as “failed UN peacekeeping operations,” with specific criticism aimed at MINURSO.
Rubin asserts that “Trump and the U.N. could save billions by eliminating failed peacekeeping operations,” adding that while some peacekeeping missions have succeeded, others have become expensive failures that “may actually preserve conflict.”
Rubin singles out MINURSO, established by the UN Security Council in 1991, as a prime example of a failed mission. “Its goal was simple: Organize a referendum among the territory’s Sahrawi to determine if they wished to join Morocco or establish their own country,” he writes.
“Thirty-four years and billions of dollars later, MINURSO has not even conducted a census. It makes excuses, some valid and others not, but time marches on.”
The think tank scholar contends that by continuing to fund MINURSO, the United States is undermining its own foreign policy interests. He notes that “The Sahrawi themselves also wish to join Morocco.”
Read also: US Institute of Peace: ‘Western Sahara Conflict is Over, Negotiating Terms is Next’
He further charges that the Algerian-backed Polisario Front, which he brands as “Marxist,” “will not allow refugees from the camps they control in Algeria’s Tindouf province to travel to Morocco with their families; they hold wives and children as hostages to prevent refugee resettlement.”
Rubin condemns the UN’s role, stating: “By funding these camps and inflating Polisario legitimacy, the U.N. perpetuates the problem.”
He also ridicules MINURSO officials, claiming, “Today, the best way to find MINURSO officials in Western Sahara is to visit one of Laayoune or Dahkla’s bars, where MINURSO vehicles are ever-present.”
The op-ed also criticizes other UN peacekeeping missions, including those in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) and Cyprus (UNFICYP), labeling them as wasteful expenditures that fail to achieve their stated objectives.
Rubin concludes with a recommendation for UN Secretary-General António Guterres to “waste no time” in ending “legacy peacekeeping missions that, at best, do nothing and, at worst, preserve and provoke conflict.”
He advocates for a policy where peacekeeping operations would always be “10 years or out, with no extensions.”
This call for cutting UN peacekeeping missions comes amid broader budget cuts by the Trump administration.
Since taking office in January, President Trump has moved to eliminate various federal agencies and programs, including significant reductions to the Department of Education and the termination of over 90% of USAID’s foreign aid contracts and grants announced on February 27.
