UNITED NATIONS: The UN Security Council voted to extend the mandate of the UN peacekeeping force in the Western Sahara for another year Thursday with Algeria refusing to vote in protest at the resolution’s failure to include a reference to monitoring human rights in the disputed north African territory.
The vote was 12 countries in favor, Russia and Mozambique abstaining, and Al geria, which supports the Polisario Front, one of the parties to the nearly 50-year dispute, not voting.
Morocco annexed Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony in 1975, sparking a conflict with the Algerian-backed pro-independence Polisario Front. The region is believed to have considerable offshore oil deposits and mineral resources and is slightly larger than the United Kingdom.
The UN brokered a 1991 ceasefire and established a peacekeeping mission to monitor the truce and help prepare a referendum on the territory’s future. Disagreements over who is eligible to vote have prevented the referendum from taking place, and Morocco insists it will now only support autonomy for the Western Sahara.
The Polisario Front renewed armed conflict in 2020, ending a 29-year truce, and tensions have escalated.
Algeria’s UN Ambassador Amar Bendjama tried unsuccessfully to get two amendments inserted into the US-drafted resolution, and lashed out at the United States for reportedly not including its requests including for the UN mission known as MINURSO to monitor human rights in Western Sahara in the resolution.
US deputy ambassador Robert Wood said the resolution makes clear the Security Council’s support for Staffan de Mistura, the secretary-general’s personal envoy to Western Sahara, “as he intensifies efforts to advance an enduring and dignified resolution for Western Sahara without further delay.”
Wood said it is “more urgent than ever to reach a political solution for Western Sahara,” noting that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently reiterated that the US views Morocco’s autonomy proposal “as serious, credible, and realistic and one potential approach to satisfy the aspirations of the people of Western Sahara.”
Earlier this month, UN envoy de Mistura proposed dividing Western Sahara as one potential way to satisfy both sides and give residents a chance to decide under who they want to live, but he told the council that both Morocco and the Polisario Front showed “no sign of willingness to explore it further.”

WASHINGTON: The United States expects North Korean troops in Russia’s Kursk region to enter the fight against Ukraine in the coming days, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday as he pressed China to use its influence to rein in Pyongyang.
Blinken spoke after North Korea conducted its longest-ever intercontinental ballistic missile test earlier on Thursday and South Korea warned that Pyongyang could get missile technology from Russia in exchange for helping with the war in Ukraine.
The top US diplomat said there were 10,000 North Korean troops in Russia, including as many as 8,000 in the Kursk region where Ukrainian forces continue to hold territory after fighting their way into the Russian border area in August.
At a press conference with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and their South Korean counterparts, Blinken said Russia has been training the North Korean soldiers in artillery, unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, and basic infantry operations, indicating they “fully intend” to use the forces in frontline operations.
They would become legitimate military targets if they enter the battlefield, Blinken said.
“We’ve not yet seen these troops deploy into combat against Ukrainian forces, but we would expect that to happen in the coming days,” he said.
During their meeting, the US and South Korea discussed a range of options for responding, Blinken added, saying Moscow’s use of North Korean soldiers in its “meat grinder” war against Ukraine was a “clear sign of weakness.”
Austin said the US would announce new security assistance for Ukraine in coming days.

Russia-North Korea Cooperation
Blinken and his South Korea and Japanese counterparts condemned the ICBM launch as a flagrant violation of UN Security Council resolutions. The flight-time of the missile was 87 minutes, according to South Korea, putting nearly all of the United States within range.
The Kremlin on Thursday declined to comment when asked if Russia was helping North Korea to develop its missile and other military technology.
Blinken said Beijing, like Washington, should be very concerned about what Russia might be doing in order to enhance North Korea’s military capacities because it was destabilizing to Asia.
Austin said the Pentagon was very early in its assessment phase of the launch “and we don’t see any indication at this point that there was Russian involvement.”
Blinken said the US and South Korea agreed China should do more to curb North Korea’s provocative actions and US officials had had a “robust conversation” with Beijing this week.
“They know well the concerns that we have, and the expectations that, both in word and deed, they’ll use the influence that they have to work to curb these activities,” Blinken said of Chinese officials.
Beijing, partners with both Moscow and Pyongyang, has so far repeated calls for deescalation by all sides and a political settlement to the Korean conflict.
The United States, France, Japan, Malta, South Korea, Slovenia and Britain requested a UN Security Council meeting over the ICBM launch and two diplomats said it would likely take place on Monday.
Washington says China, which entered a “no limits” partnership with Moscow ahead of Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, has been supporting the Kremlin’s war with dual use goods to prop up the Russian defense industrial base.
China rejects the US accusations about what it calls normal trade with Russia.
Austin said Ukraine could hold on to Russian territory in Kursk, and that the number of North Korean troops pales in comparison to casualties Russian forces recently have been suffering — some 1,250 a day.
“I do believe that they can hold on to the territory, if they choose to do that. They do have options,” Austin said of Ukrainian troops.
Many Western analysts argue China should be alarmed by any North Korean participation in Russia’s war, saying it’s a sign Pyongyang has reduced its reliance on Beijing and that its involvement would galvanize closer ties between Washington’s European and Asian allies.
Nonetheless, Sydney Seiler, a former US national intelligence officer for North Korea, said China was not disturbed enough to actively oppose the deployments.
“I don’t think China openly supports this. But at the same time, they’re not going to do what’s necessary to stop it,” he said.