UN Western Sahara Mission Ends After 35 Years; Sudan Grid Struck

The United Nations' 35-year peacekeeping mission in Western Sahara officially ceased operations and entered liquidation on Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026, following a U.S.-Russia diplomatic standoff at the U.N. Security Council, The Associated Press reported on KCBS Radio. Elsewhere in the region on Sunday, drone strikes knocked out electrical substations in two northern Sudanese towns — bringing the total number of targeted substations to 15 since early October and leaving the Merowe Dam supplying more than 70% of Sudan's electricity — according to The Associated Press on KCBS Radio.

U.N. Peacekeeping Mission in Western Sahara (MINURSO) Ends After 35 Years

Established in 1991 to monitor a cease-fire and organize a self-determination referendum after Morocco annexed the territory in 1975 (sparking a conflict that lasted more than 15 years and claimed more than 16,000 lives according to the French Senate), the U.N. Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) was authorized for 534 personnel with a 2026-2027 budget of more than $62 million, led by military contributors Egypt, Ghana, and Pakistan, with 20 MINURSO personnel having lost their lives over the mission's history.

On Friday, Russia vetoed a U.S.-drafted Security Council resolution that would have backed Morocco's sovereignty plan and wound down the mission next year, after which a rival Russian extension resolution failed to pass. U.N. spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric confirmed that Nov. 1, 2026, marks the start of the liquidation period overseen by the Department of Operational Support. While Morocco's royal palace welcomed the end of the mandate, the Algeria-backed Polisario Front — which operates from Tindouf, Algeria, and withdrew from the 1991 cease-fire in 2020 before Algeria and Morocco severed diplomatic ties in 2021 — denounced the non-renewal.

Drone Strikes on 15 Substations Leave Sudan Reliant on 1,250-MW Merowe Dam

In northern Sudan, Sunday drone strikes blamed by the Sudanese government and the rights group Emergency Lawyers on the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) knocked out power substations in Al-Dabbah (shortly after 4 a.m. in Northern state, where resident Abbas Wadaa and baker Seif al-Rawasi reported markets, bakeries, and irrigation pumps halted after the town absorbed thousands displaced from Al Fasher last year) and Abu Hamad in River Nile state.

According to Emergency Lawyers and the Sudan Electric Holding Company, 15 substations have been struck since early October, endangering hospitals, dialysis centers, blood banks, and vaccine cold storage according to the Sudan Doctors Network:

• Um Dabakir & Shendi Attacks: Late Wednesday, drones struck White Nile state's 500-megawatt Um Dabakir thermal power station — destroying 4 transformers and damaging 3 generating units, cutting off White Nile and North Kordofan states — followed early Friday by a 4-missile drone strike that destroyed transformers at Shendi's main substation.
• Merowe Dam Capacity: With overall electricity output down from 4,400 megawatts before the war (which has displaced 13 million people and claimed at least 59,000 lives) to 1,100 megawatts and other hydroelectric dams producing no more than 100 megawatts combined, the 1,250-megawatt Merowe Dam now supplies more than 70% of Sudan's electricity, while household solar systems in Khartoum cost nearly $5,000.