The UN tasks Alexander Ivanko with MINURSO’s departure
On 6 November 2026, António Guterres tasked the mission’s former head with leading the liquidation. No one monitors the ceasefire anymore. The withdrawal will take a few months.
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6Nov
Ivanko is named to lead the liquidation.
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5posts
east of the wall, to be vacated, Lacroix says.
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160observers
military personnel to be repatriated, according to the UN.
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2021Aug.
Ivanko was already leading the mission, from that date.
Who leads the departure
On 6 November 2026, the UN spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, announced it in New York. António Guterres is tasking Alexander Ivanko with leading MINURSO’s liquidation.
Ivanko is not a newcomer. He was the secretary-general’s special representative and the head of the mission from August 2021. His mandate as head ended with the operations, on 31 October. He is back for another task: to organise the departure.
His team carries out all the liquidation work, with the support of the Department of Operational Support, at UN headquarters.
According to the EFE agency, Dujarric spelled out the work: repatriate the military observers from the team sites, and withdraw or dispose of the equipment that belongs to the United Nations.
In plain words the man who led the mission is now the man who closes it.
No more monitoring
On 4 November, Jean-Pierre Lacroix was clear. He is the under-secretary-general in charge of peace operations.
Since midnight on 31 October, MINURSO has had only one task: to carry out its withdrawal.
There is therefore no longer a mechanism to check the ceasefire. Nothing replaces the mission on that point. Lacroix repeated António Guterres’s call: the parties must stay calm and cooperate.
Five posts east of the defence wall are to be vacated: Bir Lahlou, Tifariti, Mehaires, Mijek and Agwanit. Everywhere the mission was present, that presence must end. Lacroix did not say whether the buildings will be taken down or handed to someone.
The timing: a few months. No day-by-day calendar. Lacroix recalled the closure of MINUSMA, in Mali, completed in December 2023, where some equipment went to other missions. He did not say it would be the same in the Sahara.
The figures already given on 2 November still hold: about 160 military observers to repatriate, about 180 civilians to send home, 13 sites to close.
What continues
The mission’s departure does not close the UN’s political channel. Staffan de Mistura remains the secretary-general’s personal envoy. Lacroix said it again: the United Nations still want to accompany a political solution. Morocco does not read this ending the same way, as the 4 November statement already said.
Key dates
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At midnight, the mission stops all monitoring.
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Lacroix: no mechanism replaces MINURSO. Five eastern posts to be emptied.
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Guterres tasks Ivanko with the liquidation. De Mistura remains the personal envoy.
Source. Médias24, 5 and 7 November 2026: https://medias24.com/2026/11/05/retrait-minurso-sahara-onu-lacroix-1788057/ and https://medias24.com/2026/11/07/minurso-antonio-guterres-confie-sa-liquidation-a-alexander-ivanko-1788570/ — EFE, 6 November 2026: https://www.abc.com.py/internacionales/2026/11/06/guterres-encarga-al-ruso-ivanko-la-liquidacion-de-la-mision-de-onu-en-el-sahara-occidental/