Russia’s veto of the US ‘solution’ for the autonomy of Western Sahara within Morocco spells the end of the extension of MINURSO’s mandate. Some speak of a Moroccan victory or a Sahrawi victory, but in reality it highlights the failure of MINURSO over these three decades. Not only has it failed to hold a referendum on self-determination for the Sahrawi people, but it has also allowed Morocco to continue its colonisation and occupation of Western Sahara by bringing in thousands of settlers to alter the demographic reality of the territory, knowing full well that the local population never wanted them, because they were never one and the same people.