France, Nov. 3 -- Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman for Secretary General Antonio Guterres said a team of UN support staff would oversee the withdrawal of the Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO).

The peacekeepers were sent in 1991 to oversee a ceasefire and settlement plan between Morocco and the pro-independence Polisario Front.

The two sides have disputed control of Western Sahara for 50 years.

Morocco claims sovereignty over the former Spanish colony; Polisario Front separatists, supported by Algeria and who represent the indigenous Sahrawi people, are seeking to establish an independent state called the Sahrawi Republic.

Guterres urged in the statement that the rights of the people of Western Sahara, including th...