New York - The United Nations Security Council voted late Thursday to extend by one year ongoing missions in southern Sudan and Western Sahara. The 15-member Security Council's resolution authorized another year for the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), first established after a 2005 peace agreement between the Sudanese government in the north and rebels in the south.

The resolution emphasized the "importance of full and expeditious implementation of all elements" of the 2005 comprehensive peace agreement between Khartoum and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A). The deal ended a 21-year civil war.

Another conflict between the government and rebels in the western region of Darfur continues.

In a second resolution, the Security Council reauthorized the UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) for another year.

The mission has been in place since September 1991 with the mandate of organizing a referendum on self-determination in Western Sahara and monitoring the ceasefire between Morocco and the Frente Polisario.

The Security Council urged both sides "to continue to show political will and work in an atmosphere propitious for dialogue in order to enter into a more intensive and substantive phase of negotiations." Morocco claims sovereignty over Western Sahara, while the Frente Polisario wants a vote on possible independence.

Both resolutions passed unanimously. (dpa)