UN identified more than 51,000 potential voters from disputed tribes for referendum in Sahara
Morocco, Politics, 1/5/2000

The United Nations identification commission has identified over 51,000 potential voters from the "disputed" tribes (H41, H61, and J 51/52) for a much-delayed referendum in the Sahara.

UN spokesman Fred Eckhard announced Tuesday the end of the identification provision and that the second provisional lists of persons eligible to vote will be published on January 15.

More than 240,000 applicants have appeared before the identification commission, of MINURSO (French acronym for UN mission for the holding of referendum in the Sahara) and about 200,000 were found eligible to vote.

However, Eckhard noted that the identification process is not yet over since starting on January 17, over 70,000 persons who were not included in the electoral rolls might lodge appeals.

With such a big number of appeals, he quoted Annan as having said there seemed "little possibility of holding the referendum before 2002 or even beyond."

Originally set for January 1992, the referendum is to decide whether the former Spanish colony, retrieved by Morocco in 1975, should remain Moroccan territory, or become independent, as sought by the Algeria-backed Polisario Front.

Previous Stories:
  Morocco renews attachment to U.N. plan for Sahara   (12/29/1999)
  Morocco adamant on Sahrawi rights to appeal   (12/16/1999)
  Security Council extends mandate of U.N. Sahara mission   (12/15/1999)

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