Polisario uses subterfuges in identification operation, sahrawi
Morocco, Politics, 5/6/2000

The polisario uses all kinds of subterfuges to undermine the identification operation of would-be voters in the referendum the United Nations is planning to hold in the Sahara.

The statement was made by Sheikh Ghaoutah Ould Mohamed Ould Ahmed Baba, a Sahrawi Returnee, at a news conference Friday in Rabat.

Sheikh Ghaoutah, who acted himself since 1994 as one of the Shioukh appointed by the Polisario--a separatist gang claiming the independence of the Sahara-- to the U.N commission entrusted with identifying the eligible voters to the referendum, said the shioukh are ordered to limit to the maximum the number of would-be voters to shrink the voters' lists.

He added that the Shioukh are always accompanied by young people who keep a watching eye on them and that before being dispatched to sit in the identification commission, the shioukh must swear on the koran (that they will faithfully apply the polisario instructions).

"There does exist a blatant injustice in the identification operation," he asserted.

Sheikh Ghaoutah, who defected the polisario gang recently and returned to his motherland, Morocco, on Thursday swore allegiance to King Mohammed VI, at the Royal palace in the northern city of Tangier.

The United Nations is trying to hold a referendum in the Sahara --a Moroccan southern territory that was formerly under Spanish rule and that was retrieved by Morocco in 1975 under the Madrid accords.

The vote, which will give the people of the Sahara a choice between independence or integration with Morocco, has been repeatedly delayed because of the maneuvers of the separatist polisario which seeks to shrink the voters list.

Previous Stories:
  A Sahrawi returnee swears allegiance to King Mohammed VI   (5/5/2000)
  Paraguay freezes diplomatic relations with so-called Sahrawi republic   (5/5/2000)
  Moroccan premier confers with Swede MPs, NGOs activists   (5/4/2000)

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