Morocco will continue to insist on needed corrections to referendum process
Morocco, Politics, 6/2/2000

Morocco will continue to insist on needed corrections to have a truly fair referendum in the Sahara, said Wednesday Morocco's permanent delegate to the United Nations, Ahmed Snoussi.

The diplomat deplored in a statement to MAP "shilly-shallying and maneuvers by (our) enemies to prevent the settlement plan enforcement," an attitude, he said, that "denotes a clear obstruction resolve and an obstinacy to impose a tailored operation."

Following the adoption by the UN Security Council of a resolution extending by two months the mandate of MINURSO (UN mission supervising preparations for a referendum in the Sahara), Snoussi said Morocco was the one that proposed the referendum and has always brought contribution and financial and human support to the MINURSO. He added the kingdom is ready to underscore measures to be undertaken so that the UN settlement plan follows its normal course, leading to a fair and transparent voting.

Moroccan authorities fear that if the other side does not renounce its negative attitude, the two months, destined to seek new compromises, will only add up to the nine years wasted as a result of the other side's obstacles and procrastination, he said. However, he hoped that the UN bodies following up the process will realize the willingness of the Moroccan authorities and the negative attitude of the other side which continues to erect obstacles.

He went on that while the Security Council resolution welcomed the UN secretary general report on the referendum process and his special envoy's mission, its only remarks deal with difficulties facing the enforcement of the settlement plan. These very difficulties were often criticized and protested by Morocco because they harm the population's rights to participate in the vote. He insisted that by approving these remarks, the resolution confirms the "deep and fundamental" divergences existing between the two parties.

Morocco notified last February to the secretary general a memo outlining all distortions and deviations, resulting from a deliberate misinterpretation of the plan, he recalled.

For the diplomat, it is evident that the two additional months will not be enough to bridge the deep divergences that appeared in the London talks.

Morocco insists that errors made in the operation to identify eligible voters need to be corrected and appeals made by 40,000 candidates who were denied this right should not be conditioned to the veto of an ill-intentioned head of tribe. He added that another problem lies in the so-called refugees, who are actually forcibly sequestered in the camps. These persons should be allowed to return home since they have already been identified and covered by the census conducted by the High Commissioner of Refugees.

Snoussi went on that the voter rolls need to be updated and persons who have reached majority age should also be included.

On Wednesday, the United Nations Security Council agreed to extend the mandate of the UN Mission in the Sahara for an additional two months, expiring next July 31 and asked the parties to present to James Baker, UN Secretary General's special envoy, accurate and concrete proposals to settle various problems facing the enforcement of the settlement plan and explore all means to reach a rapid, lasting and concerted solution to the dispute over the Sahara.

Meanwhile, parties to the Sahara conflict will hold a meeting in the course of current June after a first round held in London in May between delegates of Morocco, the secessionist Polisario group, Algeria and Mauritania.

MINURSO was deployed in 1990 in the Sahara, a former Spanish colony retrieved by Morocco in 1975 under the Madrid accords. It is supervising a cease-fire and preparations for a referendum to give populations a chance to say whether they want the Sahara to remain Moroccan territory or stand up on its own as claimed by the Algeria-backed Polisario guerilla movement.

Previous Stories:
  Senegal's Wade pledges to work for Morocco's return to Organization of African Unity   (6/1/2000)
  UN security council extends Sahara mission for two months   (6/1/2000)
  Moroccan- spanish relations, migration top Catalunian parliamentary group talks in rabat   (5/30/2000)

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