The Identity Committee in the Sahara Resumes its work
Morocco-West Sahara, Politics, 12/2/1997

The Identity Committee resumed its work yesterday within its efforts to resolve the crisis of the Western Sahara between Morocco and the Polisario. The Committee is trying to establish the final lists of the Sahara-origin people who are eligible to participate in the referendum.

Moroccan sources said that Rabat is committed to full cooperation with the United Nations in order to enforce the Houston Agreements. Those agreements stipulate the resumption of the works of the Identity Committee, which stopped more than one and a half years ago. The agreements also stipulate that the committee will develop a timetable for the release of the prisoners and for the reduction of the forces of Morocco and the Polisario. The committee will also create a charter of honor which will be put into force during the transitional phase preceding the referendum date.

The heads of the Saharan tribes who are inclined to stay with Morocco held a series of meetings last week in Rabat in preparation for the resumption of the works of the Identity Committee.

The Houston Agreements gave the chance to everyone of Saharan origin to submit an application to register for the referendum either as an individual or within a group.

Meanwhile, the Moroccan government approved a plan to fix the deteriorated social conditions of the workers in the Grada Mines, east of Morocco in the light of the reports that indicated the possibility of a severe shortage of materials produced from the mines such as coal and other minerals.

Official Moroccan sources confirmed that Dr. El Filaly together with other government officials studied a plan that aims to compensate those workers. The trade unions exercised pressures on the government in the form of strikes to urge it to give more attention to the miners. Government officials are scheduled to meet the trade union's representatives to discuss the plan in order to contain this crisis.

Previous Stories:
  Sahara self-rule referendum set for December 1998   (10/27/1997)
  UN delegation ends visit to Morocco   (10/18/1997)
  Morocco - Polisario negotiations to resume next month   (9/9/1997)

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