UN peacekeeping official expected in Morocco
Morocco-Mauritania-UN, Politics, 10/22/1998

The United Nations assistant secretary general for peacekeeping operations, Bernard Miyet, who is visiting the Maghreb for talks on the Sahara issue, is expected in Morocco, part of a tour in the North African region.

The delegation, which met on Tuesday with Mauritanian president, Mouaouiya Ould Sid Ahmed Taya, also visited Laayoune, southern Morocco. UN secretary general's special representative for the Sahara, Charles Dunbar, is also part of the delegation.

Following Miyet's visit, UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, will submit a report to the security council as the mandate of the MINURSO (acronym in French for the UN mission for the referendum in the Sahara) expires this October 31.

The security council decided last month to extend the mandate of "MINURSO" until this October 31 after Annan informed the council that with the identification of 147,000 applicants wishing to take part in the referendum, the identification is completed, except for the contested tribes H41, H61 and J51/52 (groups that fled the Spanish occupation and that are denied eligibility by the Polisario).

The identification process which first started in 1994 was interrupted in December 1995 and resumed two years later, following the signing of (UN special envoy) Baker's brokered Houston accords in September 1997.

Other aspects still need to be finalized before deciding on arrangements for the referendum that will decide whether this former Spanish colony retrieved by Morocco in 1975 under the Madrid accords would stand on its own, as claimed by the Algeria-backed Polisario guerilla movement, or incorporate with Morocco.The MINURSO's identification commission still has to convoke hundreds of applicants living abroad, identify members of the contested tribes and examine appeals by those who already appeared before the commission which had offices in Tindouf (stronghold of the polisario in south-western Algeria), Morocco and Mauritania.

The MINURSO which supervises a cease-fire in force since September 1991 comprises 203 military observers, 10 staff officers, 248 troopers and 80 civilian police observers.

Previous Stories:
  UN peacekeeping official meets Mauritanian president over Sahara issue   (10/21/1998)
  UN peace keeping official to visit North Africa over Sahara issue   (10/16/1998)

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