Morocco says Annan's proposals on Sahara failed to advance process
Morocco-Algeria, Politics, 12/8/1998

Morocco said that the proposals made by United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, during his recent tour in North Africa, did not help advance the referendum process in the Sahara.

Annan's proposals "did not contribute to advancing" the process to hold the referendum, Khalid Alioua, Spokesman of the Moroccan government, told the London-based "Middle-East Broadcasting Center" (MBC).

Annan toured North Africa in a bid to put on track again a much-delayed referendum, proposed in the 1980's by Rabat to determine whether the former Spanish colony sets up on its own as claimed by the Polisario, or be incorporated into Morocco.

Annan proposed his own arbitration to settle the issue of 65,000 Sahrawis, belonging to contested tribes, that the Polisario refuses to identify as would-be voters in the referendum.

Khalid Alioua underlined that Annan's new plan "only put obstacles" that will harm the right of citizens from the southern provinces to participate in the referendum.

The U.N. has so far identified 147,000 applicants wishing to take part in the referendum and announced that the identification was completed, except for the contested tribes H41, H61 and J51/52 (groups that fled the Spanish occupation and settled northward in Morocco).

The Moroccan official renewed Morocco's position, rejecting the exclusion of any Sahrawi from the voters lists of the referendum, projected to be held in December 1999, under the aegis of the United Nations.

Alioua who asserted that Algeria is "a party to the conflict, imputed the conflict to ex-Algerian president, Houari Boumedienne, who created the Polisario to exert pressures on Morocco in the border issues between Algiers and Rabat.

On Sunday, Algerian Prime Minister, Ahmed Ouyahia, said "Algeria maintains, at a high degree, its solidarity with brothers in (...) Western Sahara."

Previous Stories:
  Morocco's absence from pan-African organization handicaps African states   (12/7/1998)
  Morocco continues cooperation with UN despite Polisario shilly-shallying   (12/3/1998)
  Algeria denies receiving Moroccan letter through Arafat   (11/24/1998)

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