Perspectives of referendum in the Sahara clearer, Sabonese FM says
Morocco-Gabon, Politics, 7/10/1999

Perspectives of a projected UN referendum in the Sahara are becoming clearer, said here Thursday Jean Ping, Gabonese foreign minister and outgoing chairman of the ministerial council of the Organization of African Unity.

Speaking at the opening session of the 70th session of the OAU ministerial session (July 8-10), the Gabonese official said after the two parties (Morocco and the Polisario) have accepted proposals of the UN secretary general, the identification operation of persons eligible to vote in the referendum resumed in June.

He added that the UN High Commissioner for Refugees has started repatriation operations and, therefore, perspectives of holding the referendum are becoming more precise.

Last May, the United Nations announced that Morocco and the Polisario have accepted revised arrangements on the identification of eligible voters and appeals process.

Under the revised timetable, the world body set July 2000 as a new date for the referendum, June 1st for resuming the identification of voters and July 1st to start the appeals procedure (for people who were not accepted in the voter rolls).

The referendum which had been repeatedly postponed would give persons of Sahrawi descent an opportunity to say whether they want the Sahara, a former Spanish colony retrieved by Morocco in 1975 under the Madrid accords, to stand on its own as claimed by the Algeria-backed Polisario guerilla movement or remain integrated within Morocco.

The issue of identification and appeals has been a major obstacle to the holding of the voting due to the Polisario's attempts to shrink the electorate. The new identification operation is covering "contested tribes" to whom the Polisario was denying the right to vote.

Previous Stories:
  U.N. envoy for Sahara confers with Moroccan foreign minister   (7/9/1999)
  US congressional staffers visit southern provinces   (7/7/1999)
  Sahrawi notables renew right of all Sahrawis to participate in referendum   (7/6/1999)

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