Morocco deplores suppression of thousands of candidates to identification for Sahara referendum
Morocco, Politics, 7/16/1999

Moroccan Interior Minister, Driss Basri, on Thursday deplored the suppression by the Identification Commission of several thousands of candidates to identification for the self-determination referendum the United Nations plans to hold in the Sahara in July, 2000.

The names of several thousands of candidates to identification coming from Morocco were suppressed by the Identification Commission after having been identified by the same Commission as being entitled to participate in the referendum, Basri said at a meeting with representatives of the national and foreign press accredited to Morocco.

The meeting was held following the publishing by the Identification Commission of provisional lists, covering the two first identification stages carried out from August 28, 1994 to December 22, 1995 and from December 3, 1997 to September 3, 1998.

According to these lists, some 84,251 persons were identified and found to be entitled to vote in the referendum. The lists show that 46,255 of the eligible voters live in Morocco, 33,786 in the Tindouf camps (southwestern Algeria) and 4,210 in Mauritania.

In his meeting with the Press, Driss Basri said the Commission explained the suppression of the previously identified candidates from the lists by a so-called "ultimate revision of what was set."

Such revision was made under the supervision of the then Chairman of the Identification Commission, who arrogated to himself the right to harm Morocco through what he called panels that acted in Morocco's absence, Basri said.

The U.N. Secretary-General, the Security Council and James Baker (Annan's envoy to the Sahara), have been informed about this serious prejudice and all of them deemed it a serious error of the MINURSO (U.N. Mission for the Referendum in the Sahara) and the Identification Commission, Basri underlined.

"Today, July 15, starts a six-week period during which the Sahrawis, who were not retained by the Identification Commission, can introduce appeals, if they deem that they were illegally excluded from the lists," the Interior Minister added.

The identification operation, Basri said, was restrictively based on the Spanish census, ignoring the juridical and sociological concept of tribal belonging, despite Morocco's protests.

The defenders of this thesis thought that the overwhelming majority of Sahrawis live as refugees in the bivouac camps of Lahmada. This thesis collapsed with the publishing of the provisional lists that consolidate the position of Morocco, which wins, thus, a clear success, Basri said.

Despite the important amputations operated against a sole party, Morocco, and the exaggerated inflation of the other party's figures, the Kingdom is convinced that the Sahrawis, who are faithful to their homeland and to the King, will massively vote for the Kingdom's unity and territorial integrity, Basri added.

The Interior Minister recalled that Morocco's opponents opposed the identification of thousands of genuine Sahrawis, contested the five identification criteria set by the U.N. and currently delay the registration by the UNHCR (U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees) of persons installed in the Lahmada camps with a view to preventing them from exercising their right to return in violation of the U.N. settlement plan.

This new maneuver, Basri said, translates, as the referendum date draws closer, the disarray of the Polisario, which sequestrates refugees in a totalitarian system, fearing their return to their homeland (Morocco), where they will enjoy freedom of speech and of movement within a democratic and liberal country.

Morocco, which abstains from lapsing into propaganda, an art consumed by its opponents, endeavors for holding the referendum in accordance with the timetable, set by the U.N., and will follow the legal and legitimate paths for the respect of the spirit and letter of the settlement plan, Driss Basri underlined.

Regarding the corrections to be made to the identification of the tribes that are yet to be identified and regarding the various appeals introduced to the identification commissions, the Interior Minister said that applicants faced various obstacles during the previous stages of the identification operation.

This is a real long and painstaking process, as they are requested to present various Spanish identity documents, to be registered on the lists of the 1974 Spanish census, in contradiction with the 1990 and 1991 compromises which privilege the oral testimonies. This procedure has become the exception while it should be the rule, Basri said.

He underlined that this procedure was applied with rigor on the Moroccan side, while on the other side, certain members of the Identification Commission sided with the Polisario. Such a biased position harmed the identification procedure, Basri added.

Morocco perfectly knows the genuine Sahrawis who should vote (in the referendum), be they in Mauritania, in Tindouf, in Morocco, or elsewhere, Basri said, adding that with the single party propaganda and methodology prevailing in the Lahmada camps, it was pretended that the whole "Sahrawi people" migrated and that all the Sahrawis lived in Tindouf.

In reality, he went on, there are on the Polisario's side, only 22,000 persons who actually meet the criteria invented by the Polisario itself.

To a question on the panels procedure, Basri said they do not enjoy any legal grounds within the settlement plan and their mechanisms are not known. He stressed, in this regard, that nothing should be revised in Morocco's absence. With this procedure, Morocco's figures were reduced, a work done upon the inspiration of the Polisario and certain members of the MINURSO, Basri went on.

Bothered by these irrefutable facts, the UNO officials operated changes at the level of the MINURSO and the Identification Commission. The Chairman of the Commission, who was maintained at an intermediate post, tries to implement a plan that tends to reduce the number of applicants on Morocco's side, Basri said, adding that such a procedure was denounced by the Shioukhs. The governmental and diplomatic authorities informed the U.N. Secretary-General of this procedure, he said.

Basri, who recalled the support that Morocco has always extended to the MINURSO, said that the Kingdom has paid $ 120 million in financial contribution to the U.N. Mission since its deployment. He reaffirmed, in this connection, Morocco's readiness to continue its financial support to the MINURSO.

As to the moral aid, Basri said Morocco has never failed to observe the rules of hospitality since the installation of the MINURSO in Morocco 10 years ago. "No member of the MINURSO was ever arrested, interrogated nor bothered while doing his job, although the authorities are aware of certain acts," Basri said.

He denounced, in this respect, the behavior of some members of the MINURSO, who mistreat people in identification centers, sow all kinds of obstacles to applicants and try to reduce the number of Sahrawis presenting themselves in Morocco. Reaction would have been different in other places, Basri insisted, before adding "but Morocco remains faithful to its tradition of restraint, hospitality and respect of the other."

"In Morocco, we have the customs of a centuries-old human civilization, but, when time comes, the Moroccan authorities will say all the truth," he said.

Basri confirmed that 50 per cent of applicants on Morocco's side were rejected and will introduce appeals, while 98 per cent of applicants on the Polisario's side were identified, although they are born in remote areas and have no link whatsoever with the Sahara.

These actions of the Identification Commission were denounced every time and reported to the U.N. Secretary-General, the Interior Minister said.

He added that several Sahrawis who returned to their homeland (Morocco) were not accepted during the identification operation. He gave the example of a Polisario Sheikh who refused to recognize his own daughter.

Driss Basri expressed Morocco's readiness to guarantee the best accommodation conditions for the Sahrawis of Lahmada camps and renewed the Kingdom's will to respect the verdict of the poll.

Previous Stories:
  African summit backs rapid implementation of U.N. settlement plan for Sahara   (7/15/1999)
  African summit backs rapid implementation of U.N. settlement plan for Sahara   (7/15/1999)
  Morocco denounces removal of 4,000 Sahrawi applicants from provisional lists   (7/15/1999)

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