All Sahrawis must participate in referendum, Sahrawis settled in Europe say
Morocco, Politics, 10/11/1999

Representatives of the Europe-based Moroccan community of Sahrawi descent underlined the right of each and every Sahrawi to participate in the referendum, the U.N is projecting to hold in the Sahara.

Denying this right to one single Moroccan of Sahrawi descent will automatically lead to the cancellation of the referendum process, the representatives said at a news conference here last week.

They recalled that thousands of Moroccans applied at Morocco's consulates in several European countries to be identified as would-be voters in the referendum, according to the schedule and criteria set by the United Nations, but that so far, a large number of them have not received any clear answer to their applications.

They further called the MINURSO (French acronym for the U.N mission for the holding of a referendum in the Sahara) to reconsider the voters' lists and asserted that a referendum cannot possibly be held in the Sahara if the Moroccan community of Sahrawi origin settled abroad is denied the right to participate in the consultation.

The MINURSO has been deployed in the Sahara since the early nineties, part of a U.N settlement plan on the Sahara, to supervise the holding of a referendum in the territory. The vote is to determine whether the Sahara --a former Spanish colony retrieved by Morocco in 1975 under the Madrid Accords-- sets up on its own, as claimed by the Polisario separatists, or remains part of Morocco.

After several delays, the referendum is now planned for July 2000.

The representatives of Moroccans Sahrawis underlined that the identification operation is still going on and that the 15,000 Moroccans of Sahrawi descent settled abroad have the right to be on the voters' lists, noting that this number does not actually reflect the reality as it does not include the children who have now reached voting age.

After they underlined the legitimacy of their cause, they renewed attachment to the sacred values of Morocco and to the kingdom's territorial integrity.

Previous Stories:
  Morocco reiterates that Sahara issue is a matter of perfection of territorial integrity, not decolonization   (10/9/1999)
  Morocco denounces deliberate delays in Sahara referendum process   (10/8/1999)
  Sahrawis settled in Europe attached to Morocco's sacred values   (10/8/1999)

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