MINURSO draft budget amounts to us$ 41 million

The draft budget of MINURSO (French acronym for U.N. mission supervising the holding of a referendum in the Sahara) for the period between July 1st, 2002 and July 30, 2003 amounts to US$ 41.5 Million (gross amount), excluding in-kind voluntary contributions, estimated at US$ 6.09 Mln.

A report of the UN secretary general published Monday says 47% of this draft budget will go to civilian staff. Operational and military personnel account respectively for 29% and 16% of the total.

The report, published as the 5th commission (budget and administrative affairs) of the UN general assembly is resuming its session, says expenses projected in this period are lower by 15% compared to the credits opened for the previous period.

The meeting will examine the opening of a US$ 41.5 Million credit provided that the Security Council decides to extend the mission mandate.