UN secretary-general's Saharan envoy to Mauritania on Monday

The envoy of the United Nations secretary-general, ambassador Charles Dunbar, will travel to Mauritania on Monday to resume consultations with the parties involved in the conflict over Saharan self-determination in his first visit to the region since he was appointed to his new assignment.

Dunbar, in Al-Oun region in the western desert, said that he will visit the identity bureau in El-Zowairt in northern Mauritania and that he expects the processes of specifying identity to take a long time and approach the referendum date of December 7.

He said registration bureaus in Al-Saragena castle and Sidi Kasem will be opened on March 9 and that he is about to open more new bureaus to deal with all registrations demands, especially Al-Ouon bureau.