UN peacekeeping official meets Mauritanian president over Sahara issue
The United Nations' assistant secretary general for peacekeeping operations, Bernard Miyet, who is visiting the Maghreb for talks on the Sahara issue, met Tuesday in Nouakchott with Mauritanian President Mouaouiya Ould Sid Ahmed Taya.
The UN official told the Panafrican news agency PANA that talks reviewed the latest developments in the UN peace plan in the Sahara. He also stressed that all sides agree that the settlement process should be speeded up.
The UN assistant secretary general, who is accompanied by the UN secretary general's special representative for the Sahara, is touring the North African region.
Following Miyet's talks in the region, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan will submit a report to the Security Council as the mandate of the MINURSO (acronym in French for the UN mission for the referendum in the Sahara) expires this October 31.
The Security Council decided last month to extend the mandate of "MINURSO" until October 31 after Annan informed the council that with the identification of 147,000 applicants wishing to take part in the referendum, the identification is completed, except for the contested tribes H41, H61 and J51/52 (groups that fled the Spanish occupation and that are denied eligibility by the Polisario).
The identification process which first started in 1994 was interrupted in December 1995 and resumed two years later, following the signing of the Houston accords, brokered by UN special envoy James Baker in September 1997.
Other aspects still need to be finalized before deciding on arrangements for the referendum that will decide whether this former Spanish colony retrieved by Morocco in 1975 under the Madrid accords would stand on its own, as claimed by the Algeria-backed Polisario movement, or incorporate with Morocco.
The MINURSO's identification commission still has to convoke hundreds of applicants living abroad, identify members of the contested tribes and examine the appeals by those who already appeared before the commission which has offices in Tindouf (a stronghold of the Polisario in southeastern Algeria), Morocco and Mauritania.
The MINURSO, which supervises a cease-fire in force since September 1991, comprises 203 military observers, 10 staff officers, 248 troops and 80 civilian police observers.
Initially set for next December 7, the vote is facing serious problems due to the Polisario's attempts to limit the electorate to persons included in a census conducted by the Spanish colonial authorities, while Morocco endeavors to include other Saharans who left the area for various reasons.