Interior minister meets with Moroccan observers in voters' identification operation
Moroccan interior minister, Driss Basri, met Thursday here with Morocco's shioukh and observers, who participated in the identification of would-be voters in the self-determination referendum that the United Nations plan to hold in the Sahara.
No details were disclosed on the issues examined during the meeting.
Driss Basri had repeatedly stressed in previous statements that Morocco was attached to the completion of the referendum process and has taken all necessary measures to ensure the holding of the consultation.
The United Nations assistant secretary general for peace keeping operations, Bernard Miyet, is currently touring the North African region for talks on the referendum process.
Following Miyet's visit, 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.
Annan said in a recent report to the Security 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 whose eligibility is questioned 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 in September 1997. The Houston accords were brokered by UN Secretary general's special envoy, James Baker.
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 guerilla movement, or incorporate with Morocco.
