U.N. resumes identification of Sahara referendum would-be voters on June 15

The United Nations will resume the identification of would-be voters in the Sahara referendum on June 15, Moroccan Interior Minister Driss Basri announced.

The resumption concerns persons belonging to the tribal groupings Ait Oussa, Ait Baamrane, Ait En-Nos, Azouafet, Chraga, Ait Yara, Rif, Coumara, Lamiar, Znati, Ben Bou Yahya, Rhamna, Chnagla, N'Tifa, Oulad Aissa, Sraghna, Beni Zeroual, Oulad Stout, Tajakent, Iddi Goub and El-Kenta.

The new identification phase takes place following U.N.-brokered accords between Morocco and the Polisario Front. The U.N. had identified in a first phase, a total of 147,000 Sahrawis.

The identified Sahrawis will participate in a self-determination referendum to determine whether the Sahara, a former Spanish colony, retrieved by Morocco in 1975, sets up on its own as claimed by the Polisario, or remains part of Morocco. The vote is slated for July, 2000.

Registered persons who desire to be identified should present themselves to the identification centers reserved to them at the date set in the time-table, the minister said.

Applicants who do not present themselves to the center reserved to them during the set period will lose their right to identification, Basri said.

Identification centers will be open five days per week, from Monday to Friday, during the deadline set for each tribal grouping. The centers will work seven hours a day and this time may be extended according to the working schedule to be announced by each center.

Registered applicants who were not convoked, who were classified among the above-mentioned groupings and who desire to present themselves part of a new grouping, should submit an appeal in this regard.

Registered persons, who belong to the above-mentioned groupings and who wish to be identified part of another grouping, should present themselves directly to the centers reserved to them during the period set for the identification of the group to which they belong.

In addition to proving their tribal belonging, candidates for identification should furnish proof of their identity and all documents likely to ease their identification.

During this operation, they should abstain from any behavior that might hamper the work of the identification commission. They are also invited to present themselves with their family members and in presence of the head of the family, if possible, and bring in all necessary explanations on their other registered family members to facilitate their identification.