U.N. envoy for Sahara confers with Moroccan foreign minister

Moroccan Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Minister Mohamed Benaissa conferred in Rabat on Thursday, with William Eagleton, special representative of the United Nations secretary general for the Sahara.

The meeting was attended by minister in charge of the Maghreb, Arab and Islamic world affairs, Abdeslam Znined, and Morocco's permanent representative to the U.N., Ahmed Snoussi.

Eagleton was appointed last May 21 Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for the Sahara.

The U.N. is planning to hold a self-determination referendum in the Sahara in July 2000 to determine whether the former Spanish colony, retrieved by Morocco in 1975 under the Madrid Accords, sets up on its own, as claimed by the Polisario, or remains part of Morocco.