Referendum will be held after identification of all Sahrawis, Youssoufi says

The Referendum in the Sahara will be held at a date to be decided by the UN secretary General after the identification of all Sahrawis, Moroccan premier, Abderrahmane Youssoufi, said.

"Morocco is confident that the referendum will confirm the Moroccan identity of the southern provinces," Youssoufi told Spanish radio "Cadena Ser."

The referendum --which the UN is planning to hold in the Sahara-- is scheduled for July 2000. The vote will decide whether the Sahara, a former Spanish colony, retrieved by Morocco in 1975 under the Madrid Accords, remains part of Morocco or sets up on its own.

In his report last week to the UN security council on the situation in the Sahara, UN secretary General Kofi Annan said

9,674 individual applicants from the contested tribal groups (H41/H61/J51/52) were interviewed since the resumption of the identification operation last June 15, 1999.

The overall number of applicants interviewed by the UN commission since the identification process was launched on August 28, 1994 has reached 155,932.