U.N. identification commission completes first stage of appeals procedure

The Identification Commission of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in the Sahara (MINURSO) completed over the weekend the first phase of the appeals procedure, a U.N. Spokesman announced.

The registration of appeals is now over, in accordance with the terms of the appeals procedure and the operational guidelines agreed upon, Spokesman of the U.N. Secretary-General, Fred Eckhard said.

He added that all appeals centers were shut and that the mail Boxes of Laayoune, Tindouf and Nouadhibou were closed.

The appeals procedure is part of a package of measures, proposed by U.N. Secretary-General to push forward the implementation of the U.N settlement plan on the Sahara. The plan is to be crowned by the holding of a self-determination referendum in the Sahara in July, 2000.

The vote is to determine whether the Sahara --a former Spanish colony retrieved by Morocco in 1975 under the Madrid Accords-- sets up on its own, as claimed by the Polisario separatists, or remains part of the homeland, Morocco.

Annan's spokesman said the Identification Commission will publish in the few coming days the total number of appeals submitted by the applicants against their exclusion from the temporary list, published last July 15, or against the registration of ineligible applicants.

Some 47,796 appeals were lodged with the MINURSO up to September 3rd, said Kofi Annan in his latest report to the U.N. Security Council. The majority of these appeals, i.e. 40,440, dealt with the non-registration on the first part of the temporary list of persons entitled to vote. Another 7,356 appeals were introduced against other persons on the same list, Annan had said.