Morocco is not responsible for referendum delay, minister says

Morocco is not responsible for the delay in the referendum in the Sahara and wishes to see the consultation held, Morocco's territory management, environment, town planing and environment minister, Mohamed Yazghi, said.

Morocco doubts that the referendum will ever be held, as long as the Polisario, which has been dragging its feet for a long time, persists in botching up the process, Yazghi, a leading figure in prime minister's USFP party, told the press in Paris.

The referendum was proposed by Morocco in the early 1990's 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, or remains part of Morocco.

The consultation is now slated for July, 2000.

The vote has been repeatedly delayed by the Polisario, which seeks to shrink the voters' lists.

Yazghi said the referendum will continue to be threatened until the return to Morocco of all refugees.

The referendum has been delayed since 1992 and Morocco is not at all accountable for such delay, he said, recalling numerous obstacles erected by the Polisario to hamper the efforts of the United Nations Identification Commission to register would-be voters.

The minister, who insisted that a "democratic referendum" requires the participation of all Sahrawis, underlined that Morocco will never accept a "prefabricated or manipulated" referendum.