Nearly 200,000 persons identified as voters in referendum in Sahara since 1994

The total number of persons identified as would-be voters in the referendum the U.N is projecting to hold in the Sahara has reached 190,023 since the identification operation started in 1994.

The figures were disclosed by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in his report to the Security Council released on Tuesday.

Annan said the identification operations of applicants belonging to the contested tribes (H41, H61 and J51/52) started on June 15, 1999 and are to wrap up by December 31, 1999. Since June 15, he said, 42,774 applicants have been identified. Of those identified, 8,371 are settled in the territory, 667 in the region of Tindouf (stronghold of the separatist Polisario), 33,002 in Morocco and 734 in Mauritania.

The Secretary General recommended extending until next February 29 the mandate of the MINURSO, the mission helping in the organization of the referendum in the Sahara. This mandate expires on December 14.

He also said that there is little possibility of holding the referendum before 2002 or even later.