Western Sahara.

The United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) resumed the voter identification process on 3 December, beginning at two MINURSO centres at Laayoune and Smara. A total of 12 identification centres are scheduled for operation by February 1998, including two in southern Morocco, two in Mauritania, two in the territory of Western Sahara, and two in the Tindouf area. Each centre will be staffed by two observers from Morocco, two from the Frente Popular para la Liberacion de Saguia el- Hamra y del Rio de Oro (POLISARIO), one from the Organization of African Unity, and 8 to 10 MINURSO personnel.

In a 13 November report, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said both Morocco and POLISARIO had agreed to facilitate the resumption of the identification of people eligible to participate in the referendum. A transitional period for the referendum, which will enable the people of Western Sahara to choose between independence and integration with Morocco, is expected to begin on 7 June 1998, with the referendum to be held on 7 December and the results announced within 72 hours.

According to the Secretary-General, Morocco had expressed readiness to provide all practical support for the resumption of identification. For its part, POLISARIO had agreed to make available most of the premises previously organized as identification centres. Those commitments were made during extensive high-level discussions between the parties and the Secretary-General's Special Representative, James A. Baker III, in Houston, Texas, from 14 to 16 September.

Mr. Annan stressed that the proposed plan and timetable were based on a "best-case scenario", resting on the assumption that MINURSO and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) are provided with the financial resources necessary to deploy in a timely manner, on the cooperation of the two parties with the Special Representative and on the continued support by the Security Council of the Mission's mandate.

On 20 October, the Council extended MINURSO until 20 April 1998. Unanimously adopting resolution 1133 (1997), it endorsed Mr. Annan's recommendation that MINURSO proceed with the implementation of the stalled settlement plan to resolve the conflict over the territory. The Council requested the Secretary-General to begin the identification of eligible voters in accordance with the Settlement Plan and agreements reached between the two parties.

The Council on 29 September had extended MINURSO's mandate until 20 October and expressed its readiness to consider the recommendation for a further six-month extension made by Mr. Annan in his 25 September report. It had also called on Morocco and POLISARIO to "fully implement" agreements reached in Houston.

The agreements came out of several rounds of direct talks between the parties over a five-month period. Held under United Nations auspices, the direct talks enabled Morocco and POLISARIO to come to agreement on outstanding issues relating to the identification process, the preparatory work of the UNHCR for the repatriation of Saharan refugees and the code of conduct of the parties during the referendum campaign.

Compromise agreement was also reached on POLISARIO troop confinement. With respect to prisoners of war and Saharan political detainees, the parties reaffirmed their commitment to the relevant provisions of the Settlement Plan. In the fourth and final round, they agreed to a set of practical measures to be taken for the resumption of the identification process and on an important declaration relating to the authority of the Untied Nations during the transitional period. Mr. Annan said that with these agreements, the main contentious issues that had impeded the Plan's implementation had been satisfactorily addressed.