Western Sahara.

The Secretary-General on 20 February reported that the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) to date had identified 90,537 potential voters to participate in the referendum, scheduled to take place on 7 December 1998. Under the terms of a settlement plan concluded between the Government of Morocco and the Frente Popular para la Liberacion de Saguia el-Hamra y del Rio de Oro (POLISARIO), the UNorganized referendum would allow the people of Western Sahara to decide between independence for the territory or integration with Morocco. In January alone, 14,000 persons had been identified, the highest number achieved in one month since the process began.

The Secretary-General appealed to the Security Council to support the continued preparations and provide the necessary resources for the full deployment of MINURSO. He added that there was a "perceptible increase" in the level of tension between the Government of Morocco and POLISARIO. The tension was blamed on a number of factors, including interruptions in the identification process caused by the illness of participating sheikhs on either side. "There was a marked increase in anti-POLISARIO and sometimes anti-MINURSO coverage in the Moroccan press", he noted. Moroccan official public demonstrations were also held to protest the negative testimony of sheikhs on the POLISARIO side. The Secretary-General also appealed to the parties to cooperate with MINURSO in the identification of persons from non-contested tribes.

The Secretary-General's Special Representative for Western Sahara, Charles Dunbar, on 4 February reported progress in the implementation of the settlement plan. Out of some 75,000 people convoked, a substantial number - 60,000 - had been identified as being "eligible or ineligible" to participate in the referendum.

The Security Council on 26 January approved the deployment of an engineering unit to support the demining activities of MINURSO. In unanimously adopting resolution 1148 (1998), the Council expressed its "intention to consider positively" the Secretary-General's request for additional support to the Mission, and called on the Moroccan Government and the POLISARIO Front to cooperate so that the identification of voters could be completed on time. The Council would consider further deployments once the identification process had reached a stage where additional military and civilian police assets were essential. According to the timetable for the implementation of the settlement plan, all military observers should arrive by the end of May 1998.

RELATED ARTICLE: Arduous Task with Daunting Timetable

Secretary-General Kofi Annan on 16 January reported that the completion of the identification phase by 31 May 1998 would be "a daunting and arduous task", involving the convocation of more than 100,000 applicants and their identification in less than five months.

On 15 January, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees announced that it was preparing to help 120,000 people return to Western Sahara for the referendum. It expected to establish five reception centres in Western Sahara for the returnees. Voluntary repatriation would begin in August 1998.