Two parties asked to facilitate voter identification process.

• Position: United Nations relations with Western Sahara

The Security Council on 30 June stressed the need for Morocco and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Rio de Oro (POLISARIO) to refrain from any actions that hindered the implementation of the settlement plan for the referendum in Western Sahara, and asked the Secretary-General to persuade the two parties to resume their participation in the plan's implementation.

By resolution 1002 (1995), the Council also extended the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) until 30 September 1995, while expressing concern that implementation of the settlement plan had been further delayed.

The Council asked that it be kept informed of any significant delays in the pace of the identification process or other developments that would call into question the start of the transitional period- 15 November 1995.

The Council also endorsed the Sectetary-general's "benchmarks" contained in his 19 May report and recommendations of a six-member mission sent to the region from 3 to 9 June.

Resolution 995:

Mandate extension

The Council on 26 May, by resolution 995 (1995), had extended the mandate of MINURSO unfil 30 june and decided to send a mission to the region to accelerate implementation of the settlement plan.

Led by Legwaila Joseph Legwaila of Botswana, it also included Emilio J. Cardenas of Argentina, Herve Ladsous of France, Gerardo Martinez Blanco of Honduras, Salim Bin Mohammed Al-khussaiby of Oman, and Karl F. inderfurth of the United States.

On 21 june, the mission reported (S/1995/498) that the continued suspicion and lack of trust between the two parties had politicized technical problems that could have been resolved easily with goodwill.

The time required for the identification process and other aspects of the settlement plan had been underestimated. There was a real risk that the process would have to be extended beyond the scheduled dates.

The mission recommended that both parties abandon their insistence on reciprocity in the number and operation of identification centres, and refrain from blaming their lack of cooperation on the other side. Since moving identification teams and their equipment around the desert was impractical, additional teams should be mobilized in temporary fixed centres.

The mission also recommended that consultations take place on the exchange of prisoners of war and the release of...