Secretary-general's efforts to resolve obstacles to referendum welcomed.

• Position: Western Sahara

The Security Council on 19 December welcomed the decision of the Secretary-General to intensify consultations with the Government of Morocco and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Rio de Oro (POLISARIO) in order to resolve their differences regarding the identification of applicants eligible to vote in the referendum on Western Sahara.

By unanimously adopting resolution 1033 (1955), the Council also requested the Secretary-General to report urgently on the results of those consultations. In the event that they failed to reach agreement, he was requested to provide the Council with options for its consideration, including a programme for the orderly withdrawal of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO).

The Council also welcomed the Secretary-General's report of 24 November (S/1995/986) as a framework to accelerate and complete the identification process. It called on the two parties to cooperate with the Secretary-General and MINURSO to implement all the other aspects of the Settlement Plan for Western Sahara in accordance with relevant resolutions.

Secretary-General's report

The Secretary-General stated in his report that the identification of voters in Western Sahara had virtually come to a halt and a new approach was needed to carry the process forward. He said the basic obstacle to the process related to certain tribal groups and to persons not resident in the Territory. The identification involved the participation of a sheikh or an alternate from both the Moroccan Government and POLISARIO. However, the parties were either unable or unwilling to make sheikhs available at given times and places.

The Secretary-General proposed that when two sheikhs or alternates were present, one from each side, identification take place as usual. When one party did not provide a sheikh, for whatever reason, identification would take place on the basis of appropriate documentation, with the assistance of the one sheikh present. If neither party made available a sheikh, identification would be based on documentary evidence only.

If identification was allowed to proceed without interruption, 12 centres should be able to complete the process within four months at a rate of 36,000 applicants per month, the Secretary-General said. "Should it fail to proceed with the necessary speed, it will be my intention, as requested by the Security Council...to present for the consideration of the Council...