Steps towards referendum to be taken.

• Position: Western Sahara

Secretary-general Boutros Boutros-Ghali said on 22 December that he would take "concrete steps" towards the holding of a referendum in Western Sahara at the earliest possible date, notwithstanding the continuing absence of agreement among all concerned on major aspects of the settlement plan for self-determination of the Territory's people.

The plan calls for UN organization and supervision of the referendum, in cooperation with the Organization of African Unity (OAU), in which the choice would be independence or integration with Morocco.

In a letter (S/25008) to the Security Council President, the Secretary-General stated that a consultative meeting of the Territory's tribal chiefs, which was to have been held in Geneva in early December 1992, could not be held "due to discrepancies regarding the notion of tribal chiefs". He added that "these discrepancies are themselves linked to the persisting divergences" on the criteria for identification of those eligible to vote in the referendum and their interpretation. The Secretary-General's Special Representative for Western Sahara, Sahabzada Yaqub-Khan, had planned to invite 38 tribal chiefs--19 nominated by Morocco and 19 by the Frente Popular para la Liberacion de Saguia el-Hamra y de...