Western Sahara.

• Position: Includes related article on United Nation's role in the referendum - Referendum

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...