Moroccans, Polisario agree on referendum

Security Council members welcomed on Wednesday the formal acceptance by Morocco and the POLISARIO Front of a UN-brokered package of measures that would allow preparations for a referendum on Western Sahara to go forward, the United Nations reported. The Council's reaction came after Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping, Bernard Miyet, briefed it on the latest developments on Western Sahara. UN News quoted Miyet as telling the Council now that both parties had agreed to the measures, the process of identifying eligible voters could resume on 15 June. Appeals, he said, could start in July. UN News also reported that, after the briefing, Security Council President Denis Dangue Rewaka said in a press statement that members of the Council called on the parties to cooperate fully with the UN Mission for the Referendum on Western Sahara (MINURSO). MINURSO was established under the Settlement Plan of August 1988 to monitor a ceasefire and identify and register qualified voters for a referendum to decide whether the former Spanish colony would gain full independence or become a part of Morocco.