More people eligible to vote in referendum

Another 2,130 people were cleared on Monday to vote in the proposed referendum on independence for Western Sahara or its incorporation into Morocco, UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said in New York. The UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), which reviewed at least 50,000 applicants for eligibility, said the new names would be added to an existing list of 84,251 qualified voters. The Mission’s mandate ends on 29 February. The Identification Commission has been hearing appeals from disqualified voters at centres in Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania and refugees camps in Tindouf, Algeria. The UN had said that the appeals along with the opposing positions taken by Morocco and the Frente Popular para la Liberacion de Saguia el-Hamra y de Rio de Oro (Polisario Front) would likely delay the referendum beyond 2002. The referendum, first scheduled in 1992, has been postponed on a number of occasions.