WESTERN SAHARA

KEEPING IT SECRET
The United Nations Operation in the Western Sahara
In 1988, both Morocco and the Polisario Front agreed to a U.N. settlement. The plan called for a referendum, to be organized and conducted by the U.N. Mission for the Referendum in the Western Sahara. The referendum would ask Sahrawis to choose between independence or integration into Morocco. The U.N. would carry out an identification process to determine, based on a census conducted by Spain in 1974, who was eligible to vote in the referendum. We determined that Morocco, which is the stronger of the two parties both militarily and diplomatically, has regularly engaged in conduct that has obstructed and compromised the fairness of the referendum process.
(E707) 10/95, 42 pp., $5.00/£2.95
 

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