08:05 p.m Sep 29, 1997 Eastern

UNITED NATIONS, Sept 29 (Reuter) - The U.N. Security Council on Monday approved a three-week extension, to Oct. 20, of a 230-member observer force in Western Sahara, as recommended recently by Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

The extension allowed council members time to consult with their governments on the proposed expansion of the force, called the U.N. Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), in preparation for a vote within a year to decide the future of the disputed territory.

The referendum, the highlight of a U.N. peace plan for the former Spanish colony, had originally been set for January 1992. It will decide whether Western Sahara should be incorporated into Morocco, which controls most of the territory, or become independent, as sought by the Polisario Front.

The referendum has been repeatedly

postponed due to differences over who should be eligible to vote.

But after four rounds of negotiations with the two sides since June, the secretary-general's personal envoy for Western Sahara, former U.S. Secretary of State James Baker, recently announced that a code of conduct for the referendum had been agreed. The voter identification process is to be resumed as soon as possible and the referendum held within a year.

Annan is planning to send a technical team to the region in the first half of October to assess requirements for beefing up MINURSO. He also recommended that MINURSO should be extended for a further six months, after Oct. 20.

Monday's Security Council resolution expressed willingness to consider further action in accordance with these recommendations.

Copyright REUTER 1997