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Reuters news agency has reported that Morocco continues to allege Polisario interference in the Moroccan occupied zone of the Western Sahara.
More absurdly, Driss Basri, the Moroccan Interior Minister has pressed UN Special Envoy Charles Dunbar to open Western Sahara voter identification centres in Morocco's own heartland cities of Casablanca, Rabat, Marrakesh and Meknes.
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06:16 a.m. Apr 07, 1998 Eastern
RABAT, April 7 (Reuters) - A U.N. team has identified 101,772 people in preparation for a referendum on the future of the disputed Western Sahara.
Disagreement on the number of those eligible to vote has bogged down a peace plan for years.
The figures were issued late on Monday by the identification commission, headed by Robin Kinlock, in Laayoune, the main town of the former Spanish territory. Details were faxed to Reuters in Rabat.
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Morocco claims sovereignty over the territory where the Polisario Front seeks independence. A 15-year-long war ended in a U.N.-brokered ceasefire in September 1991.
A referendum was due to follow in January 1992 to decide either on integration with Morocco or independence, but disputes over who could vote derailed the plan.
The ballot is now due to be held on December 7, following talks between the two sides put in place by former U.S. secretary of state James Baker.
Disputes continue to surface. Moroccan media almost daily report accusations against the Polisario, whose headquarters are in the southern Algerian town of Tindouf, trying to sabotage the poll.
On Monday, the official Moroccan news agency MAP said that Mohamed Jalal Essaid, speaker in the upper house of parliament, had raised with Charles Dunbar, U.N. special envoy for the Western Sahara, what the agency termed difficulties hindering the organisation of the referendum.
MAP also said Interior Minister Driss Basri had discussed with Dunbar the opening of new identification centres in the Moroccan cities of Casablanca, Rabat, Marrakesh and Meknes.
COPYRIGHT REUTERS LIMITED 1998
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