Referendum in Saharan provinces

I would like to thank you for publishing my right of response on Feb. 18, 1999.

However, there are some key sentences which are missing and may, in turn, have misled the reader in getting the correct facts. Therefore. I would like the following paragraph to be published as it was written in the original:

"It is Morocco, which proposed in 1981 the organization of a referendum in the Saharan provinces. The referendum did not take place up to now because of the obstacles periodically raised by the Polisario, who fears the results of the consultation. Its last dilatory maneuver was its opposition to the identification of three Saharan tribes. Happily, last December, the UN Secretary-General gave reason to Morocco by imposing the identification of all Saharan tribes, in conformity with the Settlement Plan of the UN."

I would like to underline that there is a process of identification for eligible voters to take part in the referendum, supervised by the United Nations Mission to the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO). The UN Secretary-General does not identify, but gives instructions to the MINURSO. In this respect, as an outcome of his last visit to the region, he gave his instructions that the three tribes to which the Polisario denies the right to be identified, must be identified.

OMAR HILALE

Ambassador of Morocco

Jakarta