Historical Dictionary of Western Sahara Third ... - Scarecrow Press

xxxvi • CHRONOLOGY
1993 January 26: A report by Boutros-Ghali proposes three alternatives
to ending the impasse over the Sahara conflict, including ending
MINURSO’s mandate. March 2: The UN Security Council adopts Resolution
809, declining to directly comment on the new voter eligibility
criteria. May: Erik Jensen is appointed chairman of MINURSO’s
Identification Commission. July 16–19: Moroccan and Polisario representatives
meet in El-Ayoun in an unsuccessful attempt to narrow their
differences. August–September: Polisario begins to soften its opposition
to the voter eligibility criteria set forth in December 1991 by Javier
Pérez de Cuéllar. November 4: The UN announces that the Identification
Commission has begun work in Western Sahara.
1994 March 29: The UN Security Council unanimously instructs the
secretary-general to continue his efforts to reconcile Morocco and Polisario.
August 10: Polisario’s Bachir Mustapha Sayed sharply criticizes
secretary-general Boutros-Ghali for his alleged bias in favor of Morocco.
August 11: Moroccan Foreign Minister Abdellatif Filali rejects all efforts
by the OAU to intervene in the Western Sahara dispute, saying the
organization “no longer exists.” August 16: Algeria’s new president,
Liamine Zéroual, states that Western Sahara “is still an illegally occupied
country.” November 5: A UN report states that almost 4,000 applications
by Saharawis to vote have been processed, about 2 percent of the
estimated total number. December 14: Boutros-Ghali, in a report to the
Security Council, says he is encouraged by the progress in voter registration,
but warns of the complexity of MINURSO’s mandate.
1995 January: Frank Ruddy, a former member of the UN Identification
Commission, strongly criticizes Moroccan behavior in Western
Sahara in testimony to the U.S. Congress and believes that the UN lacks
the resolve to confront Morocco. March 30: The UN secretary-general
reports that by mid-March, 21,300 Saharawis had been identified formally
by MINURSO. May 26: The UN announces that 35,851 persons
have been identified as voters. June 3–9: A special mission is sent to
Western Sahara by the UN Security Council; it reports (on June 21) of
a “continuing suspicion and lack of trust” between Morocco and the
Polisario Front. July–August: The pace of MINURSO’s voter identification
process slows due to Morocco-Polisario frictions. September
22: In Resolution 1017 the UN Security Council states that the parties
to the Western Sahara conflict “must have a vision of the post-referendum