Assembly calls for peace agreement in Guatemala.

The General Assembly on 20 December, in stressing the "importance of intensifying the serious and resolute negotiations" between the Government of Guatemala and the Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca (UNRG), urged that "negotiations on the remaining agenda items should be concluded without delay, with a view to reaching at the earliest possible date a firm and lasting peace agreement, thus completing the peace process in Central America" (resolution 50/132).

On 15 December, in Mexico City, the Government and the UNRG had produced a working document on "socioeconomic aspects and the agrarian situation" in Guatemala, which showed the points of convergence and divergence still existing on the issue.

In concluding their final negotiating session for 1995, both sides, as well as the UN, thanked the Group of Friends of the Guatemala Peace Process--Colombia, Mexico, Norway, Spain, the United States and Venezuela--for their support, and recognized the progress achieved since the 10 January 1994 Framework Agreement for the Resumption of the Negotiating Process. The value of negotiations as a "means of ending the armed conflict and the need to ensure continuity during 1996 until a final peace agreement is signed" were also stressed.

Elections

Alvaro Arzu of the National Advancement Party (PAN) took office on 14 January as President of Guatemala after winning the second round of presidential elections held on 7 January.

The run-off between Mr. Arzu and Alfonso Portillo of the Guatemalan Republican Front (FRG) was organized because none had won the "50 per cent plus one" majority on 12 November, when elections were held for the country's parliament and local legislatures, the UN Mission for the Verification of Human Rights and of Compliance with the Commitments of the 29 March 1994 Comprehensive Agreement on Human Rights in Guatemala (MINUGUA) reported. The biggest winners in the 80-seat Guatemalan parliament were the PAN, with 43 seats, and the FRG, which had received 21 seats.

The elections--"scrutinized by international observers", including 52 from the Organization of the American States and 61 from the European Union--were not subject to special verification by MINUGUA. However, close attention had been paid to "any situation which could constitute a violation of the political rights of the Guatemalan people", the Mission said.

Attack on MINUGUA office

Shortly before midnight on 11 November, on the eve of the elections, MINUGUA office in Guatemala City had been "machine-gunned by unknown assailants", the Mission reported. MINUGUA Director Leonardo Franco stated that the incident was an "attack on peace and an affront to the Guatemalan people".

On 6 October, Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali expressed his deep concern over a 5 October "tragic incident" in the returnee community "Aurora 8 de octubre" in the Alta Verapaz region, in which reportedly 10 people had been killed and 18 wounded.

Human rights `still a concern'

The general human rights situation in Guatemala was "still a cause for concern and has in some ways taken a turn for the worse", the MINUGUA Director stated on 12 October.

Among major problems reported (A/50/482) by the Mission were: the "serious lack of public security", which denied the people the possibility of "living free of fear and of attacks on their lives, integrity of person and liberty"; a crisis in the judicial system, with a "virtual miscarriage of justice in response to serious human rights violations", as well as the persistence of impunity; and instances of torture and illegal detention.

Also, the Mission found out that the power of criminal organizations and individuals was "greater than the power of the institutions responsible for combating them". To reverse that equation, the Government should "identify, disband and punish such groups, investigating their possible links with State officials or institutions and placing the responsibility where it belongs", the report stressed.