Mozambique: elections delayed, timetables 'unrealistic.'

Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali has stated that elections in Mozambique could not be held in October 1993 as originally scheduled, because many of the timetables established in the peace accord signed in Rome on 4 October 1992 had "proved to be unrealistic".

In a 2 April report to the Security Council (S/25518), the Secretary-General said that he would continue his discussions with the parties--the Mozambican Government and the Resistencia Nacional Mocambicana (RENAMO)--on new dates and would keep the Council informed about "this very important matter".

The General Peace Agreement--consisting of a complex series of interlinked agreements to be implemented in stages through coordinated actions of the two parties under UN verification--had created an extremely complicated peace process. Thus, delay in implementing one element of the Agreement affected the achievement of others, he said.

The Agreement, which sets out principles and modalities for achieving peace, calls on the UN to supervise its implementation.

Among the "positive developments" set out in the report were that the cease-fire had largely held and the parties had continued to exercise restraint. After many years of devastating conflict, there was a strongly felt need for peace, he said. Mozambicans longed for a return to the stability that would permit the rehabilitation and reconstruction of their society.

Another positive development was that Zimbabwean and Malawian troops would be permitted to stay in Mozambique to help keep open transport corridors running across the country to neighbouring land-locked nations.

|Continuing deep mistrust'

Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali was concerned, however, over considerable delays which had occurred. Time had been lost in forging support inside the country to implement the Agreement.

Continuing deep mistrust, he said, had resulted in reluctance to begin assembly and demobilization of troops, and had contributed to the delay in deployment of UN military observers.

Another complication was RENAMO's insistence that its troops would not assemble unless 65 per cent of the UN armed components were deployed, ensuring stability in areas under RENAMO control. RENAMO's reluctance to allow timely investigation of alleged cease-fire violations and its insistence on keeping certain areas under its control obstructed the freedom of movement of people and goods foreseen in the Agreement, the Secretary-General said.

The UN Operation in Mozambique --known by its acronym ONUMOZ--was authorized by the Security Council on 16 December in resolution 797 (1992). An estimated 8,000 military and civilian personnel are to monitor withdrawal of foreign forces from the country and assist in the electoral process and humanitarian efforts. By mid-March 1993, some 154 military observers had been deployed. An Italian contingent of nearly 1,030 became fully operational on 1 April and an advance Bangladeshi contingent had also arrived. ONUMOZ's full deployment should be completed in May.

The military component of ONUMOZ is to be commanded by Major-General Lilio Goncalves Rodrigues da Silva of Brazil. Its elements are from Argentina, Bangladesh, Botswana, Brazil, Canada, Cape Verde, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Guinea-Bissau, Hungary, India, Italy, Malaysia, Portugal, the Russian Federation, Spain, Sweden, Uruguay and Zambia.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Mozambican Government announced on 15 March that the voluntary repatriation of 1.3 million Mozambican refugees would begin in April 1993. The operation would take at least three years and would be the "biggest ever undertaken" by UNHCR in Africa, with more than half a million Mozambicans expected to return in 1993 alone.