New UN operation to oversee troop withdrawal, elections.

A new UN peace-keeping mission has been established by the Security Council to help implement a peace accord for Mozambique, signed in Rome on 4 October 1992, to end 14 years of civil war.

In adopting unanimously resolution 797 (1992) on 16 December, the Council authorized the UN Operation in Mozambique--to be known by the acronym ONUMOZ--for an initial period of 10 and a half months, until 31 October 1993. Its estimated 8,000 military and civilian personnel are to monitor withdrawal of foreign forces from the country and help administer the electoral process and humanitarian assistance.

The General Peace Agreement for Mozambique between the Government and the Resistencia Nacional Mocambicana (RENAMO), which sets out principles and modalities for achieving peace, calls on the UN to supervise its implementation.

The Council endorsed the Secretary-General's recommendation that elections not take place until the Agreement's military aspects had been fully implemented. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali was invited to consult closely with all Mozambican parties on the precise timing of and preparations for presidential and legislative elections. Under the Agreement, those elections should be held simultaneously a year after its signing.

The Mozambican Government and RENAMO were asked to cooperate fully with the UN to respect scrupulously the cease-fire, which entered into force on 15 October, and their obligations under the Agreement. Such compliance was considered a necessary condition for fulfilment of the ONUMOZ mandate. The Council also demanded that all parties ensure the safety of UN personnel.

Military observers

On 13 October, Aldo Ajello of Italy was appointed interim Special Representative for Mozambique, in line with Council resolution 782 (1992), adopted unanimously that same day. The dispatch of a team of up to 2 5 military observers was also approved under its terms.

Deeply concerned by reports of major violations of the cease-fire in Mozambique, the Council on 27 October had called upon parties to respect scrupulously the cease-fire and all commitments under the Agreement. Council President Jean-Bernard Merimee of France urged full cooperation with the interim Special Representative and with measures to ensure the safety of UN staff.

In a 3 December report (S/24892 Corr.1 & Add.1), the Secretary-General recommended that the ONUMOZ mandate encompass political, military, electoral and humanitarian components, and that "very substantial resources" be made available for the Operation, especially on the military side.

He stressed it would not be possible to create conditions for successful elections in Mozambique unless the military situation in the co brought under control. But however great the resources the UN decided to devote to ONUMOZ, the Agreement would not be implemented unless Mozambican parties made a determined effort in good faith to honour their commitments.

ONUMOZ personnel would include military and civilian components in Maputo and throughout the country. The UN would chair the Supervisory and Monitoring Commission and two of its three subsidiary commissions, the Cease-fire Commission and the Reintegration Commission.

Mr. Boutros-Ghali, in formulating his recommendations, called attention to the country's size and devastated infrastructure, including communications, conditions of drought and food shortages, widespread abundance of arms and armed bandits operating outside the control of the armed forces of either side, and the displacement of millions of Mozambicans, either internally or in neighbouring countries.

He stressed the importance of control of Mozambique's four major transport corridors to avoid any vacuum that could be exploited by bandits, pending formation of the new unified armed forces.