ONUSAL mandate extended to April 1995.

In reaffirming the UN commitment to "verify full implementation" of the 16 January 1992 Peace Accords in El Salvador, the Security Council on 23 November extended the mandate of the UN Observer Mission in El Salvador (ONUSAL) "for one final period until 30 April 1995".

The Council acted by unanimously adopting resolution 961 (1994), in which it also expressed concern that "important elements" of the Accords between the Government of El Salvador and the Frente Farabundo Marti para Liberacion Nacional (FMLN) remained "only partially implemented".

Those elements related to: demobilization of the National Police; transfer of lands; reintegration of excombatants; problems of human settlements; judicial and electoral reforms; and the March 1993 recommendations of the Commission on the Truth.

The Council urged the Government and the FMLN to "redouble their efforts to comply with the 'Agreement on a timetable for the implementation of the most important agreements pending'", and reaffirmed the importance of an "appropriate follow-up" to the findings of the Joint Group for the Investigation of Politically Motivated Illegal Armed Groups. All concerned were called upon to "cooperate fully" with the Secretary-General's Special Representative, Enrique ter Horst of Venezuela, and ONUSAL.

On 31 October, in recommending a further ONUSAL extension--"albeit at much reduced strength not exceeding a total of 100 international staff"--the Secretary-General stressed that the UN undertaking in El Salvador had been "innovative in a variety of ways".

"The Organization played a central role in the negotiation of the peace accords from start to finish and has overseen a multidimensional peace-keeping and peace-building operation in whose design it played a key part. It remains engaged in the transition from peace-keeping to post-conflict peace-building", Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali stated (S/1994/1212).

Progress in the transition to democracy could be seen in the "clearly visible change" in El Salvador's political and social climate, the Director of ONUSAL's Human Rights Division reported (A/49/585-S/1994/1220) on 31 October.

A "progressive decline in the number of complaints" received by ONUSAL--58 in September against 163 in September 1993--was a "useful indicator of the overall gradual improvement in the human rights situation", stated the report covering the period from 1 July to 30 September.

Among remaining concerns were: the continued existence of organized crime networks; delay in enacting certain legal reforms; and problems in the penitentiary system.

The Secretary-General on 29 November, in extending his condolences to the family of Archbishop Arturo Rivera i Damas of San Salvador who had passed away, said that Monsignor Rivera had been a "courageous and wise church leader who played an influential role in fighting violence in his country, and in promoting a negotiated solution to the decade-long armed conflict".

RELATED ARTICLE: Stagnation in Guatemalan talks reported

A stagnation of the negotiating process in Guatemala in the latter half of 1994 was a "cause for concern", as it meant a "prolongation of the long armed confrontation" in that country, Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali stated on 28 December.

The last round of talks, which had started at the end of October, between the Government of Guatemala and the Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca (URNG) had "not yet resulted in the expected agreement on identity and rights of the indigenous people", he reported (A/49/825-S/1994/1453).

"It is now clear that the time-frame that the parties decided upon in the Framework Agreement and the Agreement on a Timetable for the Negotiation of a Firm and Lasting Peace" of 10 January and 29 March 1994, respectively, "will have to be revised", the Secretary-General observed.

That setback undermined "national as well as international confidence in the peace negotiations", and compromised the effectiveness of the Mission for the Verification of Human Rights and of Compliance with the Comprehensive Agreement on Human Rights (MINUGUA), established on 19 September by General Assembly resolution 48/267 and officially inaugurated in Guatemala City on 21 November.

On 19 December, the Assembly, in supporting the decision of the Central American Presidents to "declare Central America a region of peace, freedom, democracy and development", had called upon those concerned to "advance speedily in the Guatemalan peace process in order to achieve, as close as possible to the 31 December deadline, agreement on a firm and lasting peace in keeping with the commitments made in the Framework Agreement" (49/137).