Observers sent to monitor Mozambique cease-fire.

Welcoming the signing on 4 October in Rome of a General Peace Agreement for Mozambique between the Government and the Resistencia Nacional Mocambicana (RENAMO), the Security Council on 13 October endorsed the Secretary-General's proposal to appoint an Interim Special Representative and dispatch to Mozambique 25 military observers to monitor the newly-agreed cease-fire.

In unanimously adopting resolution 782 (1992), the Council said it looked forward to the report of the Secretary-General on the establishment of a UN Operation in Mozambique, to be called by its Spanish acronym, ONUMOZ.

"We believe that the sending of this first group of military observers is of paramount importance to our country and our people", Mozambique's Permanent Representative to the UN, Pedro Comissario Afonso, said to the Council before the vote. The holding of the cease-fire depended largely on the "adequate and active presence of the United Nations observers in the field", he added.

The Peace Agreement (S/24635), which brought a formal end to the 16-year civil war in Mozambique, requests the UN to take a "major role" in its implementation, specifically relating to the cease-fire, elections and humanitarian assistance.

The UN had been invited in June 1992 to participate as an observer in the peace negotiations, mediated by the Government of Italy since their beginning in July 1990.

The Agreement - signed by Mozambican President Joaquim Alberto Chissano and RENAMO President Afonso Macacho Marcela Dhlakama - calls for the cease-fire to be followed rapidly by demobilization of both forces and creation of a new 30,000-strong Mozambican Defence Force (FADM).

Elections in 1993

Under the Agreement, each side would contribute 15,000 troops to FADM within six months of the day the cease-fire went into effect on 15 October 1992 - known as E-Day. Meanwhile, new political parties will be formed in preparation for democratic general elections to be held one year after E-Day.

RENAMO is to continue its activities as a political party which, like all parties registered under the terms of the Agreement, will have "the right freely and publicly to propound its policies".

On 13 October, the Secretary-General appointed Aldo Ajello, an Italian national, as Interim Special Representative for Mozambique. He headed for the capital city of Maputo to assists in beginning the process of implementing the Agreement and ensuring access to all people in need of humanitarian assistance throughout the country.

He was to be in overall charge of UN activities in support of the Agreement, including monitoring its implementation, providing technical assistance to the electoral process, and executing specific tasks relating to military arrangements and humanitarian assistance.

According to a 9 October report (S/24642) outlining the initial UN plan for Mozambique, a team of 25 military observers, to be drawn from existing peace-keeping missions, would establish a presence in Maputo, Beira and Nampula. They were to: carry out limited verification of cease-fire arrangements; establish liaison with both parties in those regions and provide them with technical advice; facilitate the build-up of the mission; and carry out reconnaissance and other activities.

A 'new leaf'

In a 7 August Joint Declaration (S/24406), the two parties stated that they were "convinced that the suffering of the people of Mozambique, caused by the war and aggravated by the effects of the worst drought in living memory, necessitates the taking of expeditious measures to end the war".

They agreed to bind themselves to "accepting the role of the international community and especially that of the United Nations" in monitoring and guaranteeing the Rome Agreement.

The international community had a responsibility to help the Mozambican people as they "turn a new leaf in their history", said Sir Ketumile Masire, President of Botswana, who witnessed the signing of the Agreement on 4 October. "We all have a community of interest to ensure that peace and development are achieved in Mozambique."

Also welcoming the Agreement, Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali said in a 5 October statement that "the willingness of the two parties to put aside the animosities of the past and work for peace in their war-ravaged country is a most encouraging development".

Comprehensive role

The comprehensive role of the UN in implementing the Agreement in Mozambique was "an enormous challenge", which would require greater effort and more resources than was the case in Angola, he said.

The Secretary-General promised support for the electoral process, including provision of specialists and other assistance. UN staff left for Mozambique in early September on electoral and technical missions.

"The Organization's efforts with Mozambique will be important in the region as a whole and the measures required must be approached as a comprehensive package", he asserted.

However, the Secretary-General on 9 October reported that it would not be possible for the UN to establish "more than a token presence" by the time the cease-fire was set to become effective on 15 October.

"The viability of the cease-fire will therefore, in its early stages, depend critically on the political will and strict compliance of the two parties", asserted.

Implementing peace

Implementation of the Agreement is to be overseen by a Supervisory and Monitoring Commission, consisting of a chairperson, appointed by the Secretary-General, and representatives of the Government, RENAMO, the UN, the Organization of African Unity, and France, Italy, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Two commissions, chaired by the UN, will monitor the cease-fire itself, dealing with security arrangements for vital infrastructures, and the economic and social reintegration of demobilized forces.

A third UN-supervised body will coordinate and monitor all humanitarian assistance, as stipulated in a 16 July Declaration by the Government of Mozambique and RENAMO, on guiding principles for humanitarian assistance, which became an integral part of the Agreement.

The humanitarian commitments of the two parties will "need to be translated into concrete agreements for access to the affected areas and populations", the Secretary-General reported. "This will need to be done with great urgency and in a manner which will ensure that all the activities of the United Nations in the political, security and humanitarian fields reinforce each other."

Adequate resources to ensure the rapid resettlement, reintegration and rehabilitation of the war-affected populations will also be critical to successful implementation of the Agreement, he concluded.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees on 18 September reported that as many as 300,000 Mozambicans might seek asylum in neighbouring Malawi and Zimbabwe by the end of 1992. More than 1.5 million refugees had already fled fighting, famine and drought in their homeland over the last dacade, it stated.