unitex@rubbs.fidonet.org (unitex) (09/03/89)
CENTRAL AMERICA: ALVARO DE SOTO APPOINTED PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE
The following is the statement by the Secretary-General's spokesman on
appointment of Alvaro de Soto as Personal Representative for Central America:
At its forty-third session, the General Assembly requested the
Secretary-General to render all possible assistance to the Governments of
Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua in their efforts to
achieve peace in the region. More recently, the Security Council, by
resolution 637 (1989), asked the Secretary-General to continue his mission of
good offices, in consultation with the Council, towards the same goal.
Pursuant to the agreements reached by the Presidents of the five Central
American countries at their summit meetings in El Salvador on 14 February 1989
and in Tela, Honduras, on 7 August 1989, the Secretary-General has been
entrusted with a broad set of responsibilities involving various organs and
programmes of the United Nations.
One of these responsibilities, the monitoring of the electoral process in
Nicaragua, which has been requested by the Government of that country with the
support of the four other Governments, is already under way.
Regarding the request from the five Governments for the setting up of a
United Nations Observer Group for the verification of compliance with security
commitments which they have undertaken, the Secretary-General is dispatching a
reconnaissance mission to the region at the week-end, in order to assist him
in drawing up a formal proposal to the Security Council.
In addition, at a meeting at the United Nations Headquarters on
25 August 1989 pursuant to the Tela agreements, the Secretaries-General of the
United Nations and the Organization of American States established, effective
6 September 1989, the International Commission for Support and Verification
(CIAV) of the Joint Plan for the voluntary demobilization, repatriation or
relocation in Nicaragua or third countries of the members of the Nicaraguan
resistance and their families, as well as assistance for the demobilization of
all those involved in armed actions in the countries of the region when such
persons voluntarily request it. The demobilization component of such an
operation would in all likelihood require the creation of a military unit
equipped with defensive weapons, and thus entail the Security Council's
approval. The Secretary-General of the United Nations, together with the
Secretary-General of the Organization of American States, who constitute the
International Commission for Support and Verification, will be expected to
certify that the Plan has been fully implemented.
The discharge of all of the above responsibilities devolving upon the
Secretary-General will require careful co-ordination within the United Nations
system, as well as with the OAS and the organizations of the Pan-American
system. In order to assist him in this task, the Secretary-General has
designated Mr. Alvaro de Soto, Assistant Secretary-General in his office, as
his Personal Representative for the Central American peace process.
* Origin: UNITEX --> Toward a United Species (1:107/501)
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Patt Haring | UNITEX : United Nations
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