Guatemala: basis for reconciliation.

• Position: Includes related article on the peace negotiations in Guatemala

Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali on 29 December - in hailing the signing of the peace agreements in Guatemala City by the Government of Guatemala and the Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca (UNRG) - declared that the event constituted a "milestone for Guatemala and all of Central America", since, "for the first time, there is peace throughout the region, with democratically elected governments in each of its countries".

Those accords - the Agreement on a Firm and Lasting Peace, and the Agreement on the Implementation, Compliance and Verification Timetable for the Peace Agreements - brought into force all other agreements signed by the parties in the course of the negotiations moderated by the United Nations, including the 4 December 1996 agreement on a definitive cease-fire, the Secretary-General reported (S/1196/1045/Add.2) on 30 December.

Earlier accords

On 12 December in Madrid, the Government of Guatemala and the UNRG signed an agreement on the latter's reintegration into the political life of the country, which the Secretary-General said would form the "basis for national reconciliation in the post-conflict period".

An earlier accord - the "Agreement on Constitutional Reforms and Electoral Regime", signed by the two parties on 7 December in Stockholm - contained a series of proposals for constitutional reforms, which the Government was to promote before the Guatemalan Congress within 60 days of the signing of the final peace agreement.

Also, the "Agreement on the Definitive Cease-fire", signed on 4 December in Oslo, established procedures for the separation of forces between the Guatemalan Army and the units of the UNRG, and the demobilization and disarming of the UNRG. The parties also asked the United Nations to deploy military personnel to verify implementation of the Agreement, which was to enter into force together with the final peace agreement. The cease-fire process, which was to last two months, would begin "soon thereafter, once the United Nations Verification Mission is deployed in Guatemala", the Secretary-General's Spokesman announced.

All three agreements were signed in the presence of representatives of the Group of Friends of the Guatemala Peace Process - Colombia, Mexico, Norway, Spain, the United States and Venezuela - as well as United Nations officials and the diplomatic corps. On behalf of the United Nations, they were signed by Jean Arnault, moderator of the peace negotiations.

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