ONUSAL mandate extended to April 1995.

• Position: UN Observer Mission in El Salvador - Includes a related article on Guatemalan civil war

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...