REPORT OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL ON THE GROUP OF MILITARY OBSERVERS ATTACHED TO MINUGUA
I. INTRODUCTION
1. The present report is submitted pursuant to Security Council resolution
1094 (1997) of 20 January 1997, by which the Council decided to authorize for a
three-month period the attachment to the United Nations Mission for the
Verification of Human Rights and of Compliance with the Comprehensive Agreement
on Human Rights in Guatemala (MINUGUA)* of a group of 155 military observers and
requisite medical personnel for the purpose of verification of the Agreement on
the Definitive Ceasefire signed at Oslo on 4 December 1996 by the Government of
Guatemala and the Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca (URNG) (see
S/1996/1045, annex).
2. By the same resolution, the Security Council requested me to keep the
Council fully informed on the implementation of the resolution and to report on
the conclusion of the military observer mission.
3. Under the concept of operations envisaged in my report of 17 December 1996
(see S/1996/1045, para. 11) and with the Council's concurrence (see S/1997/91
and S/1997/92), I appointed Brigadier-General José B. Rodriguez Rodriguez
(Spain) as Chief Military Observer of the military observer group, under the
overall authority of the Head of Mission.
4. Of the 155 authorized personnel, 132 military observers from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Ecuador, Norway, the Russian Federation, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine, the United States of America, Uruguay and Venezuela were deployed to the Mission area. In addition, 13 medical personnel from Austria, Germany and Singapore served in the Mission (see annex I).
* Since renamed United Nations Verification Mission in Guatemala (MINUGUA).
II. VERIFICATION REQUIREMENTS
5. The verification requirements arising from the Agreement included
verification of the parties' compliance with the ceasefire, separation and
concentration of the respective forces and disarmament and demobilization of the
former URNG combatants. The military observer group's related activities are
described below.
A. Ceasefire
6. The Agreement provided that the formal ceasefire would enter into force as
of 0000 hours on D-day, that is, the date on which the United Nations military
observer group, as the verification authority, was ready to assume its
responsibilities. On 13 February 1997, I informed the Security Council (see
S/1997/123) that the operation it had mandated could begin on 3 March 1997, following completion of the preparatory work for the deployment of the group and the establishment of the URNG assembly points. Until then, the parties maintained the informal ceasefire that they had observed since 19 March 1996.
7. On D-15 (16 February 1997), URNG provided information (numbers and names) on 3,570 personnel to be demobilized. It also provided an inventory of the weapons, explosives and mines in its possession and information on the location of remaining minefields. With a view to eliminating duplications and discrepancies in the lists of personnel, additional information was requested by and provided to the military observer group by URNG. The Guatemalan Army, for its part, provided the requisite list of units that were to be redeployed to their bases.
8. On D-10 (21 February 1997), members of the military observer group were
deployed to the six verification centres (Finca Sacol, Finca Claudia, Finca
Las Abejas, Tululché, Tzalbal and Mayalán) responsible for monitoring the eight
URNG assembly points. In addition, two sector headquarters and a main
headquarters were set up to provide command and control.
B. Separation and concentration of forces
9. The separation of forces between the Guatemalan Army and URNG was carried
out through the establishment of two concentric areas around each URNG assembly
point. Army units were not permitted to enter an inner 6-kilometre-wide
"security zone" and police units could only do so after coordinating their
movements with the military observer group. In the outer 6-kilometre
"coordination zones", both the Army and the police were required to coordinate
their movements with the military observer group. In accordance with the
Agreement, Army units were required to abandon the security zones by D+10, and
units in the coordination zones had to be monitored.