United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC), 1992 - 1993 Following intense diplomatic activity in the late 1980s and early 1990s by the permanent members of the Security Council, the members of the Association of South East Asian Nations and other interested countries, which led to the conclusion of the Paris Peace Agreements on Cambodia, UNTAC was created to help implement these accords. UNHCR led an ambitious drive to repatriate and resettle some 360,000 Cambodian refugees and displaced persons beginning in March 1992. In July 1992, to help create a neutral environment for holding elections, UNTAC began to exercise control over foreign affairs, defense, security, finance and information in keeping with the assigned task for the UN to supervise administrative structures. UNTAC, with 21,000 military and civilian personnel drawn from more than 100 countries, had a broad mandate to supervise the ceasefire, the end of foreign military assistance and withdrawal of foreign forces; regroup and canton and disarm all armed forces of the Cambodian parties; control and supervise the administrative structures, including the police; ensure the respect of human rights; and organize and conduct elections. In the elections for which over 4 million Cambodians were registered, UNTAC military personnel and some 60 per cent of its 3,600 civilian police helped ensure tight security; about 1,400 fixed polling stations and 200 mobile teams were set up. Some 50,000 Cambodians were recruited and trained by UNTAC to perform vital electoral tasks. When UNTAC's mandate was terminated, a political and human rights presence was maintained, and development activities continued.

United Nations Operation in Mozambique (ONUMOZ), 1992 - 1994 A few years after Mozambique gained independence from Portugal in 1975, the impoverished country was plunged into a long and debilitating civil war. After diplomatic efforts and sweeping political changes elsewhere in Southern Africa, the Government of Mozambique and the Mozambican National Resistance (RENAMO) signed a General Peace Agreement in 1992. As part of this accord, ONUMOZ was created to monitor and support a ceasefire, to help with demobilization as well as to monitor and verify all aspects of national elections. In early 1993, some 6,500 troops and military observers were deployed under the leadership of the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative. Technical assistance was provided to the Mozambican government to organize elections. ONUMOZ launched a humanitarian assistance programme to help the 3.7 million people displaced by the war. UNHCR repatriated 1.3 million refugees. The three-year operation was the biggest ever undertaken by UNHCR in Africa. Demobilization, started in 1994, eventually involved more than 76,000 soldiers from both sides, 10,000 of whom ONUMOZ helped reintegrate into the new national army. ONUMOZ also recovered about 155,000 weapons. The humanitarian component of ONUMOZ served as an umbrella for UN agencies and non-governmental organizations to focus on restoring essential services in rural areas, reintegrating internally displaced persons and former combatants into civilian life, and to carry out landmine awareness programmes and clearance activities. For example, since 80 per cent of the primary schools in Mozambique had been closed or destroyed and social services disrupted. UNHCR and some NGOs built more than 700 primary schools and 250 health facilities. Approximately 6.3 million voters were registered while ONUMOZ helped RENAMO and other opposition groups to transform themselves into political parties and contest the elections effectively and to educate the population about their voting rights. Under UN supervision, Mozambique's first multi-party elections were held in October 1994, monitored by some 2,300 international observers and ONUMOZ left the country in January 1995.

Prepared by the United Nations Department of Public Information

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