With the assistance of the United Nations, El Salvador continued its progress from a violent and closed society towards one in which democratic order, the rule of law and respect for human rights are being established. However, as in previous years, significant progress in the implementation of outstanding elements of the peace accords was not without problems or delay. These included the full deployment of the National Civil Police and the completion of the demobilization of the National Police; the reform of the judicial and electoral systems; the transfer of land to former combatants; and the conclusion of reintegration programmes for them. On 31 October 1994, I reported to the Security Council that I deemed it necessary to recommend that the mandate of the United Nations Observer Mission in El Salvador (ONUSAL) be extended until 30 April 1995.
The Government of President Armando Calderón Sol and the Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional (FMLN) have continued to express their determination, e.g., in a joint declaration signed on 4 October 1994, to see the peace accords promptly implemented for the benefit of all Salvadorans. Specifically in the latter part of the year, implementation of the outstanding points assumed a more rapid pace. For example, the long-delayed demobilization of the National Police was formally effected on 31 December 1994. In the early months of 1995, however, the land programme slowed and some worrisome indicators emerged.
In the light of these developments, I informed the President of the Security Council on 6 February 1995 of my intention to set up in El Salvador, following the expiration of the mandate of ONUSAL, a small team of United Nations officials to provide good offices and verify implementation of the outstanding provisions of the peace accords. The team, which would be established for an initial period of six months, would also provide me with a continuing flow of information, thus allowing me to keep the Council informed of further developments. On 17 February, the Council welcomed my proposal, and preparations began for the team's deployment.
At the beginning of April 1995, I made a visit to El Salvador, the third occasion on which I had done so as Secretary-General. Although I stressed that the primary responsibility for the process lay with Salvadorans, I assured the Government and people of El Salvador that the commitment of the United Nations remained, despite the withdrawal of ONUSAL.
On 27 April 1995, the parties to the Chapultepec Peace Agreement signed a programme of work for the completion of all outstanding points in the peace accords. On the following day the Security Council adopted resolution 991 (1995), formally marking the end of the mandate of ONUSAL. The new United Nations Mission in El Salvador (MINUSAL), led by Mr. Enrique ter Horst, my Special Representative, began its work as planned on 1 May 1995. With its staff partly funded by voluntary contributions, MINUSAL represents a much reduced United Nations presence, but one that confirms the Organization's ongoing support for peace-building in El Salvador.
The Programme of Work had divided the remaining accords into six areas (public security, land transfer, human settlements, reinsertion programmes, Fund for the Protection of the Wounded and Disabled and legislative reforms) and established dates by which specific provisions in each area must be completed. Monthly updates on its progress, which I circulated informally to members of the Security Council, revealed the continuing determination of the parties to the peace accords to bring them to completion. Progress was made in all areas, with the Government's deposit of ratification of international human rights instruments with the United Nations Secretariat and the secretariat of the Organization of American States and its recognition of the jurisdiction of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights particularly to be welcomed.
However, by early August 1995 it was clear that significant delays had occurred in the land transfer programme (which reached the 60 per cent target set for 30 April 1995 only in the first week of July), in the design of a "special regime" for rural human settlements, in the strengthening of the National Civil Police and in the implementation of the judicial reforms recommended by the Commission on the Truth. With a little under three months before the expiration of its term, MINUSAL continued to exercise its good offices and verification responsibilities in favour of one final effort to bring these outstanding elements of the peace accords to conclusion.
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