The United Nations Observer Group in Central America (ONUCA) has played a key role in efforts designed to bring an end to the protracted conflicts in Central America. Its origins can be traced to peace negotiations that took place during the 1980s.
In 1983, the Contadora Group (Colombia, Mexico, Panama and Venezuela) met and drafted a series of principles that would structure negotiations to end conflict in Central America. The Contadora group was subsequently joined by five Central American nations (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua). In 1986, Costa Rican President Oscar Arias drafted a comprehensive regional peace plan after consultations in Esquipulas, Guatemala. The plan was embodied in a final declaration by the five Central American presidents in Guatemala in August 1987. The Esquipulas II Agreement addressed the problems of Central America as a whole. It called for an end to hostilities, democratization, free elections, termination of aid to insurrectionist movements, the non-use of the territory of one state to attack other states, arms control and international verification. In 1987, President Arias was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on the Esquipulas II Agreement.
On July 27, 1989, in an effort to revive the momentum of the peace process, the Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 637. The resolution expressed the Council's firm support for the Esquipulas II Agreement and subsequent Joint Declarations. It called upon the leaders of Central America to continue their efforts to achieve a firm and lasting peace. It also offered the Security Council's full support to Secretary-General de Cuellar to continue his mission of good offices.
On August 5th, a summit was held at Tela, Honduras by the presidents of the five Central American countries. At the conclusion of the summit, the presidents issued a Declaration and a Joint Plan for the voluntary demobilization, repatriation or relocation of the members of the Nicaraguan resistance and their families, as well as assistance in the demobilization of all those involved in armed actions in the countries of the region. To support this process, the five Central American countries asked the United Nations and the Organization of American States (OAS) to establish an International Support and Verification Commission (CIAV). CIAV would be responsible for collecting weapons and military equipment. Humanitarian and development functions were entrusted to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the United Nations Development Program.
On August 25th, the Secretaries-General of the United Nations and the OAS decided to establish CIAV. On September 1st, Secretary-General Perez de Cuellar appointed Assistant Secretary-General Alvaro de Soto as his Personal Representative for the peace process in Central America. On September 3rd, the Secretary-General sent a reconnaissance mission to the region. Brigadier-General Pericles Ferreira Gomes (of Brazil), Chief Military Observer of the United Nations Angola Verification Mission, led the mission. It was comprised of senior United Nations officials and military personnel. On September 21st, he informed the Security Council of the establishment of CIAV and expressed the view that the demobilization of the members of the Nicaraguan resistance was an operation of a clearly military nature which would have to be launched by the Security Council.
On November 7th, the Security Council established the UN Observer Group in Central America (ONUCA) pursuant to resolution 644. ONUCA's mandate was to conduct on-site verification of the security undertakings contained in the Esquipulas II Agreement, namely the cessation of aid to irregular forces and insurrectionist movements and the non-use of territory by one state for attacks on other states. The latter undertaking included preventing the establishment or use of facilities for radio or television transmissions for the specific purpose of directing or assisting the military operations of irregular forces or insurrectionist movements in any of the five countries. Command of ONUCA in the field was exercised by a Chief Military Observer under the command of the United Nations. The military observers were provided by member states at the request of the Secretary-General.
Because the nature of the terrain in the region would have limited the efficacy of static observation posts, it was determined that the best results would be achieved by establishing mobile teams of at least seven military observers. These teams carried out regular patrols using road vehicles with cross-country capability, helicopters, and in the Gulf of Fonseca and certain other coastal areas and rivers, patrol boats and light speedboats. A small fixed-wing aircraft was required to transport the Chief Military Observer and his senior staff between the capitals of the five countries and to rotate military observers from one duty station to another. The mobile teams also made spot checks on their own initiative and were instructed to undertake immediate ad hoc inspections to investigate allegations of violations. The observers were grouped in verification centers located as close as possible to sensitive areas where violations were most likely to occur.
As the peace process continued to develop in Central America, the Security Council increased the UN presence in the area. Subsequent UN operations in Central America included the 1989 UN Observation Mission for the Verification of Elections in Nicaragua (ONUVEN); the 1991 UN Observer Mission in El Salvador (ONUSAL); the 1994 UN Human Rights Verification Mission in Guatemala (MINUGUA); and the 1995 UN Mission to El Salvador (MINUSAL). On January 16, 1992, the Security Council terminated ONUCA's mandate pursuant to resolution 730.
The United Nations' involvement in the Central American peace process vividly illustrates the increasingly complex demands of peacekeeping. Although ONUCA was initially established with the limited mandate of verifying only limited aspects of the Central American peace process, the tasks entrusted to it evolved and it was able to play an important part in resolving several conflicts in the region.
Source: The Blue Helmets: A Review of United Nations Peace-keeping, Copyright 1990, The United Nations. Published by the United Nations Department of Public Information
