From: hrcoord@igc.apc.org (Human Rights Coordinator)
Newsgroups: soc.rights.human
Subject: GUATEMALA: United Nations to monito
Date: 23 Jan 93 14:28:00 GMT
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1476701019:000:4032
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!hrcoord    Jan 23 06:28:00 1993


From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord>
Subject: GUATEMALA: United Nations to monito

/* Written 12:03 am  Jan 23, 1993 by newsdesk@igc.apc.org in
igc:ips.englibrary */ Copyright Inter Press Service 1993, all
rights reserved.  Permission to re- print within 7 days of
original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: GUATEMALA: United Nations to monitor human rights, Serrano
says

new york, jan 20 (ips) -- united nations secretary-general boutros
boutros-ghali has consented to a guatemalan request that a u.n.
team be sent to monitor the human rights situation in the country,
guatemalan president jorge serrano said in a press conference here
this week.

but u.n. officials have so far refrained from making any official
statements.

serrano, who flew to new york on sunday to present his proposal to
the united nations, said boutros-ghali's response was
''positive''.  he said the united nations was already studying the
possibility of sending a human rights mission to guatemala.

he also met representatives of latin american and caribbean
countries to whom he explained the details of his proposal.

in an apparent show of support, guatemala's ministers of defence
and labour, leaders of the country's different political groups
and the central american parliament and former guatemalan
president vinicio cerezo accompanied serrano to new york.

on jan. 14, serrano presented a plan to guatemala's national
revolutionary unity (urng) which proposed that a definitive peace
treaty be negotiated in a period of 90 days, once the united
nations has verified the human rights situation in the country.

''peace is not just a ceasefire,'' said the document which also
asked help from international leaders in ''re-uniting and
reconciling the guatemalan family''.

serrano said the proposal seeks to incorporate the rebels into the
country's legal, political and economic mainstream. he suggested
that a ceasefire be declared after three months if both parties
fail to reach agreement.

he said the guatemalan government, with the help of the united
nations, would mark out the areas where rebels could stay during
the truce.

the urng has not yet given an official response to the proposal
which serrano calls ''a negotiated compromise, not an
unconditional surrender''.

serrano said he had the ''complete and total support of the
guatemalan army'' for the peace pact, as well as the endorsement
of u.s. senator robert torricelli, central americal leaders and
mexican president carlos salinas.

unlike the peace process in el salvador, a military purging would
not be needed because officials who had committed abuses in the
past have already been judged individually, serrano said.
(more/ips)

guatemala: united (2)

''the mistake of a member of the army should not affect the whole
institution,'' he said.

''we hope the urng response will be positive, since the state has
given very broad concessions,'' he added. last year, the urng had
asked the united nations to mediate in peace talks patterned after
the el salvador negotiations.

but guatemalan indigenous leader and 1992 nobel peace prize winner
rigoberta menchu criticised the exclusion of monseigneur rodolfo
quezada, who participated in earlier talks between government and
rebels, in the new peace proposal.

''my fundamental worry is that there seems to be a new procedure
for the dialogue where the role of mediators is not discussed,''
menchu said in a press conference in guatemala city on tuesday.

it was surprising that serrano, who claimed he wanted to speed up
the peace process which ended in deadlock last august, did not
invite any member of guatemala's national commission for
reconciliation (cnr) to join the negotiations, menchu said.

this ''could damage the progress of the peace talks'', she
stressed.

she said she hoped that serrano was being motivated by a ''real
concern to attain peace'' and not by the fear that guatemala could
be ''condemned'' in an upcoming human rights meeting in geneva.
(end/ips/trd-sp/mg-ff/in-cs/cir/93)