MIN 28/97 Thursday, January 30, 1997

AUSTRALIAN OBSERVERS TO GUATEMALA

The Minister for Defence, Mr Ian McLachlan, announced today that two Australian Army officers will join a multi national UN observer mission of 155 military personnel in Guatemala.

The two officers will arrive in Guatemala within the next three weeks for a period of up to six months and join military observers from the United States, Canada, Spain, Brazil, Argentina, India, Ukraine, Uruguay and Venezuela who have also confirmed their participation in this UN mission.

The 155 military observers will be attached to MINUGUA (the United Nations Mission for the Verification of Human Rights and of Compliance With the Comprehensive Agreement on Human Rights in Guatemala).

This follows a UN Security Council resolution, adopted on January 20, to send observers to Guatemala for the purposes of verifying the recently signed cease fire agreement between the Guatemalan Government and the Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca (URNG).

Duties of the two Australian officers in Guatemala will include overseeing the disarmament and demobilisation of the combatants and the reporting and investigation of any possible breaches of the cease fire agreement.

The officers are expected to operate at a number of UN team sites within Guatemala.

Mr McLachlan said "The deployment of these two Army officers to Guatemala is a small, but tangible demonstration of Australia's continuing commitment to supporting United Nations peace keeping efforts."

Further information:

Ministerial

Jim Bonner 0419 438 490

Departmental

Lieutenant Colonel David Tyler (02) 93393477