Article: Must Do More

Guatemala must do more as UN mission ends - Annan

By Irwin Arieff

UNITED NATIONS, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Guatemala has a long way to go to put decades of bloody conflict and human rights atrocities behind it as its U.N. peacebuilding mission prepares to shut down, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Thursday.

While the Central American nation has taken significant steps to transform itself since a 1996 peace deal, "this is hardly a time for Guatemala to rest on its achievements," Annan said in a report to the 191-nation U.N. General Assembly.

The U.N. Verification Mission in Guatemala, with a current staff of about 100, is due to close down in December after 10 years in operation.

The peace accords signed by Guatemala with leftist guerrillas eight years ago ended 36 years of conflict in which some 200,000 people died, many in political slayings and massacres of Mayan Indians by state security forces.

The accords were intended to end the violence and install civilian rule after decades of military governments.

A cornerstone of the deal was shrinking the size and power of the military -- which was trained and financed by the United States after the CIA helped topple the leftist government of Jacobo Arbenz in 1954 -- and steering the money saved into health, education and public security.

President Oscar Berger has tried to clean up Guatemala's poor human rights record since he came to power in January.

He has cut the size of the army and apologized for past rights abuses. But security forces in rural areas are still often a law unto themselves.

Other lingering problems eight years after the peace deal are "a deep-seated legacy of racism" and vast social inequalities, Annan said.

"These are not reasons to fear a return to armed conflict; Guatemalans do not want to relive the past and now have democratic channels through which to express discontent," he said. "But if left to fester, these problems could be ingredients for social conflict, stunted economic development and the corrosion of democratic governance in years ahead."

Annan called on the authorities to make greater efforts to ensure the rule of law, reform the tax system and quickly reach agreement on paying reparations to the tens of thousands of victims of past human rights abuses.