PERMANENTCOUNCILORGANIZATIONOFAMERICANSTATES

OEA/Ser.GCP/doc.3261/0013January2000Original:English/Spanish/1

REPORTOFTHESPECIALREPRESENTATIVEOFTHESECRETARYGENERALINCOMPLIANCEWITHRESOLUTIONCP/RES.757(1216/99)"SUPPORTFORTHE

GOVERNMENTSOFHONDURASANDNICARAGUA"

ThisdocumentisbeingdistributedtothepermanentmissionsandwillbepresentedtothePermanentCounciloftheOrganization.

Background:

OnDecember6,1999,thePermanentCounciloftheOrganizationmetinspecialsessiontoconsiderthesituationthathadarisenovertheratificationofamaritimedelimitationtreatybetweenColombiaandHonduras.

On December 7, the Permanent Council approved a resolution in support of theGovernments of Honduras and Nicaragua, CP/RES. 757 (1216/99), which asked theSecretaryGeneral,actingwiththegreatestpossibleurgencyandwiththeconcurrenceof the Governments of Honduras and Nicaragua, to appoint a special representativewhosemandate itwould be "exclusively to evaluate the situation, facilitate dialogue,andformulaterecommendationsaimedateasingtensionandpreventingactsthatcouldaffectpeaceintheHemisphere."TheResolutionalsorequestedthattherepresentativeof theSecretaryGeneral report to theCouncilon thedevelopmentand the resultsofthemeasurestakentofulfiltheCouncil'smandate.

On December 9, the Secretary General appointed Ambassador Luigi Einaudi as hisSpecialRepresentativeinaccordancewiththeResolutioninquestion.

Developments:

Immediately after accepting the mission from the Secretary General, AmbassadorEinaudimetwithdelegationsofthePartiestothedispute.OntheeveningofDecember9, the Special Representativemetwith aNicaraguan delegation headed byGuillermoArguello, Vice‐Minister of ForeignAffairswhowas accompaniedby FranciscoAguirre,Nicaragua's Ambassador to the United States. On December 10, Ambassador EinaudimeetwithadelegationfromHondurasheadedbyJorgeArturoReina,MinisterAdvisortothePresident,andaccompaniedbyAmbassadorPolicarpoCallejas,ChiefofStaffofthe Foreign Minister. The delegations were accompanied by their PermanentRepresentatives to the OAS, Ambassador Laura Nuñez of Honduras and AmbassadorAlvaro Sevilla of Nicaragua. Both delegations expressed clearly their desire to find apeaceful resolution to thecrisisand toworkquickly towardsdeflating tensions in theregion.

Inordertoevaluatethesituationontheground,AmbassadorEinauditraveledtoboth

countries December 15 to 18, undertaking a heavy schedule of consultations andmeetings with all sectors of Nicaraguan and Honduran society. In both cases thescheduleofmeetingswasablyarrangedbytheDirectorsoftheOfficesoftheGeneralSecretariat in Honduras and Nicaragua in consultation with the respective foreignministries.

In Nicaragua, the Special Representative met with President Arnoldo Alemán; theForeign Minister, Eduardo Montealegre, and Deputy Foreign Minister, GuillermoArguello; the civilian Minister of Defense, José Antonio Alvarado; the Army Chief,GeneralCuadra,andtheappointedsuccessor,GeneralCarrión.AmbassadorEinaudialsometwithabroadspectrumofcivilsocietyrepresentativesincludingCardinalObandoyBravo; thepoetPabloAntonioCuadra;opposition leaders includingDanielOrtegaandMiguelD’Escoto;andtheformerPresidentofNicaragua,VioletaBarriosChamorro.

In Honduras, Ambassador Einaudi met with President Carlos Flores, the Secretary ofStateforForeignAffairs,RobertoFloresBermudez;JorgeArturoReina,MinisterAdvisor;andPolicarpoCallejas. The Special Representative alsometwith formerPresidentsofHondurasCarlosRobertoReina, JoséAsconaandRafaelLeonardoCallejas; thecivilianMinister of Defense, Edgardo Dumas; representatives of the business community, ofnon‐governmentalorganizations,theRomanCatholicArchbishopRodriguezandBishopCorriveaux,plusthePresidentoftheNationalAssembly,RafaelPineda.

DuringtheseconsultationstheSpecialRepresentativefoundaclimateoftensioninbothcountries, but one which was accompanied by a desire to advance respective claimsthroughpeacefulmeansandwithinestablishednormsofinternationallaw.InmeetingswiththeAmbassadorsofOASmemberandobserverStatesaccreditedtobothManaguaandTegucigalpa,AmbassadorEinaudi found total agreement that countries strugglingtoemergefromthedevastationcausedbyhurricaneMitchshouldfocustheireffortsatcooperationratherthanconflict.

Buildingonthemomentumgeneratedbytheseconsultationsand inordertomoveasfast as possible to reach agreement on mechanisms to lower tensions, the SpecialRepresentative called for direct dialogue between the Parties in the period betweenChristmas and New Year. Ameetingwas held December 29 and 30, 1999, inMiami,Florida,attheheadquartersoftheSecretariatoftheFreeTradeAreaoftheAmericas.

Following two days of intense discussions, the Foreign Ministers and the SpecialRepresentative agreed on a framework to separate military forces and developconfidenceandsecurity‐buildingmeasureswhiletheunderlyingissuesareaddressedinaccordancewith international law.Theagreementwassignedandmadepublic in theformoftheattachedCommuniqué.

On January 12 and 13, 2000, a second round of meetings between the SpecialRepresentativeandthetwoForeignMinisterswasheldatOASheadquarterstodevelopmechanismstoimplementtheagreement.

/1TheoriginallanguageoftheattachedcommuniqueisSpanish.

APPENDIX

COMMUNIQUE

Miami,Florida,December30,1999

The Foreign Ministers of Honduras, Roberto Flores Bermúdez, and of Nicaragua,EduardoMontealegreRivas,met inthecityofMiami,Florida,U.S.A.,onDecember29and30,1999,withLuigiEinaudi,SpecialRepresentativeoftheOrganizationofAmericanStates(OAS). Incompliancewithresolution757,adoptedbythePermanentCouncilofthe hemispheric organization lastDecember 7, the purpose of the discussionswas toidentifymeasures and actions to eliminate existing tensions between both countries,prevent actions that could affect regional peace, and promote good neighborlyrelations.

1. As a result of these conversations, which took place in an atmosphere of mutualrespect,anagreementwasreachedfortheimmediateseparationofmilitaryforces,andtothatendthePartiesagreedto:

a.defineandestablishamilitaryexclusionzoneintheCaribbeanSea;

b. immediately freeze, along and near the land border, the presence of militarypersonnelandborderpostsatthepositionsandnumbersthatexistedonSeptember1,1999;and

c. recommence the process of laying marker buoys in the Gulf of Fonseca, inaccordancewiththecalendarpreviouslyestablishedbybothcountries.Tothatend,theParties will adopt the necessarymeasures to guarantee the security of the technicalpersonnelwhoperformtheworkoflayingthebuoys.

2.Thespecificcoursesofactionforimplementingtheconfidence‐buildingandtension‐reducing measures in paragraph 1 will be negotiated in a way that permits theverificationoftheircompliancebythirdparties,andthatcanalso:

a.providesecuritytofishermen;and

b.prevent incidentsthatthreatenthesecurityofcommunities,particularly indigenousandrural,alongtheborder.

3.TheForeignMinisters reaffirmedthewillof their respectivecountries topeacefullyresolve their differences, and recognize the usefulness of having submitted those

relatedtomaritimeareasintheCaribbeanSeatotheInternationalCourtofJusticeforadecision.

4.TheForeignMinistersalsoagreedtoseekandcontinuetousemechanismsandothermodalitiesofexisting jurisdictionalandpoliticalresourceswithintheCentralAmericanIntegrationSystemthatprovideforpeacefullyresolvingregionaldifferences.

5.TheForeignMinistersandtheSpecialRepresentativeagreedtomeetJanuary12‐13,2000, at the headquarters of the Organization of American States to continuedevelopingmeasuresthatfosterconfidencebetweenbothRepublics.

6. The Special Envoy will inform the Organization of American States and themediaabouttheagreementsthattheForeignMinistersofHondurasandNicaraguareachontheabove‐mentionedsubjectsthroughoutthecourseofthescheduledsessions.

RobertoFloresBermúdezForeignMinisterofHondurasEduardoMontealegreRivasForeignMinisterofNicaragua

LuigiR.EinaudiSpecialRepresentativeoftheOrganizationofAmericanStates