Guatemalan Rebels Agree to Talks on Ending 28-Year War
Representatives of Guatemala’s guerrilla alliance met with a government-approved commission Friday and signed an agreement to open negotiations toward ending the nation’s 28-year-old civil war.
The accord said the guerrillas and the commission agreed to ask the United Nations to monitor the peace process and act as a “guarantor of the fulfillment of the agreements and commitments.”
The head of the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity rebel alliance, Luis Becker Guzman, also said the Guatemalan government had rejected an offer for an Easter truce.
The agreement calls for a second round of talks, tentatively scheduled for late May, between the rebels and Guatemala’s political parties.
The delegations also agreed to direct talks among the rebels, the Guatemalan army and the government, but gave no date.
The three-day talks in Norway were sponsored by the World Lutheran Federation.
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