A Mission of Confidence.

• Author: Conaway, Janelle
• Position: Brief Article

AN OAS CIVILIAN Verification Mission plans to conduct three on-site visits this year to the Honduras-Nicaragua border to monitor compliance with confidence-building measures that the two countries have adopted. The first visit was in mid-July, with the others scheduled to take place in August and October.

The ministers of foreign affairs of Honduras and Nicaragua, Roberto Flores Bermudez and Francisco Aguirre Sacasa, respectively, and Assistant Secretary General Luigi R. Einaudi signed an agreement on June 7 spelling out details of the verification visits. Ambassador Einaudi said the decision by Honduras and Nicaragua to seek OAS help to settle their dispute peacefully "sets a clear and positive example" for other countries.

"This verification mission help raise the level of confidence between these neighboring countries and ensure that they can continue along the constructive path of peaceful resolution," Einaudi said.

Under the agreement, the first and third verification visits are intended to establish the number of military and police posts and personnel deployed in the land border areas. The second round will focus on the Caribbean Sea, the original source of the dispute between the two countries.

The mission includes staff members of the OAS General Secretariat, as well as experts in military affairs from Brazil and Argentina. Civilian representatives of the Honduran and Nicaraguan governments are to accompany the mission on...