List of articles and abstracts

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The Esquipulas Process: A Central American Paradigm 
for Resolving Regional Conflict

Johanna Oliver

Annexure: - Text of Esquipulas II, peace treaty, 7 August 1987

Abstract

After several unsuccessful but instructive peace initiatives in the early 1980s, the presidents of the five Central American states took their fate into their own hands at an historic meeting in Esquipulas, Guatemala. In August 1987, they signed the Esquipulas II Accord. Although that document did not declare a cease-fire and end decades of fighting, it did lay the foundation for the region’s future, based on the consensus of the heads of state. Each country was left to its own devices to create the conditions outlined in the accord, conditions that would open the way to democratisation and economic development.

National negotiations were slow to come, not only because the conflicts were not ripe for resolution, but also because Nicaragua was perceived as the key hurdle to regional peace. Thus, that country remained on the regional agenda while the presidents addressed the various supranational aspects of the contra war. Once that conflict had been defused, the focus shifted to the national peace processes. For the next ten years, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala took steps to resolve their conflicts and achieve national reconciliation.

The peace process has not been perfect, and Central America continues to toe the narrow line between peace and conflict. Nonetheless, the example of the Central American presidents, as well as that of the national processes, can serve countries in other regions struggling to find peace so as to move forward together toward a brighter future.

Imperfect Peace: The Aftermath of Northern Ireland’s Peace Accord

John Darby and Roger Mac Ginty

Annexures:

- Northern Ireland Peace Agreement: The Belfast Agreement,

10 April 1998

- Agreement between the Government of the United Kingdom of

Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Government of Ireland

 Abstract

The fact that the main participants in the Northern Ireland conflict were able to reach a major peace accord in April 1998 surprised many analysts. The Good Friday Agreement was overwhelmingly endorsed by the people of Northern Ireland in a referendum. Ever since, however, a number of post-Agreement problems have beset the Agreement, illustrating that a peace accord is only as strong as the will to implement it. This article also illustrates that a peace process rarely ends with a peace accord. Instead a ‘successful’ peace process is likely to become an on-going political project which requires constant fine-tuning. This article charts the political and security problems facing post-Agreement Northern Ireland and assesses the Agreement’s chances of survival.

The Philippines: The 1996 Peace Agreement for the Southern Philippines:
An Assessment

Kenneth E Bauzon

Annexures:

- Peace Agreement between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines

and the Moro National Liberation Front Executive Order No. 371 of 2 October 1996

Abstract

The 1996 Peace Agreement between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) officially ended the 24-year old struggle waged by the MNLF for independence and later for autonomy. The Agreement contains two major sections. The first, Phase I, is a three-year transitional period which commits the GRP to a massive programme of socio-economic development for the region encompassed in the Zone of Peace and Development (ZOPAD), through the Southern Philippine Council for Peace and Development (SPCPD). Phase II of the Agreement envisions the consolidation and expansion of the ARMM beyond the present four provinces, subject to "approval" by the resident population of the provinces affected through a popular vote. During this phase, the economy of the region would be opened up in a more intensified scale to local and foreign developers, investors, and entrepreneurs under the GRP’s neo-liberal policies. Opposition to the Agreement remains strong, particularly from within the Bangsa Moro community as symbolised by the continuing militant struggle by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Sri Lanka: Ethnic Conflict and the Search for a Durable Peace, 1978-1999

K M de Silva

Annexures:

- TULF's letter to Rajiv Gandhi, 1 December 1985

- TULF draft constitution for Sri Lanka, submitted to Rajiv Gandhi,

1 December 1985

Abstract

Devolution of power to a second tier of government has been one of the most controversial and divisive issues in Sri Lanka’s post-independence politics, and a contributory factor in its ethnic conflict. The first successful effort at creating a second tier of government through a system of district councils, 25 in all, came in 1980-81. Thereafter, in the mid and late 1980s, district councils were replaced by provincial councils based on the nine provinces in the island. The provincial council system owed a great deal to pressure from the Indian government during its mediation and intervention in the island’s ethnic conflict. Indian efforts at mediation and intervention failed to resolve Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict. The search for durable peace has continued through the 1990s. Currently a draft constitution, incorporating a federal structure with the country’s provinces serving as units, has been the subject of debate in the country over the last five years. Federalism has been a controversial, emotive and divisive issue in the island’s politics, and it remains so at the present day.