El Salvador: High Time For Peace

When Salvadoran President Alfredo Cristiani addressed the United Nations General Assembly last week, he predicted that 1991 would bring peace to his country. And high time too: a civil war involving the government and leftist guerrillas has left 75,000 dead in the past 12 years. Two days later, after 17 months of U.N.-brokered talks, the government and the rebels signed an agreement setting out a framework for reintegrating the rebels of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front into society and offering assurances for their safety.

The agreement also pledges to transfer the police force from military to civilian control and permit former rebels to join it. Moreover, the two sides agreed to reduce the size of the army and purge officers notorious for human rights abuses. Still unresolved are the timing of a cease-fire and the disarming of the guerrillas.