COLOMBIA ASKED THE UN FOR THE SECOND POLITICAL MISSION.

COLOMBIA ASKED THE UN FOR THE SECOND POLITICAL MISSION.

More than 7,000 guerrillas and 2,000 militiamen are in transit to civilian life and expect guarantees of reincorporation in the political, economic and social. Jaime Perez Munévar Olga Patricia Rendón Marulanda Although the Agreement between the Government and the FARC establishes that the Political Mission of the UN for the verification of the reincorporation of the guerrillas would begin their actions after the verification of the cease-fire and the abandonment of arms, President Juan Manuel Santos requested Advance its mandate.

In a letter sent to the UN Secretary-General and the Security Council, the president said: "The National Government and the FARC have agreed to ask the United Nations to anticipate the implementation of the second special political mission."

This second mission will be in charge, as established, to verify the process of political, economic and social reincorporation of the FARC and the implementation of measures of protection and personal and collective security and of the integral programs of security and protection for the communities and organizations in the territories. The UN Security Council has not yet pronounced on the request of the Colombian Government, although it could do so next June 23 when it will receive a report from the current Mission.

As the Agreement has developed, it is possible that the request will be accepted given the good terms in which the Security Council visited the country to get a closer look at the implementation of the Peace Agreement, and because statements by Jean Arnault, Head of the Mission, have always been positive regarding the importance of the reincorporation of the guerrillas. He said, for example, in La Elvira (Buenos Aires -Cauca) that "Farc's march to civilian life and unarmed politics is arguably the best symbol of this process."

However, Luis Fernando Vargas Alzate, professor of International Relations at Eafit, explained that this request is the ratification that the implementation of the Agreement is working, and that the new mission involves new challenges.

First, it would be a political mission, which means that the perspective begins to distance itself from the military. It will be necessary people with other types of training that can attend this second stage of verification. Second, it would be a more technical mission, added the teacher, but in the economic and social aspects, the UN, with all its agencies, has much more experience, so it will not be a process so unknown to them.

Also, Vargas suggested, would be a bigger mission, not only because the guerrillas will no longer be concentrated in areas of normalization and reincorporation will take place throughout the national territory, but because it would have a first term of three years, which implies including more Observers to cover the breaks, as with all long-term missions.

It is precisely for Mauricio Jaramillo Jassir, an internationalist at the University of Rosario, that he shows "the desire to strengthen international participation in the peace process," because the verification of the UN Mission in Colombia has given legitimacy to the world. Necessary to consolidate and acclimatise a climate of reconciliation.

The analysts consulted by EL-COLOMBIANO agreed that it is difficult to find an example of a mission similar to the one Colombia asked the UN, because it is usually about military peacekeeping missions. At present, these operations are multidimensional, as they also facilitate political processes, protect civilians, assist in the process of disarming, demobilizing and reintegrating ex-combatants.