Guatemala: UN mission voices concern over increase in army budget

The United Nations mission in Guatemala today expressed concern that an increase in the army's budget over the limits agreed to in the country's peace accord will divert funds from social development areas.

The assessment came in one of the thematic verification reports produced periodically by the UN Verification Mission in Guatemala (MINUGUA).

MINUGUA was created in 1994 and its mandate expanded in 1997 in order to continue to verify compliance with the peace agreements signed between the Government of Guatemala and the Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca (URNG).