Alarms and Excursions

Abstract

The CCPM also had to deal with specific incidents that placed the peace process in jeopardy. Many were the product of deficiencies in the Peace Accords, or in their application. Some were genuine misunderstandings, others calculated brinkmanship. Not infrequently it was a combination of the two. Some were blown up out of all proportion to their significance, others were genuinely serious. All of them undermined the fragile confidence that had built up since 31 May 1991, and increased mistrust and suspicion. The ceasefire held — even if sometimes by a hairline — simply because, when push came to shove, neither side wanted to imperil the elections, which each expected to win (at least in the latter stages). The elections were the critical watershed.