UNITED NATIONS, January 17 (Sputnik) – UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon visited El Salvador for the first time on the anniversary of the Chapultepec Peace Agreement, which ended the civil war in the country in 1992, congratulating the Legislative Assembly on its achievements.
"It is a profound honour to address this Legislative Assembly on this, my first visit to your remarkable country," Ban Ki-moon said in his Friday address in San Slavador, adding that the Legislative Assembly "played a pivotal role in setting up the institutional framework provided by the peace accords".
According to Ban Ki-moon, despite "inspiring progress", El Salvador "continues to face daunting challenges that require renewed national consensus and determined action", such as discrimination against women.
The youth population of El Salvador can be "an engine for [future] transformation" in the country, Ban Ki-moon said, explaining that "about half" of Salvadorans were born after the Chapultepec Peace Agreement.
The agreement was signed on January 16, 1992 in Mexico City. It put an end to the Salvadorian Civil War, which started in 1979 following a coup and led to the death of over 75,000 people as a result of fighting between the military-led government and left-wing armed groups, according to the United Nations.
