One area of United Nations affairs where Spain has put words into actions has been in peacekeeping operations.

1. Spain first participated in the Transition Assistence Group of Namibia (UNTAG). The Spanish UNTAG contingent, comprising eight T-12 Aviocar planes, one T-10 Hercules and 85 men, started to move to Namibia in January 1989.
2. At almost the same time, the United Nations Angolan Verification Mission (UNAVEM) was arranged to keep check on the redeployment and later withdrawal of Cuban troops from Angola. Spain sent a contingent of seven military ovservers.
3. Spain increased the number of military observers to nine officers with the implementation of UNAVEM II. The mission of UNAVEM II was the verification of peace agreements; supervision of cease-fire, fairness of electoral process and demobilization of guerrilla forces.
4. Spain's most important role has been in Central America, where it participated from the beginning in specifying the ONUCA (United Nations Observation Group in Central America) with the dual mission of verifying the security agreements between the countries of the region and monitoring the ''Contra'' demobilization process in Nicaragua. The operation was led by a Spanish general. The Spanish contingent assigned to the mission was the largest up to that time, with up to 58 members.
5. At the end of 1990, there was a change of command, and a Spanish general was again selected and appointed as Head of the United Nationa Observation Group inEl Salvador (ONUSAL) at the beginning of
6. This group included 138 observers from the Spanish Army and members of the Poloce Force and Civil Guard.
7. Spain also took part in the United Nations Observation Group for Verification of the Haitian elections (ONUVEH), a mission which began in November 1990 and ended two months later.
8. Although this is not a peacekeeping operation, Spain is actively involved in preparations for a referendum on self-determination for the Sahara. From the technical point of view, it has sent experts, made available the records on the 1974 Spanish census and supplied seven million US dollars in funding. As regards logistics, it provided overflights and medical facilities. Politically, it has backed the work of the UN Secretary General. It has avoided all military involvement, however, to shut out any suspicious arising from its status as the former colonial power.
9. During 1991, Spain participated through the Western European Union, first in the sea and air surveillance of the embargo imposed by the Security Council on Serbia and Montenegro, and latterly, with a contingent of 700 troops in the force placed at the disposition of the U.N. General Secretary in order to carry out the Security Council's resolutions regarding the war in former Yugoslavia, UNPROFOR, and primarily, to proctect the convoys transporting humanitarian relief.