Nicaragua Outlines Its Truce Terms : Proposes Contras Give Up Arms and Consider Amnesty

Nicaragua proposed on Saturday that the cease-fire to be negotiated in its war with U.S.-backed contras require the insurgents to surrender their arms at once and consider an offer of amnesty.

The proposal differs sharply from that of the Nicaraguan Resistance, as the contras formally call themselves, which seeks to freeze the battlefield positions of armed guerrillas and the Sandinista army until international supervisors verify Managua’s compliance with promised democratic reforms.

President Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua outlined his government’s cease-fire proposal a day after he and leaders of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras signed a preliminary accord here to end all of Central America’s guerrilla conflicts.

Both Ortega and the contra leadership made it clear that fighting in Nicaragua will continue while details of a cease-fire are worked out.

Guarded Welcome

In Washington, the White House issued the first official U.S. reaction to the preliminary pact, releasing a statement by President Reagan that guardedly welcomed the accord as a “commitment to peace and democracy.” Reagan said he hopes the agreement’s intent will be fulfilled but added that its promises “can only be realized in its implementation.” (Story on Page 14.)

The Guatemala City summit accord, based on a proposal by President Oscar Arias Sanchez of Costa Rica, sets a 90-day deadline for cease-fires to take effect in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala.

Simultaneously with each cease-fire, all outside aid and sanctuary for the insurgent forces must stop. Governments must guarantee free press and assembly, offer amnesty to guerrillas who lay down their arms and open formal talks with unarmed opposition leaders on national reconciliation.

Some Central American officials said the complex task of arranging so many conditions at once could prove more difficult than the historic agreement of principles achieved at the two-day summit.

The 11-point agreement failed to settle such key issues as what kind of cease-fires are to to occur in Nicaragua and which parties will negotiate them.

It also postponed negotiations on a regional security pact aimed at balancing the five nations’ military arsenals and limiting the presence of foreign military advisers.

The six-member Nicaraguan Resistance leadership, here to monitor the summit, issued a statement Friday calling for a cease-fire “in place” and for a direct contra role in negotiating it.

“There is no such thing as an instant cease-fire,” rebel leader Alfonso Robelo told reporters. “A cease-fire in place requires certain conditions, such as limiting zones where the rebel forces will remain, their resupply, evacuation of wounded, international observers for those zones and exchanges of prisoners.”

“We cannot let anyone negotiate those conditions for us,” Robelo said.

‘Line of Battle’

Speaking in the Nicaraguan capital Saturday, Ortega repeated his refusal to negotiate with the contras. Under the cease-fire he proposed, rebel forces encountered “at the line of battle” must turn over their arms in order to be assured of “their security, their lives and their rights” under the amnesty offer. Neither the Guatemala City summit agreement nor a parallel plan by President Reagan specifies any role for the contras in negotiating. The five presidents left that issue to a commission that will be set up by their foreign ministers at a meeting in El Salvador two weeks from now.

“The commission obviously will have to consult with the contras on every step of a cease-fire,” said a Costa Rican official. “If the Sandinistas object to that, they will be going against the intent of the agreement.”

The summit accord is the closest thing to a settlement of the Nicaraguan conflict since the rebels took up arms against the Marxist-inclined Sandinista regime six years ago.

Negotiations launched in 1983 by the Contadora Group of four Latin American nations foundered repeatedly and were virtually abandoned last January, a victim of intransigence by both Nicaragua and the Reagan Administration. The Contadora effort was also blocked by Honduras and El Salvador, which funnel U.S. aid to the contras through their territories.

Improvement in Climate

Central American officials said that several things happened this year to improve the negotiating climate: A new peace initiative by the Costa Rican leader; the Iran-contra scandal; doubts in Washington, El Salvador and Honduras that a reluctant U.S. Congress would continue to appropriate aid for the contras; a region-wide war weariness magnified by economic crises and the displacement of thousands of war refugees.

It was against this background that President Reagan last Wednesday offered his own Nicaraguan cease-fire plan. It appeared to be aimed at preempting the Costa Rican initiative with a 60-day deadline and somewhat tougher conditions for the Sandinistas. By making such a move, the White House apparently hoped to improve the odds of coaxing as much as $150 million in new contra aid from Congress in October, if the Sandinistas balked.

Costa Rican officials said Saturday that the Reagan initiative, perhaps unwittingly, spurred a summit agreement on their proposal rather than derailing it. The outcome appeared to delay any congressional debate on renewed contra funding for at least 90 days.

“Without being at the summit, Reagan’s presence was felt,” said Guido Fernandez, the Costa Rican ambassador to Washington. “His plan wasn’t even discussed here, but it influenced everything.”

Ortega Softened Resistance

According to Costa Rican accounts, Ortega decided the Arias peace plan was preferable to Washington’s and softened his resistance to the proposed restoration of civil liberties in Nicaragua.

The White House initiative, which called for simultaneously suspending contra aid and requiring democratic reforms in Nicaragua, appeared to undermine the Salvadoran and Honduran opposition to the draft proposal. Both countries had wanted contra aid to continue for six months after a cease-fire to hold Managua to the bargain.

Moreover, the Reagan plan’s timing pricked the Latin pride of Arias and Guatemalan President Vinicio Cerezo Arevalo, making them more determined to forge a home-grown solution to the region’s conflicts and not be upstaged.

“Through great effort, persuading and convincing, we gave an example to the world that Central Americans are rational and that our intelligence can prevail over the craziness of killing one another,” Arias said.

However, both Ortega and the Nicaraguan rebels vowed to keep fighting to strengthen their positions prior to any cease-fire.

Contra leaders said here that under a cease-fire their estimated 10,000 troops must be kept in place and ready to resume fighting what they call a totalitarian system if the Sandinistas violate the summit accord.

After reading the entire agreement on Nicaraguan television, Ortega said he was prepared to comply. He insisted that Nicaragua has a democratic system and pledged to lift a wartime suspension of certain civil rights “as soon as the aggression stops.”

The Nicaraguan leader called on the Reagan Administration to stop aiding the contras and start direct talks on normalizing bilateral relations.

But in the meantime, he said, “We must strengthen our capacity to inflict a strategic defeat on the counterrevolutionary forces.”