White House Retracts Hints on Contra Aid

The White House, under fire from all sides over the course of its Central American peace plan, quickly retreated Friday from earlier hints that it may soon seek new aid for the contras in Nicaragua.

The suggestion that a new aid package might be requested from Congress before Sept. 30 was made Thursday by a senior White House official, who requested anonymity, aboard Air Force One after conservative critics of the White House’s peace initiative accused President Reagan of deserting the Nicaraguan rebels.

Assurances for Wright

But it was withdrawn under criticism from the co-sponsor of Reagan’s plan, House Speaker Jim Wright (D-Tex.). In Washington, a spokesman said Wright had been assured by White House officials that no new aid for the contras would be sought from Congress before Sept. 30, when a current aid package to the rebels lapses.

“We have full assurances from the White House that there will be no aid request in September,” said Wilson Morris, Wright’s spokesman. “That was the agreement that we’ve all had all along.”

Adding to the confusion over the Administration’s Central American peace stance was an announcement at the State Department on Friday that Philip C. Habib, Reagan’s Central American trouble-shooter, had resigned without explanation. (Story on Page 10.) White House officials called Habib’s departure “a real loss” and said he quit for personal reasons.

Habib’s abrupt departure, combined with the shifting White House position on contra aid--suggested that new divisions have arisen over both the direction of the Administration’s peace initiative and its prospects for success.

White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater emphasized that the Sept. 30 date for seeking new aid is the one to which Reagan will adhere, even if it means that the rebels are without funds for several weeks or months.

At the same time, he repeated that Reagan is “steadfast” in his support of the contras and that they will not be deserted by the United States under any peace agreement adopted in the region.

Sweeping Reforms

The White House peace plan calls for sweeping democratic reforms in Nicaragua’s Sandinista government by Sept. 30, to be followed by a cease-fire in Central America’s guerrilla wars.

It was eclipsed last week, however, by a preliminary peace agreement among Nicaragua and the four U.S.-backed Central American nations--Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Costa Rica. Their pact calls for lesser reforms inside Nicaragua in advance of a cease-fire on Nov. 7.

The White House has sought to keep alive its own plan while waiting to see what results from the Central American leaders’ plan, based on an initiative by President Oscar Arias Sanchez of Costa Rica. But the plans differ significantly in some areas, including the degree to which a peace agreement must be acceptable to the U.S.-backed contras.

No Applause for Reagan

Thursday’s White House statement on contra aid was viewed by congressional Democrats as an effort by Reagan aides to calm the jitters of Republican conservatives, who fear that the President’s support for the peace process will undermine support for the contras. Conservative leaders had even refused to applaud Reagan when he met with them to discuss Central America last Wednesday.

“The White House has been under terrific pressure from the right wing,” said a Democratic aide, who declined to be identified.

In an apparent effort to reassure these critics, a senior Administration official accompanying Reagan on the President’s trip to California on Thursday said that additional military assistance might be requested before the Sept. 30 deadline to sustain the 15,000 rebels in the field during any “interregnum” between the White House’s proposed Sept. 30 cease-fire and the Nov. 7 date in the Arias proposal.

On Friday, Fitzwater said the official’s remarks had been exaggerated and that no aid would be sought before October, although it might be discussed before then. At the same time, he played down the political pressures buffeting the Administration.

Fitzwater acknowledged that the White House has been advised of “very strong feelings” from conservatives but added that moderates and Central American leaders also are pressuring for changes that favor their views.

“I would suggest to you that the President is the anchor” of U.S. policy in the region, he said, emphasizing that Reagan’s position on a peace agreement is unchanged.

He added that the White House still backs its own plan as a model for a peace pact. But because pieces of both proposals eventually may be melded into any final agreement, he said, “we don’t favor one over the other.”

At the State Department, spokesman Charles Redman stressed that leaders of the Nicaraguan resistance are not being cut out of the deliberations, even though they have no formal role in the Central American peace process.

Redman said that Assistant Secretary of State Morris Busby is now meeting with the resistance leaders in Honduras “to hear their positions as parties whose interests must be protected.” In addition, he said, the leaders of the democratic governments in Central America have been asked by the Reagan Administration to consult with the contras.

“We have no intention of abandoning those forces that are fighting for freedom in Central American,” said Redman, who at the same time refused to speculate on what the Administration might do after Sept. 30. He noted that the agreement reached among the five Central American nations last week does not envision a cease-fire before Nov. 7.

On Monday, Redman said, the chiefs of U.S. diplomatic missions in the region’s five countries will meet in Washington to review U.S. policy in anticipation of a Central American foreign ministers meeting in San Salvador two days later. After the latter meeting, he added, the Administration plans to send a team to the region for follow-up consultations.

$1 Million for 4 Nations

To help fund the peace process, the State Department is planning to grant $1 million previously approved by Congress to the four democratic nations of Central America.

Redman said the Reagan Administration also is encouraging the political organizations within other foreign governments and private foundations to contribute money to opposition organizations within Nicaragua, not including the contras.

It was the Administration’s efforts to solicit third-country support for the contras that led, in part, to the Iran-contra scandal. But Redman indicated that the State Department has no intention of repeating that effort.

Ex-Official Quoted

Meanwhile, Knight-Ridder newspapers on Friday quoted Robert Deumling, director of a now-closed government office that distributed $27 million in humanitarian aid for the contras appropriated by Congress for fiscal 1986, as saying that he allowed the aid shipments to include weapons on orders from Assistant Secretary of State Elliott Abrams. At the time, direct U.S. military assistance to the contras was banned by Congress.

A State Department official who declined to be identified said the Administration hopes to release a document next week, after it is declassified, that will show Deumling’s account of the events to have been “distorted.”

Michael Wines reported from Santa Barbara and Sara Fritz from Washington.