Sandinistas Reach Tentative Cease-Fire Pact With Indians

The Sandinista government Tuesday reached a preliminary cease-fire agreement with a rebel force fighting for the independence of the country’s eastern Atlantic coast.

A statement released after peace talks here between the government and members of a Nicaraguan resistance group called Yatama said both sides agreed to “desist from military actions” while negotiations continue.

Yatama is composed of Indian tribes and Creoles. One of the tribes, the Miskitos, is led by Brooklyn Rivera, who returned to Nicaragua from exile last week to conduct peace talks with the Sandinista regime.

More Talks Due

A second round of talks with Rivera will be held here early next month, the statement said.

The Miskitos, one of three Indian tribes inhabiting the Atlantic coast, have been waging a rebellion apart from the larger force of U.S.-backed Contras.

The Indians are seeking autonomy for the eastern region covering almost half of Nicaragua’s territory.

The Managua statement, issued on the eve of a U.S. congressional vote on new funding for the Contras, said the government recognized the coastal people’s right to their own models of political, social and economic development.

The success of any cease-fire was open to question later Tuesday when other leaders of the Yatama alliance said they will not accept a truce. They said those involved in the peace talks in Managua are “insurgent” Yatama forces.

“We are very sad that Brooklyn Rivera is talking about peace when Congress is considering aid to our cause,” Steadman Fagoth, a director of Yatama, said in Miami.

Nicaragua last year granted a limited form of political and economic autonomy to the sparsely populated region, and tensions subsequently have eased with several hundred rebels already observing a truce with the government.