Sandinistas Unilaterally Extend Truce With Contras

President Daniel Ortega announced Monday that his Sandinista government is unilaterally extending for 30 days a 7-week-old truce to allow more time for continuing peace talks with the U.S.-backed Contras.

“With this we want to make clear the will of Nicaragua to give peace an opportunity,” Ortega said at a news conference.

A 60-day cease-fire in effect since April 1, the result of a preliminary peace agreement signed at the southern border village of Sapoa on March 23, was to expire next Monday.

Ortega told reporters that the site of a new round of top-level talks with the Contras to try to work out a lasting peace has not been settled, although each side has agreed that the meeting should begin Wednesday.

In Tegucigalpa, Honduras, the Contras said they must meet with the Sandinistas before deciding whether to join the Sandinistas in extending the cease-fire.

“Ortega can say what he likes, but we’re due to meet to discuss how to achieve peace,” a rebel spokesman said. “We need the talks to discuss whether to extend the cease-fire.”

Contra officials said that their delegation at this week’s talks would be led by Alfredo Cesar, one of the rebels’ five political leaders. Other political leaders would also attend.

Military commander Enrique Bermudez will not go to the talks, despite earlier speculation that he would, a rebel official said. The Contras have said that Bermudez has reasserted his authority after a two-week mutiny by dissident rebel commanders in eastern Honduras.

Ortega said the government is insisting that Wednesday’s meeting, the third round of top-level talks since the Sapoa agreement, be held in Managua, while the rebels have proposed that delegations from each side return to Sapoa.