Deadline for Surrender of Romania Loyalists Passes

The National Salvation Front, the interim Romanian government, said thousands were killed by executed dictator Nicholae Ceausescu’s secret police during the mass uprising as a deadline of 5 p.m. for them to surrender or face trial and execution passed.

Before the deadline expired, Western diplomats reported that former security men had begun surrendering. There was no immediate word on what is happening now that the deadline has passed.

But the diplomats predicted that it will be a long time before remnants of Ceausescu’s feared Securitate secret police are finally stamped out and that they could continue to operate in small groups, gradually turning from sabotage to crime.

“Romania might have a terrorism problem for many years to come,” one diplomat said.

Poland’s Solidarity leader Lech Walesa and the London-based human rights group Amnesty International--both Nobel Peace Prize winners--appealed to Romania’s new leaders to avoid summary convictions and executions of Ceausescu die-hards.

“I hope that the Romanian nation will be able to build a democratic order in its country by restoring respect for human rights, rebuilding freedom and ensuring rule of moral order in public life,” Walesa said.

Romanian television said the country was generally quiet today, although diplomats said they had heard reports of sporadic fighting in the central towns of Sibiu and Cluj.

Bucharest’s airport was open for traffic, but television reported that only special charter flights with medical supplies were landing. Most Western airlines had suspended flights.

The local Tarom airline resumed operations with flights to Athens and Damascus. Other Tarom planes stranded abroad since the revolution against Ceausescu erupted started to return home.

Bucharest airport was the scene of heavy fighting earlier in the week, and occasional sniper fire was still audible Wednesday evening.