U.S. Will Help Fund Plan to Move Contras

The United States is prepared to provide up to $3 million to an international commission to begin planning the voluntary relocation of Nicaraguan Contras to their homeland if democratic conditions exist, it was announced Friday.

State Department deputy spokesman Richard Boucher said the funds would be given to a commission composed of United Nations and Organization of American States officials. The commission, known by its Spanish initials CIAV, was set up partly to oversee the dismantling of the Contras, most of whom are based in Honduras.

“We have explained our intentions to the government of Honduras and the Nicaraguan resistance,” Boucher said. “Both have reacted favorably. The U.N. and OAS secretaries general have also been informed.”

The commission, Boucher said, will be asked to submit proposals for use of the funds.

The disclosure was part of what appears to be an increase in diplomatic activity concerning the fate of the rebels as Nicaraguan elections draw closer. President Daniel Ortega will be running in the Feb. 25 election against an opposition slate led by Violeta Barrios de Chamorro.

Sources close to the Sandinista government said that Nicaraguan officials would meet today with Contra representatives in Tegucigalpa. CIAV officials also will attend.

Amnesty for rebels willing to return in peace to Nicaragua will be discussed, sources said.

In addition, State Department officials are expected to confer with CIAV officials at an undetermined location next week on the peace process.

Most of the Contras are at camps in southern Honduras. The five Central American presidents have called for the demobilization of the Contras, but the rebels, with U.S. support, have said they should remain intact until after the elections.

Boucher’s announcement of a conditional U.S. commitment to fund the demobilization of the Contras was in response to a communique approved by the five Central American presidents last month.

According to some interpretations, the communique required the immediate transfer of all U.S. aid funds for the Contras to the CIAV. However, the State Department disputes that interpretation.

U.S. aid to the rebels consists of food, clothing, shelter and medical services and is due to run out at the end of February.

The Sandinistas have given high priority to promoting the dismantling of the Contras, but the rebels have insisted that demobilization must be voluntary and in the context of a free and fair electoral process in Nicaragua.

The biggest setback occurred in early November when the Sandinistas, contending that the rebels engaged in terrorist activities, suspended a cease-fire that had been in effect informally with the Contras during the preceding 19 months.