U.S. Takes First Steps to Disarm Contra Forces

The Bush Administration launched a diplomatic campaign Friday to persuade the Nicaraguan Contras--whose rebel army was built with U.S. funds--to give up their guns now that their goal has been won.

But so far, the Contras aren’t cooperating.

Nicaraguan President-elect Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, who won a surprise victory in last Sunday’s election with the Contras’ support, has called on the estimated 10,000 rebels to demobilize before her inauguration April 25.

President Daniel Ortega, who lost to Chamorro, has warned that his Sandinista Front will refuse to give up power if the Contras are still fighting.

The State Department on Thursday dispatched special envoy Harry Shlaudeman to rebel camps in southern Honduras to persuade Contra commanders to begin discussing a plan to disband their forces. Shlaudeman, a retired career diplomat who has led several special missions to Central America, began talks with the Contras on Friday, a U.S. Embassy spokesman said in Tegucigalpa.

And U.S. officials said they are preparing a resettlement aid package for the rebels that will include money to redevelop their rural homelands--”a G.I. Bill for Contras,” in the words of one aide.

Still, Contra officials in Washington and Honduras said they aren’t ready to stop fighting, a standoff that could turn into an obstacle to a transfer of power.

“The demobilization of our forces will happen only when the vestiges of Sandinista power disappear,” Contra spokesman Alejandro Acevedo told the Reuters news agency in Tegucigalpa.

The State Department issued a statement that it shares the Contras’ concerns about a successful transfer of power but also believes that the process of disbanding the rebels should begin immediately.

“It is important that their legitimate needs be met,” spokeswoman Margaret Tutwiler said. Chamorro said in an interview broadcast Friday that she is confident that the Contras will lay down their arms before her inauguration, wire services reported.

The proposed resettlement aid plan, which officials described as preliminary, would give the Contras and their families emergency aid to resettle in Nicaragua plus a major program to help redevelop the areas where they resettle.

The most ambitious version of the plan would include road-building, school construction and rural health programs as well as tools, seed, livestock and loans for rank-and-file rebels, most of whom are small farmers from northern Nicaragua.

Officials said no price tag has been placed on the plan.

One of the plan’s purposes is to encourage as many rebels as possible to return to Nicaragua. Honduras, where most of the Contras are encamped, demands that they leave.