Sandinistas to Give Up Control of the Military : Nicaragua: An accord allows President-elect Chamorro to cut the army’s ranks. Evictions are barred.

The Sandinista government agreed Tuesday to give full control of the armed forces to President-elect Violeta Barrios de Chamorro when she takes office April 25 and recognized her authority to reduce the military’s ranks.

An accord signed by the defense minister, Gen. Humberto Ortega, and aides to Chamorro also assured that Sandinista leaders and thousands of other people residing--legally or illegally--on property seized during the decade-old Sandinista revolution will not be evicted.

The wide-ranging pact was the first result of transition talks begun after Chamorro’s National Opposition Union defeated the Sandinistas in national elections Feb. 25. Both sides pledged to work for a smooth transfer of power to help end Nicaragua’s long civil conflict.

“We will not only be transferring the presidency but also, fundamentally, the basis of the new Nicaraguan democracy,” said Gen. Ortega, the brother of defeated President Daniel Ortega. “This process will not allow right-wing extremists nor left-wing extremists to impose themselves.”

Until last week, the Sandinistas had warned that a peaceful transition was impossible unless U.S.-backed Contras who have been fighting the government for eight years heeded calls by President Ortega and Chamorro’s UNO coalition to lay down their weapons.

A breakthrough came Friday when Contra leaders agreed to start disbanding their 12,000-strong guerrilla army. The rebel border camps in Honduras are to be disarmed by April 20, while rebels inside Nicaragua will move into safety zones, to be separated from the Sandinista army by U.N. peacekeeping troops.

In return, the Sandinistas accepted a statement in Tuesday’s accord saying that only the “armed institutions of the republic” will be allowed to bear combat weapons. UNO leaders said this amounts to a pledge to disarm thousands of Sandinistas who have received pistols and assault rifles from the government in the name of self-defense since the election.

Antonio Lacayo, Chamorro’s son-in-law and chief adviser, read the accord on nationwide radio after talks witnessed by Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo, the Roman Catholic leader who mediated last week’s Contra disarmament agreement.

Since that agreement, Contra leaders have stated that most of their troops are marching into Nicaragua and will keep their weapons until after Chamorro takes office and asserts control over the armed forces.

Gen. Ortega said Tuesday that such statements amount to “war drums” by rebel leaders intent on violating the accord. He urged the Contra rank and file to comply with the agreement as quickly as possible.

“Be part of the national triumph,” he told them. “The election opened a democratic process and made everyone a winner.” He added: “The guarantees that have been offered are more than sufficient.”

A key paragraph of Tuesday’s agreement says the army and state security forces, both dominated by Sandinista officers, “will be subordinate to the civil power of the president” and “will not belong to any political party.” Their members may not hold party posts.

The Sandinistas used the military draft and partisan indoctrination to make the army a political stronghold. The agreement tries to neutralize their advantage with a principle of Nicaragua’s election law: Any party may spread its propaganda among the troops but not with the help of state vehicles or other property.

Chamorro’s aides pledged in the accord to “respect the integrity and professionalism” of the military by maintaining the rank and hierarchy of its largely Sandinista officer corps. But Chamorro will have the power to reduce the 70,000-strong armed forces, as she has pledged to do, “in accordance with the country’s economic capacity” and balance-of-forces agreements among the Central American nations, the agreement said.

The accord means that Gen. Ortega, who commands the army, and Interior Minister Tomas Borge, head of the state security apparatus, may keep their military posts only if they resign from the nine-member Sandinista National Directorate.

Spokesmen for Chamorro have said they plan to put both organizations under civilian ministers, reduce their budgets, end the draft and abolish combat units attached to the Interior Ministry, keeping only a ministry police force. The bipartisan accord does not appear to prevent any of those moves.

On a controversial point, Chamorro’s aides accepted the Sandinistas’ confiscations of homes from their political foes and others who have left the country. While recognizing the need for the “tranquillity and legal security” of current residents, who include all nine Sandinista comandantes and scores of officials, the pact calls for “adequate compensation” to former owners.