SAN JOSE : Another Try For a Cease-Fire
A third round of U.N.-sponsored peace talks between Salvadoran guerrillas and government representatives begins in the Costa Rican capital Friday in the shadow of a rebel threat to launch a major new military offensive should the negotiations fail to produce concrete results.
A guerrilla commander known only as Amilcar told journalists in San Salvador over the weekend that military action is needed to force President Alfredo Cristiani’s government to reduce the size of the army and purge its ranks of officers accused of human rights abuses.
The Costa Rica talks aim to meet a mid-September cease-fire deadline in the decade-old civil war, and Amilcar said if they succeed, the offensive would be called off.
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