Salvador Rebels to Begin Destroying Arms : Central America: U.N. endorses government plan to purge military, clearing major obstacle to peace.

Overcoming a major hurdle in the peace process ending El Salvador’s civil war, leftist guerrillas Tuesday announced they will begin destroying their weapons after a government plan to purge the military received U.N. endorsement.

Salvadoran President Alfredo Cristiani late Monday submitted a letter to U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali in which he promised to purge this country’s armed forces of its worst human rights abusers and corrupt officers, U.N. officials said Tuesday.

Cristiani was required to draft the letter as part of U.N.-brokered peace accords that his conservative government signed with guerrillas of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front last January.

“The government has, thus, complied with its commitment under the peace agreement,” a spokesman for Boutros-Ghali said in a statement. He added that he is now confident that the war’s formal end will come, as scheduled, on Dec. 15.

After the U.N. statement, the guerrillas agreed to fulfill their part of the pact and will begin destroying automatic rifles, mortars and other weapons today. They were also finishing a final inventory of their arsenal, another requirement of the peace accords. Previous inventories that the rebels submitted to U.N. observers failed to include much of their weaponry, including sophisticated surface-to-air missiles.

The peace process had reached a critical juncture this week, with the military purge seen as one of the most sensitive elements of the landmark accords that ended 12 years of brutal war.

Under the agreements, a three-member civilian panel was set up to examine crimes committed by the military officers’ corps. The Ad Hoc Commission drew up a secret list that recommends the dismissal or transfer of some 100 officers, including the defense minister and his deputy, according to sources familiar with the commission’s work.

Cristiani was under enormous pressure from some military leaders not to order the purge, and the guerrillas were threatening to postpone their disarmament if he didn’t.

But Tuesday’s developments once again defused what had become an increasingly tense process as the deadline approaches.

“We are now on the right track,” said Mario Zamorano, spokesman for the U.N. mission in San Salvador.

The rebels on Tuesday also resumed demobilization of their troops, suspended last week in a dispute over land distribution.

An estimated 1,350 former fighters were to hand in their guns at a dozen sites throughout the country. About 2,000 guerrillas remain armed and are scheduled to demobilize Dec. 15.

Cristiani was to have submitted his letter to Boutros-Ghali on Sunday; he missed the deadline by a day. Diplomatic sources said last-minute discussions were held over the letter’s final version.

On Monday, Cristiani abruptly canceled a trip to Miami, where he was to speak at a conference on investment in the region.

Reports circulated among politicians and guerrillas in San Salvador that Cristiani’s missive to Boutros-Ghali was inadequate. But two diplomatic sources indicated that the final changes were more of form than substance.

Cristiani did not present Boutros-Ghali with details on how he intended to conduct the purge or by what timetable, sources said.

Rather, the president stated his commitment to follow the Ad Hoc Commission’s recommendations.

“We are satisfied he will do what the (commission) recommended,” U.N. Assistant Secretary General Alvaro de Soto said in a telephone interview from New York.

As laid out in previous agreements, Cristiani must complete the purge by the year’s end.