Rebels appear to be on defensive in Managua

Press, 18 June 1979, Page 6

Rebels appear to be on defensive in Managua

NZPA-Reuter Managua Nicaragua lurched into its third week of civil war with troops loyal to President Anastasio Somoza putting up tough opposition to Leftwing guerrillas in the capital. [ But the situation in the provinces was far from clear. There was no word on a new guerrilla offensive brewin : in the south .nd reports from neighbouring Costa Rica that anti-Govern-ment forces had formed a provisional government could not be confirmed.

■ In Managua, attacked from all sides a week ago by Sandinist guerrillas bent on a final push to topple the Right-wing President, the rebels appeared to be losing ground. The main target of the thrust by the President’s men was the slum district in the south-east of the capital where the National Guard seemed to be trying to drive a wedge between hundreds of entrenched guerrillas. Sandinist guerrillas have held Leon, Nicaragua’s sec-1

|ond-largest city, for two (weeks but have been unable to seize the National Guard [garrison. But lack of comI munications has made the I situation impossible to [gauge. There was also no news about a new guerrilla offensive brewing in southern Nicaragua, after the Somoza Government de.Jed two days| ago that a 300-strong Sand-! inist force had crossed the! border from Costa Rica. But official sources said yesterday that a further 400 Sandinist guerrillas had crossed the frontier. General Somoza , told the Associated Press that the invading troops had been halted just north of Sapoa. “We’H let them come further so that our forces are out of range of their mortars in Costa Rica, then surround; them,” he added. The Government of Presi-i

dent Somoza, whose family have ruled for more than four decades, has repeatedly 'accused Costa Rica and Panama of harbouring guerrillas. President Somoza, speak-i

. ing from his headquarters, known as “the bunker,” in | the capital, said the invaders were armed with heavy mor[tars and machine-guns but [had no tanks or armoured [cars. [ The Nicaraguan Red Cross [has said that there are [nearly 50,000 refugees, [nearly a tenth of the population of the city, in centres [and that many more are walking the highways. Announcing the formation of the provisional Government, Radio Sandino in Costa Rica said it included five leaders representing a diverse cross-section of Nicaraguans. The five-member group includes Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, the widow of the murdered Opposition news- | paper publisher, Pedro Joaquin Chamorro. I Chamorro’s newspaper was destroyed in a fire last week after being struck by rockets fired by a National Guard plane. Many political analysts trace the outbreak of hostilities in Nicaragua to Chamorro’s assassination.