Congress will oppose contra aid plan

Press, 9 October 1987, Page 6

Congress will oppose contra aid plan

NZPA-Reuter Washington President Reagan has said he will seek new military aid for the Nicaraguan contra rebels even as peace efforts go on in Central America —- but he will have to fight the Democratic-controlled Congress to get it

Mr Reagan told the Organisation of American States that his commitment to the contras was unwavering and he would seek $270 million ($413 million) over 18 months in new military and nonlethal aid for the rebels. Democratic leaders said Mr Reagan’s request will be turned down if he seeks the aid before giving Central American peace efforts, begun in August, a real chance of succeeding. “I really don’t believe there is any disposition in Congress to pass military money at a time when we are negotiating for

peace,” said the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Jim Wright The leaders of Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador signed a peace pact on August 7 that calls for democratisation and an end to all civil wars in the region. The plan is to take effect on November 7 with negotiations toward national reconciliation to continue. A key provision would end foreign assistance to rebel groups, including American aid for the contras. Democrats have urged Mr Reagan to wait at least until November 7 before

requesting new aid. Mr Reagan did not say on Wednesday when he would do so but the White House said earlier that the request would probably come before November 7. In his speech Mr Reagan said the aid package over 18 months was necessary to stop Nicaragua’s Leftist Sandinista leaders from reneging on their promises to honour the accord. He said delivery of the aid would be switched from military to nonlethal as the peace process went on, but he went beyond the accord and

demanded the withdrawal of Soviet-bloc and Cuban forces from Nicaragua. Mr Reagan said United States legislators who have funded the contras intermittently since 1981 could not now abandon them. , “The Congress of the United States has made a moral commitment to these men — it cannot just walk away,” he said. The Nicaraguan President, Daniel Ortega, on Wednesday rejected calls by Mr Reagan for early elections in Nicaragua as part of a settlement between the Sandinistas and the contras.