U.S. rejects Ortega’s offer to hold talks

Press, 16 November 1987, Page 9

U.S. rejects Ortega’s offer to hold talks

NZPA-Reuter Washington President Reagan, criticising Nicaragua for being far behind its Central American neighbours in implementing a regional peace plan, has again rejected an offer to hold talks directly with President Daniel Ortega.

“This is a Nicaraguan conflict and should be resolved among Nicaraguans,” Mr Reagan said on Saturday, referring to the six-year civil war between the Leftist Sandinista Government and the United States-backed contra rebels.

guan ceasefire talks get under way. “When serious negotiations between the communists and the resistance have begun under Cardinal Obando’s mediation, then (we) will be ready to meet jointly with the Foreign Ministers of all Central American nations, including the Sandinistas’ ■representative," he said. Mr Reagan also hailed the choice of the Nicaraguan Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo to mediate ceasefire talks between the Sandinistas and the rebels as a "good sign.”

mediator in Nicaragua between the Communist regime and the democratic resistance, or freedom fighters,” he said. Mr Reagan, who has expressed deep scepticism about Mr Ortega's fulfilling his side of the bargain, criticised Nicaragua for what he viewed as its failure to keep pace with the other signatories of the Guatemala accords — El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica and Guatemala. “As we look at how the Guatemala accord has been implemented to date we have to conclude that the differences between the democracies and the communists in Central America have never been so apparent,” he said.

state of emergency,” Mr Reagan said. "The Communists’ release of political prisoners has been partial and grudging.” Mr Ortega announced last week the release of 981 political prisoners but opponents say up to 10,000 more remain in jail. Mr Ortega said last week that the figure was closer to 4000.

quickly rejected by contra leaders.

Both sides expressed a willingness to be flexible and Cardinal Obando, who has yet to formally accept the role of mediator, met contra leaders in Miami on Friday night. The rebels have not yet presented a counter proposal for a ceasefire. The Cardinal told re- ; porters at Miami airport on Saturday that he had still not decided to accept the mediation request, but was “sounding out the situation.”

Mr Reagan made it clear in his weekly radio address that he would not enter bilateral negotiations with Mr Ortega, who repeatedly urged the President to do so during a four-day visit to Washington last week. Mr Reagan reiterated an offer he first made last week for the United States to participate in a meeting with all five signatories of the peace plan signed in Guatemala on August 7 once Nicara-

Mr Ortega on Friday presented an 11-point proposal for a month-long ceasefire with the contras, starting on December 5, in a meeting with Cardinal Obando at the Vatican Embassy in Washington. The proposal, which calls for the rebels to move into three ceasefire zones within Nicaragua before laying down their arms on January 5, was

"I welcome the designation of Cardinal Obando . . . a man who himself has suffered much at the hands of the Nicaraguan Communists, as the

“The Communists in Nicaragua refuse to lift their

One initial stumbling block is over the location of the indirect talks. Mr Ortega wants them to take place in Washington, which he calls “the centre of policy making against Nicaragua.”