Endara Govt still needs to prove its worth

Press, 28 December 1989, Page 8

Endara Govt still needs to prove its worth

NZPA-Reuter Panama City One week after United States forces invaded Panama, supporters of the deposed leader, General Manuel Antonio Noriega, appear largely crushed, but the new President, Guillermo Endara, still has a lot to do to prove that he can govern.

The big question hanging over the Endara . Government is whether it can stand on its own feet without American military support.

Diplomats say the invasion leaves Mr Endara facing severe economic and social problems and a tough job in asserting his authority.

He still has to persuade State workers who served the Noriegabacked Government to return to their jobs and work efficiently for the new Government.

A senior Latin American diplomat said Mr Endara would have to work hard to overcome the stigma of being sworn in on a United States military base shortly before the invasion began. With only a handful of countries recognising his Government, Panama will be regarded for some time as little more than a United States satellite, the diplomat said. To add to Mr Endara’s prob-

lems, thousands of people have been made homeless by the invasion, the streets are still lawless at night and many of the capital’s shops have been looted. Diplomats say Mr Endara’s main priority must be to reassert law and order. “They’ve got to get police on the streets as soon as possible,” one European diplomat said.

The Government has begun forming a new security force, the Public Forces of Panama, mainly recruited from former members of General Noriega’s Panama Defence Forces who have pledged loyalty to the new Government.

in the short term, the upheaval of the invasion has exacerbated Panama’s economic crisis, a result of Washington’s feud with General Noriega. Most businessmen are confident that the lifting of United States sanctions and the prospect of United States aid to rebuild the economy mean brighter times ahead. Mr Endara, who named a new Cabinet which met for the first time yesterday, says his opposition coalition was robbed of victory in the May elections when the Noriega-backed Government annulled the polls, drawing international condemna-

tion. Many of General Noriega’s senior officers have surrendered or been detained by the American forces and a United States military spokesman said most organised resistance to the invasion has now ended. A United States Southern Command spokesman said American forces were now engaged in “clearing outlying areas and stability operations in the built-up areas of Panama City.”' The United States Defence Secretary, Dick Cheney, cautioned that it would be a big mistake for the United States to withdraw its troops too soon.