Contras Repair Split, OK Crackdown on Rights Abuses

WASHINGTON —  Leaders of the U.S.-funded Nicaraguan rebels, who have quarreled for months over who would direct their guerrilla war, said Thursday that they have patched up their differences and agreed to crack down on human rights violations by their troops.

But some rebel officials said they are not certain that the human rights effort will be effective because it will be run largely by military officers who have been accused of tolerating abuses in the past.

Rebel leader Adolfo Calero also said that the Sandinistas’ use of Soviet MI-24 helicopters has disrupted his army’s hopes of advancing toward Nicaragua’s populous Pacific seaboard, although he insisted that his guerrillas, known as contras, “are constantly fighting government troops successfully.”

Calero said at a news conference here that the release of $27 million in non-military aid approved by Congress for the contras ironically has caused private donations for weapons purchases to dry up.

Restrictions on Funds

“Our donors don’t understand the restrictions the U.S. government has put on that money,” he said. “The State Department ought to just give us the money and let us do it ourselves.”

Calero and the two other top leaders of the U.S.-sponsored rebel alliance, the United Nicaraguan Opposition, called the news conference to announce that they have agreed to share power equally, despite political disagreements that remain unresolved.

They also said that they plan to appoint a human rights supervisor in an attempt to improve their “moral image”--an effort that may be vital to their hopes of persuading Congress to provide U.S. military aid after their current funding runs out next March.

Rebel officials said that the three leaders had argued over how important the issue is and whether the largest contra army, Calero’s Nicaraguan Democratic Force (FDN), should submit to orders from the United Nicaraguan Opposition.

At one point, contra sources said, the UNO leader most concerned over human rights, Arturo Cruz, threatened to resign from the alliance’s three-man leadership if nothing were done.

Disagreement on Stance

Cruz and Calero also have disagreed on how far the contras should be willing to compromise with the Sandinista regime. Cruz, an economist and politician with no military force under his command, has urged a more conciliatory stance than has Calero.

On Thursday, however, Cruz said that he has been formally appointed UNO’s representative in Washington and pronounced himself “absolutely satisfied” with the organization’s human rights plan. “I will be in charge of this effort myself,” he said.

Cruz said that a civilian supervisor will be appointed under his supervision to monitor the behavior of the estimated 20,000 contra troops.

“The most common violation of human rights . . . is the execution of prisoners,” he said. “We hope to put an end to this practice.”

However, enforcement of human rights standards will remain in the hands of the Democratic Force’s military commanders, Cruz said.

Calero said that he does not believe that the contras’ human rights problem is serious. “There have been isolated cases of human rights violations, as there are in every war,” he said.

Rights Suspension Hit

Calero, Cruz and fellow UNO leader Alfonso Robelo also denounced the Sandinista regime’s suspension of a wide range of civil rights, announced on Tuesday.

“They simply dropped the mask that they had been wearing,” Calero said. “We are afraid that these measures are directed mostly against the Catholic church, the Catholic hierarchy and especially at Miguel Obando y Bravo,” the Nicaraguan cardinal.

The Sandinistas suspended the rights of free expression, public assembly and the right to strike, saying that they had been forced to adopt the measure by what they called the “brutal aggression” of the contras.