
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 27, 1990                   TAG: 9003270228
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A/5   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

EXPANDED NICARAGUA OBSERVER FORCE URGED

The State Department is calling on the United Nations to increase a proposed observer force for Nicaragua to keep tensions at a minimum when President-elect Violeta Chamorro takes office next month.

Under a plan agreed to last year by the five Central American presidents, about 200 U.N. observers were to monitor the Nicaraguan-Honduran border.

But under an agreement reached on Friday, the observers would be assigned to protect the security of enclaves in Nicaragua where Contra rebel leaders said they will deploy their forces next month.

The agreement also calls for an internationally supervised cease-fire in Nicaragua and for the disarming, by April 20, of Contras based in Honduras near the Nicaraguan border.

The administration has been worried that progress toward national reconciliation in Nicaragua, highlighted by last month's elections, could be set back if warfare resumes between the Sandinistas and the Contras. Mistrust between the two sides remains high.

On Monday, State Department spokeswoman Margaret Tutwiler called the agreement historic and congratulated the parties on it. They included the rebel leadership, officials of the Nicaraguan Roman Catholic Church and aides to Chamorro. She takes office April 25.

by CNB