Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 28, 1990 TAG: 9003280406
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MANAGUA, NICARAGUA LENGTH: Short
The "procedural protocol" calls demobilization of the U.S.-backed Contra rebels "an essential element" for handing over the government.
It says the new government will have control of the leftist Sandinista army and police and that only these institutions should have combat weapons.
The document also says the conservative Chamorro government will respect the rights of thousands of people given confiscated land and homes during a decade of revolutionary Sandinista rule.
The Sandinistas have been handing out thousand of weapons to civilians since their Feb. 25 election defeat and have been urging people to defend the "conquests of the revolution."
They also have indicated an unwillingness to turn over control of the armed forces and police as long as the Contras remain an armed force.
The protocol says the army and the police will be non-partisan organizations.
The accord was announced late Tuesday by the leaders of the transition teams - Defense Minister Gen. Humberto Ortega of the Sandinistas and Antonio Lacayo of Mrs. Chamorro's United National Opposition coalition, or UNO.
Lacayo said the agreement envisions the demobilization of the Contras by the time Chamorro takes office April 25, as called for in an agreement reached Friday in Honduras between UNO and the rebels.
by CNB