TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Nicaragua's Contras agreed Friday to begin disbanding their troops in Honduras by April 20, five days before a new civilian government is to take over in Nicaragua.
Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo, the archbishop of Managua, announced the agreement after a seven-hour meeting with leaders of the Nicaraguan Resistance and representatives of President-elect Violeta Barrios de Chamorro.
The communique said the U.S.-backed rebels agreed to demobilize the 10,000 fighters in bases in Yamales, Honduras, near the Nicaraguan border. It said the 3,000 guerrillas inside Nicaragua would move into security zones supervised by Obando y Bravo and the United Nations.
Chamorro's conservative, pro-American coalition defeated the leftist Sandinistas in the election, which was monitored by several thousand international observers.
The communique said the rebels agreed to demobilize because the Feb. 25 elections had "established a process of democratization" in Nicaragua. It did not mention when the disbanding would be completed.
The rebels called for an immediate cease-fire between the Sandinista armed forces and the Contras inside Nicaragua to be supervised by the United Nations and Obando y Bravo.
Chamorro's delegation to the talks agreed that the new administration would provide pensions to Contra widows and orphans and to wounded rebel veterans in "recognition of their patriotic labors." No details were immediately available.
The Chamorro administration also promised to "assure the rehabilitation and social readaptation" of those affected by the war and to seek humanitarian and medical aid for the duration of the demobilization.
Leaders of the rebels met with Obando y Bravo and Chamorro's representatives had come to Honduras to persuade the rebels to disband before her April 25 inauguration.
"In Central America, the time has come for arms to be silenced to make way for the search for a lasting regional peace," Obando y Bravo said before talks began at Toncontin air base outside the capital.
"The size of the armies also should be reduced for the purpose of seeking civilized solutions to the serious problems that afflict the great Central American nation."
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega said he fully supports the agreement to begin disbanding the Contras.
