Page 8/The Battalion/Thursday, August 6,1987
World and Nation I!
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Ortega offers to discuss possible cease-fire pla|
MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) — Presi
dent Daniel Ortega on Wednesday offered
to discuss with the U.S. government a
peace plan announced in Washington that
calls for a cease-fire between Sandinista
troops and Contra rebels.
“The government of Nicaragua invites
the government of the United States to im
mediately initiate negotiations in Washing
ton, Managua or in a third country to have
an unconditional dialogue to discuss the
said initiative,” Ortega said.
He also said the meeting would be a
time to discuss as well “Nicaraguan initia
tives with the purpose of developing a ne
gotiating process that would conclude with
a signing of a just and verifiable accord
that would guarantee the legitimate inter
ests of Nicaragua and the United States.”
President Reagan said Wednesday in
Washington he would hold off on seeking
further military aid for Contra rebels if Ni
caragua’s leftist government agrees to a
cease-fire and democratic reforms.
The $100 million in U.S. aid for the
Contra rebels approved last year expires
Sept. 30. The Contras have been fighting
the leftist Sandinista government here for
the past 5 1 /? years.
(Jrtega said a refusal by the United
States to meet with Nicaraguan officials
would show the the proposal from Wash
ington is only a maneuver to appease the
U.S. Congress.
“The rejection of this dialogue would
show that the Reagan administration, with
its initiative, wants to boycott (other) peace
efforts of the region ... to obtain a biparti
san consensus of Congress for the appro
val of more funds for the mercenaries and
the strengthening of its current interven
tionist escalation which the administration
insists on continuing,” Ortega said.
The president read the brief statement
to journalists invited to the government
headquarters.
He announced before reading the
statement that he would accept questions
at some other time.
Ortega is scheduled to attend a summit
of Central American presidents Thursday
and Friday in Guatemala City, where For
eign Minister Miguel D’Escoto earlier said
Reagan “is becoming more and more con
vinced that it’s going to be difficult to ob
tain more funding for the Contras.”
“He’s trying to create the impression
that he is not a warlike president, that he is
open to peace,” D’Escoto said Tuesday
nmht. Ijj
“But he is a true ‘bandolero,’a mar. (VJ
operates totally outside the law." ^
The Sandinista newspaper Barra ^
here Wednesday called the Reagan prcE
sal “a maneuver against the summit^
the pro-government newspaperNue\
ario termed it "unacceptable.’’
The summit is intended to disciis
plan for peace first proposed by Cost:
can President Oscar Arias in Febman
The Contadora Group of Mexico,h
ama, Venezuela and Colombia has >
trying since January 1983 todraftay.
treaty for Central America.
h
California lawmaker proposes
penalties for highway shooters
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A law
that would imprison highway gun
slingers for at least three years was
proposed Wednesday as violence
spread from the freeways to the sky,
where one pilot reported another
one drew a gun on him.
“Maybe next time they can do it in
rocket ships,” said a spokesman for
the Marines Corps, which volun
teered the use of a helicopter in an
unsuccessful attempt to catch the
airborne gunman.
The spate of motorist-to-motorist
violence, which started in mid-June,
has left four people dead and 15 in
jured on southern California free
ways. Eighteen people have been ar
rested, although one was released
for lack of evidence. More than 40
shootings, rock-throwings and other
attacks have been recorded.
Most of those arrested so far have
been booked for investigation of at
tempted murder. A first-degree at
tempted murder conviction carries a
prison sentence of 25 years to life.
It appeared the highway violence
had moved to the crowded sky over
the region Tuesday when the pilot
of a Cessna 150 reported that the pi
lot of a Citabria brandished a gun at
him as the two planes flew off the
coast of Oceanside, 70 miles south
east of downtown Los Angeles, Fed
eral Aviation Administration
spokeswoman Elly Bekke said. No
shots were fired.
The Marine Corps Air Station in
El Toro volunteered a CH-46 Sea
Knight helicopter in an unsuccessful
attempt to find the gun-wielding pi
lot, said Maj. Hank Polacke.
“I guess this is a new twist to the
freeway shootings,” Polacke said
Wednesday. “Maybe next time they
can do it in rocket ships.”
FAA spokeswoman Barbara Abels
said Wednesday that investigators
had located the Citabria pilot and
said he denied drawing a gun.
She said the pilots each accused
the other of traveling too close to the
other.
State Assemblyman Paul Zeltner
announced Wednesday that he will
propose urgency legislation later this
month to crack down on freeway
shooters.
His bill would permanently re
voke the driver’s license of anyone
convicted of shooting from one car
at another, require a minimum
prison sentence of three years for
anyone convicted of such a crime,
and require a minimum state prison
sentence of up to seven years if a
death occurs during such a crime.
Witnesses tell of death, destruction in Mecca
MECCA, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Friday began in
peace, as befits a day of the annual Moslem pil
grimage to holy Mecca, but there were whispers
during early afternoon prayers at the Grand
Mosque. Then the trouble began.
This account of the protests and riots, in which
hundreds of people were killed, was assembled
from interviews with witnesses:
Two million Moslems from all over the world
had come to Mecca on the annual hajj, or pil
grimage.
Many observers in the sea of white, seamless
robes noticed clusters of Iranians forming in the
vast yard and outside the prayer compound. The
pious scene around the Grand Mosque quickly
became one of violence, panic and death.
Groups of Iranians moved in tight formations,
in a brisk half-step march despite the tempera
ture of 115 degrees, with large numbers of chan
ting women in the front.
Shouting and sounds of confusion came from
the rear of the huge crowd. Hajiis, or pilgrims,
from other countries were squabbling with the
Iranians, who had blocked several streets. A car
was overturned and began to burn.
Some in the front fought police, grabbing offi
cers and striking them with pieces of wood or
metal. Police retreated behind water cannons,
whose jets knocked over protesters and started
more stampedes.
Saudi authorities say the toll was 402 dead:
275 Iranian pilgrims, 42 other hajiis and 85 po
lice officers. They said the police did not fire on
the protesters, and the deaths and hundreds of
injuries were caused by trampling and riots.
U.S. chief of protoco
Diplomatic immunitf
is necessary policy
WASHINGTON (AP) — The
State Department’s chief of pro
tocol on Wednesday defended a
treaty that guarantees diplomatic
immunity, despite testimony
from victims who told tales of
rapes and assaults gone unpu
nished.
“We are an honorable nation
— we are not an Iran,” Selwa
Roosevelt told a Senate panel.
Roosevelt said she feels com
passion for victims of diplomatic
crime, but she said legislation to
limit diplomatic immunity here
would ultimately hurt U.S. en
voys abroad.
“We have set our signature on
a treaty,” she said. “If the United
States unilaterally alters its treaty
obligation, we surely will invite
more harmful reciprocal action.”
The department has estimated
that about 27,000 foreigners and
their families are covered by dip
lomatic immunity, although the
American Federation of Police
put the number closer to 40,000.
Under the 1961 Vienna Conven
tion on Diplomatic Relations,
these people can’t be tried on
criminal charges here unless the
home country waives immun:
But Roosevelt, whose husl
is a scion of the family of
odore Roosevelt, acknowl
that rarely happens.
Instead, diplomatic cna
generally go unpunished, ii4
nesses told the Senate Fort!
Relations Committee.
Kenny Skeen, of Silver Spn|
Md., was working as a nigh::
bouncer in 1982 whenht.
shot by a young man later :c:
fied by police as thesonofa
Brazilian ambassador. Skttni
he was just coming outofsurr
when he was told thatthcra
had l>een released.
“When I heard the new:,
this man was a diplomat's johe':
would be cut free, that fab:;
mind,” Skeen said. TmanA-
ican. He’s over here onmyr
erty, my country. He shoo:
and he gets away scot-free. |
Years later, Skeen disco'?’
that the ambassador's sor.
been arrested another timt
“assaultive conduct” and Ktl
on d iplomatic-imtmiDj
grounds. The son wentbadl
Brazil a few days after Sleet|
shot.
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