News Digest
Official: North met twice with Noriega
WASHINGTON — Gen. Manuel
Antonio Noriega, Panama’s military
ruler, met with Lt. Col. Oliver L.
North twice in 1985 and agreed to
provide military training for U.S. -
backed Contra rebels, an exiled for
mer Panamanian official testified
Wednesday.
The witness, Jose I. Blandon,
once a senior member of Panama’s
intelligence apparatus, said Noriega
later offered to send Panamanian
soldiers inside Nicaragua to conduct
“terrorist sabotage” against that
f -- ' -. 1 1
country’s leftist Sandinisla govern
ment.
But he said North replied that he
had no authority to accept such an
offer and would relay it to his superi-'
ors at the National Security Council.
Blandon also testified that Vice
President George Bush used Noriega
in October 1983 to warn Cuban
leader Fidel Castro that the United
States was about to invade Grenada.
He said the message from Bush
was to warn Cuba not to try to inter
vene in the U.S. military action
against the Caribbean island nation.
Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., said
the phone call from Noriega meant
“Fidel Castro probably knew about it
(the invasion) before we did.”
Blandon, appearing under oath
before the Senate Foreign Relations
subcommittee on terrorism, contra
dicted statements by Noriega last
week that in a December 1985 meet
ing with Rear Adm. John Poindexter,
just installed as presidential national
security adviser, the subject of Nica
ragua had not come up.
NelSraskan
Editor Mike Rellley
472-1766
Managing Editor Jen Deselms
Assoc News Editors Curt Wagner
Chris Anderson
Editorial
Page Editor Diana Johnson
Wire Editor Bob Nelson
Copy Desk Editor Joan Rezac
Sports Editor Jett Apel
Arts & Entertain
ment editor Charles Lleurance
Asst Arts &
Entertainment Editor Geoff MeMurtry
Graphics Editor Tom Lauder
Asst. Graphics Editor Jody Beam
Photo Chief Mark Davis
Night News Editors Joeth Zucco
Scott Harrah
Art Director John Bruce
General Manager Daniel Shattll
Production Manager Katherine Pollcky
Advertising
Manager Marcia Miller
Asst. Advertising
Manager Bob Bates
Publications Board
Chairman Don Johnson,
472- 3611
Professional Adviser Don Walton
473- 7301
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DAILY NEBRASKAN
I
Homeland leader ousted in coup
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa
— The army of Bophuthatswana
seized control of the tribal homeland
early Wednesday and deposed the
president. South African troops then
entered the homeland to aid the
ousted government.
President P.W. Botha of South
Africa told Parliament in Cape Town
that he ordered South African secu
rity forces into Bophuthatswana at
the request of members of the Cabi
net of deposed President Lucas
Mangopc.
Bophuthatswana, 200 miles
northwest of Johannesburg, is one of
four nominally independent black
homelands inside South Africa. No
other country recognizes their inde
pendence.
In seizing control early Wednes
day the Bophuthatswana army ac
cused Mangopc of corruption and
human rights abuses. The army said
In a Daily Nebraskan article Tues
day it was reported that debate would
continue Wednesday on a bill to es
tablish living wills. Debate was not
scheduled to continue Wednesday.
power would be handed over to an
opposition parly.
Botha said South African forces
were in the process of carrying out
their mission and he was awaiting
information from the forces’ com
mander. He made it clear that South
African troops had entered the home
land.
He said the South African forces
had been ordered to give priority to
the safety of the South African
Embassy and its personnel in the
capital, Mmapatho, to Mangope, his
Cabinet and their families.
He said the request for assistance
“in the name of peace and justice”
had come from Bophuthatswana
Foreign Minister S.L.L. Rathebc,
who had taken refuge in the South
African Embassy with some other
members of the Cabinet, relatives
and officials.
j Gorbachev criticizes NATO effort on weapons
MOSCOW — NATO efforts to develop weapons to supplant those
l banned by the new superpower accord will undermine the agreement
and could have serious consequences, Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gor
bachev said Tuesday.
He also acknowledged a “deep-rooted’' fear of the Soviets by some
j Europeans that could make them reluctant to give up nuclear arms.
The Kremlin leader made the comments in a meeting with Lothar
Spaeth, minister-president of the West German state of Baden
Wuerttembcrg, who is on an official visit to Moscow, the Tass news
agency reported.
On Sunday, two U.S. officials attending a weekend meeting in West
Germany called for improvements in the North Atlantic treaty
Organization’s short-range nuclear missiles and conventional forces.
Robertson declares himself ‘on the winning edge’
CONCORD, N.H. — Republican Pal Robertson declared in New
Hampshire Wednesday lhal “I’m on the winning edge” after finishing
| second in Iowa, while Paul Simon, the Iowa runneruip among Demo
crats, stepped up his criticism of Richard Gephardt but admitted his own
campaign had money problems.
Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis sailed in for a fight on his
home turf, declaring he would lead the pack after the Feb. 16 primary
here. Iowa winner Gephardt at least partly agreed, describing himself
as “clearly the underdog”.
U.N. envoy says final Afghan agreement near
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — U.N. mediator Diego Cordovez an
j nounced Tuesday that a virtual agreement had been reached to end the
j Soviet Union’s eight years of military intervention in Afghanistan.
Cordovez, appearing tired but pleased, told a news conference in the
\ Pakistani capital that officials from Islamabad and Kabul would go to
l Geneva for a new and possibly final round of indirect peace talks on
March 2.
All that remains is to “fill in the blanks” of the Soviets’ disengage
ment, Cordovez said.
Human rights report released
Soviet improvements cited, dramatic progress awaited
WASHINGTON — Mikhail S.
Gorbachev improved the Soviet
human rights performance last year,
and there “has been some relaxation
in the harshness of repression,” but
more dramatic progress is awaited,
the Slate Department said Wednes
day.
In its annual report on human
rights in 169 countries and territories,
the department also said it observed
positive signs in Poland, Hungary,
South Korea and Taiwan.
On the negative side, Richard
Schiller, assistant secretary of state
for human rights, told a news confer
ence North Korea is the worst viola
tor of human rights.
The report, repealing a long list of
conditions imposed by the Israeli
government on Palestinians in the
occupied West Bank and Gaza terri
tory, said hopes for the establishment
of democracy in Haiti were set back
and concluded “there was no prog
ress toward respect for human rights
in South Africa.”
On the situation in the Soviet
Union, Schiftcr said, “we have not
witnessed the dawn of democracy in
the USSR,” which he called a one
party dictatorship dominated by sc
crct police.
In the past, dissenters and demon
strators in the Soviet Union were
often sent to Siberian camps; they are
still beaten or harassed, but the over
all new ph i losophy is “to let them be,”
Schifter said.
The 1,358-pagc report was sent to
Congress to give senators and repre
sentatives guidance in deciding
which nations arc worthy of U.S. aid
and trade benefits.
Israeli police action that has led to
more than SOdeaths among Palestini
ans docs not warrant cuts in U.S. aid
to Israel, Schifter said.
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