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Dropped word permits changes in Contra aid
WASHINGTON — The Reagan
administration expects to take advan
tage of a minor change in the new
humanitarian aid package for the
Contra tebcls to institute a series of
non-military training programs de
signed to make the insurgents more
self-sufficient.
The aid program that expired Fri
day said the administration could use
the SI7.7 million package “only” for
food, clothing, medical services and
shelter.
The new $27 million six-month
package signed into law by President
Reagan Saturday calls for assistance
in the same four areas but the word
“only” has been deleted, permitting
the administration greater flexibility
in how the money is spent.
In signing the $14.3 billion foreign
aid bill, Reagan criticized what he
said was a minimal amount of hu
manitarian aid for the Contras.
U.S. officials, insisting on ano
nym ity, said they envision U.S.-spon
sored “skills training” in areas rang
ing from radio maintenance to record
keeping, human rights and health
care.
The officials said such programs
should boost the morale of the thou
sands of rebels who are camped along
the Honduran-Nicaraguan border
with little to keep them occupied.
Many of the rebels flocked to these
camps from inside Nicaragua over the
past six months to take advantage of
the assistance programs being carried
out in the border area by the Agency
for International Development.
No deliveries were made inside
Nicaragua because agreement could
not be reached with the Sandinisla
government on an acceptable deliv
ery system.
The officials said they expect
opposition to the proposed training
programs from members of Congress
hostile to the Contras who don ’ t want
them to survive as a viable organiza
tion.
The prospects for a renewal of
military aid for the rebels arc not
good. The aid package, initially ap
proved by the Senate in August, au
thorized the release of $16.5 million
in stockpiled military equipment
under certain conditions.
But the funds would require con
gressional approval before adjourn
ment of the current session, and there
is only about a week left before
members go home until the next ses
sion starts in January.
There has been no attempt by the
administration to trigger a vote on
release of the funds. Both the Repub
lican and Democratic campaigns for
president seem willing to ignore the
Contra aid issue, sensing there is little
political profit in raising it.
Congress rejected an administra
tion military aid request on Feb. 3 and
the formal cutoff of weapons deliver
ies to the Contras occurred on Feb. 29.
The majority of the Contras have
since resettled along the border area,
faced w i th the prospect that theirprin
cipal benefactor, the United States,
can no longer be relied on to aid in
their quest to topple the Sandinista
government.
According toofficials, the Contras
have some ammunition left butarc no
match for the Sandinistas, who re
ceived an estimated $400 million in
military equipment from the Soviet
Union during the first eight months of
I he year.
Space shuttle landing also very risky
but dry lakebed leaves more room for safety
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE,
Calif. — The Challenger tragedy
highlighted the danger of space
shuttle launches, but astronauts also
face risks when their orbiter rips
through Earth’s atmosphere and
plunges toward landing “like a
streamlined brick,” experts say.
“The landing is not as dramatic
and exciting as die launch and doesn’t
involve extremely powerful rockets,
but there’s no question landing is a
very critical operation and requires a
great deal of attention,” said B. John
Garrick, president of a Newport
Beach engineering consulting firm.
Discovery is to conclude its four
day mission with a landing Monday
morning at 9:33 a m. PDT. It will
sw'oop across California’s coast at
4.37 limes the speed of sound, slow to
subsonic speeds, then drop at a steep
angle before leveling out without any
power and glide toward touchdown
on the unpaved surface of Rogers Dry
Lake.
“It comes down like a streamlined
brick,” said Mill Thompson, chief
engineer for NASA’s Dryden Flight
Research Facility at this Mojave
Desert military base, where 18 of 24
previous shuttle missions landed.
Five flights landed at Cape Canav
eral, Fla., and one at White Sands
Missile Range, N.M.
Thompson said that while shuttle
landings are less dangerous than
launches, “there is still an element of
risk on whether or not you make this
landing properly because a lot ol it
does rely on the pilot’s judgment and
you are approaching the ground at an
extremely high rate of descent.”
The Jan. 28, l()86, explosion that
destroyed Challenger and killed
seven crew members 73 seconds after
liftoff from Florida prompted rede
sign of faulty shuttle booster rockets
and many other changes, including
installation of an emergency escape
system so astronauts can bail out
while approaching the landing site.
The braking and steering systems
also were modified to try to avoid the
brake and lire damage that had oc
curred during earlier landings.
The National Aeronautics and
Space Administration said the
changes were meant to eliminate
mechanical and heat-caused brake
damage, improve steering to provide
better control in crosswinds or if tires
blow out, and prevent bending of
main landing gear axles caused b\
brake overheating.
At the urging of astronauts and the
Rogers Commission, which investi
gated the Challenger disaster,
shuttles will land here for the foresee
able future, frustrating NASA s ini
tial plans to save lime and mone> b\
landing the spacecraft regularly back
at the Cape Canaveral launch site.
The44-square-milc dry lakcbcd at
Edwards leaves plenty of room for
safety if brakes fail or tires blow,
while a similar mishap at the Cape
could pul the shuttle in the water.
I _I
John Bruce Daily Nebraskan
Civic readies for ‘Dashing
Dan’ and ‘Lordly Lloyd’
OMAHA — Workers mopped
up the last of Andre the Giant’s
sweat Sunday and began to trans
form the Civic Auditorium into a
political debate hall for th if week’s
clash between “Dashing” Dan
Quayle and “Lordly” Lloyd
Benisen.
The names of Brutus the Barber
Beefcake, ‘‘Macho Man” Randy
Savage and Outlaw Ron Bass
graced the auditorium’s marquee
for Sunday’s pro wrestling exhibi
tion.
But arena laborers — who
cleared the stage for a Christian
rock band Saturday and soon must
arrange for a “monster truck" mud
race—switched gears late Sunday
in preparation for Wednesday’s
vice presidential debate between
Sens. Quayle of Indiana and
Bcntscn of Texas.
Ed Fouhy, executive producer
of the debate, said all was going
smoothly and he expected the
debate stage to be set by Monday
night.
“We're on schedule, just wait
ing for the wrestlers to leave,” he
said.
City Public Events Manager
Terry Forsberg said one of the
biggest tasks ahead will be deco
rating the candidates’ dressing
rooms with carpeting and drapes.
Fluorescent lights will be re
placed with lamps, smudged mir
rors with pictures and benches with
tables, he said.
“They’ll look like your living
room - or belter yet, theirs,” he
said.
The only tickets available to the
Kblic for Wednesday night’s de
le were being distributed in a
raffle through the state’s newspa
pers, butcity officials said they still
have been hit with countless re
quests.
“I don’t think there is an official
in to>yn—county, state, local level
— who hasn’t had a friend call him
and ask for a ticket,” said Kevin
Collison, media aide to Mayor
Walt Calinger.
Nebraskan
Editor Curt Wegner Asst Photo Chief David Failles on
472-178* Night Nows Editor Amy Edwards
Managing Editor Diana Johnaon Asst. Nigh. News
Assoc. News Editors Jana Hbt cditorfljbrarian Anno Mohn
Las Rood Art Directors John Bruce
Editorial Andy Manhort
Page Editor Mike Reilley General Manager Dan ShattB
Wire Editor Bob Nsloon Production Manager Katherine Policky
Copy Desk Editor Chuck Oreen Advertising Manager Robert Bates
Sports Editor Steve Sipple Saies Manager David Thiemann
Arts 4 Entertain- Circuiation M& >ager Ertc Shanks
' man* Editor MickJ Haller Publications Board
Diversions Editor Joeth Zucco Chairman Tom Macy
Sower Editor Andy PoNocfc 475-9*e*
Graphics Editor Darryl Mattox Professional Advisor Don Walton
Photo Chlof Ertc Qregory
The Daily NetoraskanfUSPS 144-080) is published by tne UNL Publications Board, Ne
braska Union 34,1400 R St.. Lincoln. NE (except holidays); weekly during the summer
session.
Readers art encouraged to submit story ideas and comments to the Daily Nebraskan
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* um ssassf iiis&ss
Foes call Botha move ‘sheer hypocrisy
JOHANNESBURG, Soulh Africa
— Government officials arc elated by
the success of their diplomatic offen
sive into black Africa, but foes of
apartheid said Sunday the campaign
docs nothing to resolve domestic
racial problems.
“Africa is talking to South Africa,”
President P.W. Botha said after meet
ing Saturday with President Mobutu
Scse Seko of Zaire. It was Botha’s
third summit with a black African
leader in three weeks.
City Press, Soulh Africa’s largest
selling black newspaper, described
the visit to Zaire as“shccr hypocrisy.”
An official of the African National
Congress guerrilla movement con
demned Mobutu for agreeing to meet
Botha.
Foreign Minister Pik Botha and
the president said on the (light from
Zaire that the increasingly open con
tacts between Soulh Africa and its
black neighbors discredited the sane
' lions campaign waged against Soulh
Africa by Western countries opposed
I
lo apartheid.
Apartheid establishes a racially
segregated society in which the 26
million blacks have no vote in na
tional affairs. The 5 million whiles
control the economy and maintain
separate districts, schools and health
services.
“I have often stated that South
Africa has something lo convey to
Africa, and especially to southern
Africa,” President Botha said. “Now,
suddenly, it seems they are coming to
grips with this truth.”
City Press, in an editorial Sunday,
asked: “What is the point of achieving
peace and stability win neighbors
when your own country is engulfed in
flames?”
Apartheid must be abolished and
negotiations held with legitimate
black leaders. City Press said. “Until
these minimum dcmandsarc met, Mr.
Botha can tour the rest of Africa as
much as he likes — peace will not
come to this country.”
Stanley Mabizcla, the ANC’s
chief representative in Zimbabwe,
said African leaders should shun
Botha because he “executes people
who are victims of an inhuman sex;i
ely, as well as political prisoners."
The summit also drew criticism in
Zaire, where troops fired warning
shots to disperse university students
protesting Botha’s visit.
But Botha said he planned more
trips in Africa soon. He also invited
Mobutu to visit South Africa.
Last month, Botha traveled to
Mozambique and invited its presi
dent, Joaquim Chissano, to visit
South Africa. Both Chissano and
Mobutu accepted the invitations, al
though no dates for their visits were
set.
No black African leader has made
a state visit to South Africa since
Botha look power in 1978.
One of Botha’s chief foreign pol
icy goals has been to expand tics with
black Africa without having to prom
ise concessions to the disenfranchised
black majority in his own country.
---,
Estonians cheer plans for autonomy,
object to Kremlin's “colonialist” policy
TALLINN, U.S.S.R. — Mem
bers of an Estonian nationalist
group accused ?he Kremlin on
Sunday of sapping their republic’s
resources and demanded that
Moscow give them greater control
over their land and economy.
Thousands of supporters
cheered the speakers at the first
congress of the fledgling People’s
Front.
“We have been reduced to the
level of slaves in a manor,” farmer
Enno Peels told more than 3,000
delegates.
Some speakers objected to what
they called the Kremlin’s “coloni
alist” policy, which they said
syphons off Estonia’s agricultural
output and manufactured goods.
“These people are to blame for
our suffering here, the lack of food
here,” delegate Albert Danielson
told the audience at the Town Hall
in Tallinn, the picturesque capital
of this republic on the Baltic Sea.
The two-day conference
opened Saturday with an address
by Estonia’s Communist Party
chief, Vajno Vyalyas, who greeted
the group in the name of Soviet
leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev.
Official sanction for the meet
ing was an indication of the chang
ing altitudes of authorities, who
recently would have thrown in jail
anyone espousing nationalist sen
timents.
The issue of ethnic relations is
key for Gorbachev, who is beset by
unrest among the Soviet Union’s
more than 100 ethnic groups. The
stirrings have been particularly
troublesome in the Baltic republics
of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia,
and in the southern republics of
Armenia and Azerbaijan.
The Soviet Union took over the
Baltic republics under a 1939
agreement with Nazi Germany.
