El Paso Times from El Paso, Texas • 8

TIMES. Sunday, August 31. 1986 Page 8-A Contras to expand war with help from the U.S. The Cameroon africa Disaster CAMEROON Cameroon, the size of California with a population of 9.2 million, is on the Gulf of Guinea in western Africa. world JZ released 71 LAKE JfcW lulfyk I 1 1 It or many years- fjpj s.

gases collect in MjiiMMi ham'ef "We will establish a permanent military presence in Nicaragua and we will cover militarily 75 percent of the Nicaraguan territory, not to control the territory, but to have military operations against the Sandinistas," Arana said in an interview in Tegucigalpa. He said the Nicaraguan Democratic Force hopes to complete the expansion within a year. The aid package calls for U.S. military personnel to work with the contras, but details still are being worked out in Washington. A U.S.

diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said one possibility is to have U.S. trainers instruct rebels already in the field and to provide basic train-, ing to new recruits. Honduras, El Salvador and Panama all have said they do not want the contras on their soil. "It really does not matter where it is done. What matters is that we get the training," said Aristides Sanchez, one of seven members of the ruling director-, ate of the Nicaraguan Democratic Force.

claims to have 18,000 fighters, with about 40 percent operating inside Nicaragua and the rest encamped in an estimated eight clandestine bases along the border in Honduras. Military analysts in the region put the number lower, some estimating as few as 10,000 fighters. Arana said the Nicaraguan Democratic Force plans to have about 30,000 fighters within eight months of receiving the U.S. aid, probably starting some time in October. "If we have the equipment, there will be no problem in increasing the force to that size.

That always has been the problem before, the lack of equipment," Arana said. The Nicaraguan Democratic Force also plans to increase its activities in Nicaragua, Arana said. He said the rebels now operate in about 40 percent of the country, constantly on the move in the northern provinces and along a north-south corridor in Nicaragua. )CHA0 NIGERIA (Lake Niosj EL PASO Lake gas crept up on victims WUM, Cameroon (AP) Deep under Lake Nios. the 'earth belched.

A bubble of scalding gas rose through the clear blue waters, collecting clay silt, and burst through the surface into a rainy, windy night. In the grass-roofed huts of nearby villages, famines were eating dinner or sleeping at about 9 p.m. that Thursday, Aug. 21, when death came with an acrid odor. Within minutes, more than 1,700 people were dead, burned by steam and choked by carbon dioxide and toxic gases.

Some collapsed as they tried to flee, ripping off their clothes because of the searing heat. About two-thirds of the victims were in the village of Nios, a half-mile from the placid lake that local residents called "the good lake" because of its sweet water. Hugging the valleys, the lethal gas moved eastward through the villages of Sou-boum and Cha, killing hundreds more people. "I woke up with a terrible smell in my nostrils. It smelled like gunpowder," said Benjamin Dom, 27, who was interviewed later in the Wum hospital.

"I went outside and fell. My senses were wild. I felt pains in my head. My leg felt as if the blood was not moving," said Dom, a field hand from Sou-boum, five miles from Nios. Philip Ngong, a 32-year-old carpenter, said he remembered gagging on air that smelled like exhaust fumes.

He said he passed out and regained consciousness Saturday to find his entire family lying dead around him. By midnight Thursday, an eerie silence had fallen over a 10-square-mile area in the rugged and remote northwest province. Herds of white longhorn cattle dropped dead in the hills. So did birds and wildlife. The once-crystalline waters of Lake Nios turned to reddish-brown sludge.

Only the lush green grasslands and thick tropical forests looked untouched. Corpses lay untended until Friday, Aug. 22, when survivors who fled the night before began returning to bury their dead. Local residents with city jobs began coming home for the weekend and spread word of An earthquake, landslide or a volcanic disturbance may have triggered the release of deadly gases from Lake Nios. U.S.

scientists contend that carbon dioxide is the most likely cause of This gas commonly is by volcanoes. It's not but causes suffocation. It than air and would collect low-lying populated areas. TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) With $100 million in U.S. aid almost in their pockets, contra rebels say they plan to nearly double the size of their fighting force and expand their guerrilla warfare to three-fourths of Nicaragua in the next year.

The rebels say that with the right training and equipment they can improve the effectiveness of the hit-and-miss style of fighting that, since 1982, has been more miss than hit. The contras are fighting Nicaragua's leftist Sandinista government, which the United States has accused of undermining Central America by trying to export revolution. The Sandinistas over-' threw the Somoza dynasty in 1979. The rebel leaders insist they don't want U.S. soldiers fighting alongside them.

"Just Nicaraguans will be fighting. We are fighting those who brought international terror to Nicaragua. We. do not want to make the same mistake," said Frank Arana, a spokesman for the Nicaraguan Democratic Force. The Nicaraguan Democratic Force, the largest contra Soviet candor-on Chernobyl stops at home MOSCOW (AP) Western scientists have praised the Soviets for their candor in discussing the Chernobyl nuclear disaster at a world conference, but at home Soviet news media have not even reported the latest death toll.

The five-day conference on Chernobyl, sponsored by the International Atomic Energy Agency, drew nuclear safety experts from 60 countries and ended Friday in Vienna, Austria. During the meeting, Soviet delegates acknowledged the April 26 accident was due mainly to incompetence of plant personnel. They also said the explosion, fire and radiation caused 31 deaths and forced evacuation of 135,000 people. The Soviet press, however, briefly reported only the conference opening and closing. Soviet readers still don't know the toll stands at 31, up from the previous official figure of 28.

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CAMEROON Yaounde the disaster. It was Saturday, Aug. 23, that -first reports of the disaster reached Yaounde, the capital 200 miles away. Gideon Taka, who works at the Ministry of Information and Culture in the provincial capital of Bamenda, said he first learned of the disaster through a government office worker in Wum who left to visit his family in Nios. The office worker found a dead antelope on the road and tied it to his motorcycle.

"He thought it was his lucky day," said Taka. Later down the road, the cyclist found human bodies and began to feel dizzy. He returned to Wum, about 20 miles from Nios, without going into the village. Taka said he reached the-stricken area at 4 p.m. Satur-.

day and rubbed his eyes in disbelief. "Most people were They suffered burns and those Geneva Friday that the gas killed 1,746 people. Barberi, a professor at the University of Pisa, said the buildup of hot volcanic gases beneath Lake Nios may have taken years and it would be unlikely for such pressure to build up again quickly. French volcano expert Haroun Tazieff said Friday, however, that while the pressure under the lake may have been expended, it was possible that the pocket of deadly gas was not emptied entirely by the explosion and that a risk of further emissions remained. Tazieff warned against allow death.

released poisonous is heavier in AP graphic who were still surviving were coughing up blood," he said. "We saw a lot of corpses in the road. Perhaps they thought they could survive by running away. Everyone was lying down, lying all over. Most of them were in the yard.

They came out of the rooms and tore their dresses because of the heat. They were mostly naked or half-naked," he said. Sunday, Aug. 24, an army task force moved in to clean up. U.S.

Ambassador Miles Frechette said it was only then "that we understood the enormity of what happened." A grim-looking President Paul Biya blamed the high casualty toll on the weather. "The wind blew the gas to the vil- lages and this is what brought death to the people," he said. French volcanologist Fran-" cois Leguern called it the worst volcanic gas disaster ever re-" corded. ing local residents to return. Barberi's team of scientists is one of several who went to the disaster site.

His group was the first to leave the region. Reports of fluctuating water temperatures in Lake Nios made by French scientists prompted fears of further volcanic activity in the lake. Barberi said the fluctuations may have been due to the varied climate of heavy rains and bright sunshine which would affect readings noticeably. He said the lake's temperature now of 86 degrees is far above an average temperature of 72-73, and is due to residual heat from the gas cloud. A STAR? Select from hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of quality home furnishings sale priced at a fraction of retail! Scientists don't expect more eruptions A ays i Only Friday -Saturday -Sunday -Monday Save 15 to 80 On Every Item In Stock I Hurry 1 Ranch Classic YAOUNDE, Cameroon (AP) Italian scientists examining the site of the Aug.

21 calamity in northwestern Cameroon see little chance of further deadly gas eruptions from the same lake, but say other lakes in the area may be dangerous. "There is no possibility of an explosion of this kind within a short time" at Lake Nios, where more than 1,700 people suffocated from carbon dioxide, volcanologist Franco Bar-beri said Saturday. The cloud of hot gas swept through three villages near the lake, devastating much of the population. The Office of the U.N. Coordinator for Disaster Relief said in "The El Paso" Waterbed Includes: Solid wood Headboard Pedestal XBase Decking liner Mattress Healer frame Conditioner Fill Kit Drain Pump Best JllVV rv 111 J.

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