Contra Rebels Kidnap Election Officials

Rearmed Contra rebels kidnapped 51 election officials in northern Nicaragua on Wednesday demanding that the army and police withdraw from the area, an electoral official said.

Rosa Marina Zelaya, president of the Supreme Electoral Council, said the 51 officials - 38 men and 13 women - were kidnapped near the village of San Andres de Bocay, a mountainous region close to the Honduran border.

The officials were helping to draw up voter registration rolls for Oct. 20 general elections.

All of those abducted were believed to be Nicaraguan.

Zelaya said she has received word that the kidnappers took their victims across the border into Honduras and were “demanding that a Honduras-Nicaraguan commission be set up to negotiate their freedom.”

Roman Catholic Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo and Sergio Caramagna, coordinator of a special permanent commission from the Organization of American States, offered to act as mediators, Zelaya said.