By Tod Robberson
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, April 9, 1995; Page A29

MEXICO CITY, APRIL 8 -- Peasant rebels in the southern state of Chiapas, facing an imminent government deadline to enter peace talks, have agreed to take part in preliminary discussions Sunday aimed at breaking a 13-month-old impasse in efforts to end their insurgency.

President Ernesto Zedillo's government and the mainly Indian peasant Zapatista National Liberation Army issued separate announcements late Friday saying they had agreed to discuss the framework and agenda for formal negotiations.

Government officials say they hope Sunday's meeting in the former Zapatista stronghold of San Miguel will break a logjam in efforts to end the rebellion, which has been a primary source of instability in Mexico amid a festering economic crisis.

San Miguel is situated about 60 miles east of the Chiapas state capital, Tuxtla Gutierrez, in the heart of a largely agricultural region seized by the Zapatistas on Jan. 1, 1994, the first day of their uprising. Independent monitoring groups estimate that 150 government troops, insurgents and civilians died in fighting during the first two weeks of the rebellion before both sides agreed to a cease-fire.

Zedillo, who took office four months ago, has said he is seeking to end the conflict peacefully in conjunction with a crash program of economic, judicial and political reforms aimed at restoring investor confidence in Mexico.

The country is in the midst of its most severe economic crisis in more than a decade, spurred by a Dec. 20 currency devaluation that was announced one day after the Zapatistas broke through an army cordon and, without resistance, seized a number of towns and villages across central and northern Chiapas.

Zedillo was urged by foreign investors earlier this year to resolve the Chiapas problem quickly because of the damage it was doing to Mexico's reputation as a stable place to do business.

At least one army officer was killed by gunfire in February of this year when Zedillo, seeking to force an end to the conflict, launched a government offensive in Chiapas and ordered the arrest of top Zapatista leaders, including the charismatic rebel chief known as Subcomandante Marcos. The government later offered an amnesty, provided the Zapatistas agreed by Monday to take part in peace discussions.

Marcos, who remains at large, accepted on behalf of the rebels, saying the Zapatistas were offering a "resolute demonstration of their true willingness to hold a dialogue and . . . open definitively the door to a political solution." He said the talks posed a "risk to {the rebels'} lives, security and property" because of the large army presence in the region since the government's February offensive.

The last formal negotiations adjourned in March 1994, with the government of then-President Carlos Salinas de Gortari claiming that a peace accord had been reached and the rebels saying that further talks were needed.

Rebel groups claiming to represent dozens of Indian communities later voted overwhelmingly to reject the government's peace plan, which called for increased social spending in rural areas of Chiapas and limited state political reform aimed at boosting Indian political representation.

The rebels continue to demand reforms on a national scale, insisting that they represent oppressed and impoverished Mexicans throughout the country.