East Germans Dispute Status of Secret Police

EAST BERLIN — Opposition groups today suspended negotiations with the ruling Communists after the government said it could not immediately explain the status of East Germany’s hated secret police network.

One opposition group alleged that a secret police unit had urged a coup to halt the reform movement.

Opposition groups had threatened to pull out of the weekly negotiations unless there was proof that the secret police network had been disarmed and was being disbanded.

But delegates to the talks instead voted to break off only until next Monday, when a senior official of Prime Minister’s Hans Modrow’s leadership is expected to appear before the forum.

The talks were repeatedly halted today, as representatives of the various and fractured reform movements caucused over how to proceed and one group issued an ultimatum that it would pull out if no government official appeared before 4 p.m. to discuss the divisive issue.

Government spokesman Walter Halbritter said Modrow was out of the country for a meeting of the East Bloc’s economic council in Sofia, Bulgaria, and that the opposition demands for an immediate report were “illogical.”

The delegates then voted 24 to 11 to suspend their talks until next Monday, when Halbritter said a government representative could address the security questions.

A collapse of the talks could endanger the tenuous acceptance of Modrow’s transitional Cabinet by the opposition, which has been unable to present a unified front.

Earlier today, Rolf Henrich of New Forum, the largest opposition group, disclosed what he said was a draft telex prepared by secret police agents in the city of Gera on Dec. 9, urging authorities in East Berlin to “paralyze” the opposition.

Henrich said he was uncertain if the telex was ever dispatched, but contended it “called for a coup” to end the democratic reform movement.

Communist Party chief Gregor Gysi and representatives of other traditionally Communist-allied parties said they were unaware of the message.

The Modrow government, formed after a peaceful popular October revolution toppled hard-line Communist leaders, has promised to create the conditions for free and fair elections on May 6.