UN seeks Salvadoran peace talks

The United Nations approved a resolution Wednesday night for a ''negotiated political solution'' to civil war in El Salvador despite strong objections from the United States.

The resolution, passed by a 68-22 vote, marks the first official UN request for peace talks in the Central American nation, Monitor contributor Stephen Schlesinger reports. Last year the international body approved a resolution urging only an end to human rights abuses in the country.

Jose Napoleon Duarte, president of El Salvador's governing junta, dismissed the resolution to negotiate with the leftist guerillas as not being important.

France and Mexico's call for a negotiated settlement earlier this year was at that time rejected by President Reagan and by nine Latin countries.

The new UN declaration suggests that elections be held in El Salvador only after a peace pact is arranged, rather than next March, as the US has urged. The drafters of the statement said that an ''atmosphere of intimidation and terror'' exists in the country today and implied that no fair elections are possible. It also requested all nations to ''abstain from intervening'' in El Salvador and to stop sending arms supplies.

The US strongly lobbied against the measure. Its position is that the El Salvador issue should resolved by the Organization of American States, not the UN.