DEAL ENDS WAR IN CHECHNYA : SEPARATISTS AGREE TO SUSPEND FIGHT FOR INDEPENDENCE FOR 5 YEARS.

Byline: Associated Press 

Russian Security chief Alexander Lebed declared an end earlier today to the nation's disastrous war in Chechnya, saying Chechen separatists had agreed to suspend their demand for independence for five years.

``The war is over,'' Lebed proclaimed from Khasavyurt, a village south of Grozny where he concluded the peace deal with top rebel leaders, the Interfax news agency said.

All previous pacts have failed to end the 20-month-old war, which has killed 30,000 people. But this agreement - coming after a punishing rebel offensive against troops in the capital - goes farther than any other in raising the issue of Chechen independence and appears to commit Russia to addressing the question five years from now.

``I can tell the soldiers' mothers that soldiers and innocent civilians won't die on Chechen territory,'' rebel military leader Aslan Maskhadov said at the end of nearly nine hours of negotiations.

Lebed had been expected to offer Chechnya a greater degree of autonomy within Russia in addition to postponing a final decision on its political status.

It wasn't immediately clear whether the agreement alters Chechnya's current status, or whether it sets a specific mechanism for the decision on Chechnya's independence.

The peace agreement follows a truce Lebed negotiated last week. Under that pact, Russian troops have been withdrawing from the Chechen mountains and Grozny, which the rebels overran this month - killing hundreds of Russian troops.

Top Kremlin figures had approved the proposal that Lebed took to the rebels. The terms of the proposal were not disclosed, and it was not known whether they changed during negotiations.

A series of previous agreements to halt fighting in the republic have collapsed, with both rebel fighters and the military sometimes reluctant to follow their leaders' pledges.

Interfax said the Chechen delegation cheered Lebed after the signing ceremony.

Asked about Lebed's declaration, White House press secretary Mike McCurry said he had no details but added: ``We are very encouraged by the discussions between the parties.'' McCurry is accompanying President Clinton on a campaign bus tour of the Midwest.