Baker OKs Provisos on Single Germany : Genscher plan: State secretary supports idea of reunified nation in NATO but keeping East Germany free of Western troops.

PRAGUE, Czechoslovakia — Secretary of State James A. Baker III, trying to guide the drive to German reunification, registered his support today for a plan that would keep the country in NATO but bar Western troops from moving into what is now East Germany.

The proposal, advanced by West German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher last week, also would allow Soviet troops to remain in the eastern region--at least at the outset.

A senior U.S. official said the drive to reunification has accelerated to the point that the two Germanys are likely to begin a process of economic, political and legal integration after East Germany holds national elections on March 18.

“The process of unification is taking place on the ground right now, and will continue to take place at a quick pace,” said the senior official, who was traveling aboard Baker’s plane and spoke anonymously.

Baker has expressed support to the general idea of reunification without publicly committing himself to any specific approach. He has stressed only that the country be in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and that it evolve in a peaceful, step-by-step way.

His support for the Genscher plan, therefore, could be significant. Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze, with whom Baker will open four days of talks in Moscow on Wednesday night, has called for an international referendum, while expressing concern over “the revival of sinister shadows of the past.”

Baker discussed the situation with French Foreign Minister Roland Dumas during a refueling stop in Shannon, Ireland, and then flew here for talks with leaders of Czechoslovakia’s “Velvet Revolution.”

Baker met with Vaclav Havel, the dissident playwright who was elevated to the presidency with the disintegration of the Communist Party in December, and separately with Roman Catholic Cardinal Frantisek Tomasek and leaders of the Civil Forum, the pro-democracy group that toppled the hard-liners.

He brought an offer of technical advice to assist the country’s adoption of a free market system and other capitalistic wrappings that are enticing American businesses. But he brought no aid.

“They do not want a handout,” said a U.S. official who briefed reporters.

Here, as elsewhere in Europe, attention is riveted on Germany and the future of American and Soviet troops.

Havel has demanded the withdrawal of the estimated 75,000 Soviet soldiers in Czechoslovakia. His plans for disarmament could be an impetus for further U.S. cuts, beyond the 100,000 or so that would be withdrawn under President Bush’s latest proposal.

But a U.S. official said, “There are many statements by Havel and others in Czechoslovakia who recognize an important U.S. role in political, economic and security terms.”