TOKYO, Sept 30 (Reuter) - The governor of Japan's southern Okinawa, rocked by the alleged rape of a schoolgirl by U.S. servicemen, snubbed on Saturday a central government request to meet an official on the question of U.S. bases.

Officials of the Defence Facilities Administration Agency, a government body in charge of providing land for U.S. bases in Japan, said agency director Noboru Hoshuyama was unable to meet Governor Masahide Ota.

"I will wait until tomorrow for possible talks with the governor," said Hoshuyama, who arrived on Friday. Okinawa prefectural officials said Governor Ota was too busy and could not meet him.

On Thursday, Governor Ota said he would suspend moves to help the central government secure land rental deals for maintaining U.S. bases on the island, home to about 24,000 U.S. servicemen.

"Under the current circumstances, it's absolutely difficult (to play the role)," Ota told the prefectural assembly.

Ota's stance was prompted by outrage in Okinawa and throughout Japan over the abduction and rape on September 4 of a 12-year-old girl, allegedly by three U.S. servicemen.

On Friday, U.S. military authorities on Okinawa handed over the three servicemen to Japanese prosecutors after they were indicted on kidnapping and rape charges. They will stand trial at the Naha District Court by the end of the year.

The three were identified as Navy Seaman Marcus D. Gill, 22, from Woodville, Texas; Marine Private First Class Kendrick M. Ledet, 20, from Waycross, Georgia; and Marine Private First Class Rodrico Harp, 21, from Griffin, Georgia.

They were accused of bundling the 12-year old schoolgirl into a rented van and gang-raping her on an isolated beach in northern Okinawa. The maximum penalty is life imprisonment.

The case has fuelled calls by local leaders and citizens for a reduction in the U.S. military presence in Okinawa, home to about 24,000 of the 44,000 U.S. military personnel stationed in Japan and 75 percent of U.S. military facilities in the country.

The central government was preparing to have some 2,900 Okinawan landowners renew their contracts before the current contracts expire between March next year and May 1997.

The landowners, who hold about 387,000 square metres (4.16 million sq ft) of land inside U.S. military facilities, have refused to renew the contracts.

The day before the Okinawa governor's decision the United States and Japan signed an accord that increases Tokyo's share of the costs of maintaining U.S. bases in Japan from about $4.8 billion a year to $5 billion.

--REUTER

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