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Disappearances Gunmen Seize U.S. Political Officer on Street in West Beirut
Plague Probe of
Aquino Murder
By William Branigan
Washington Po*t Foreign Service
MANILA,
March
16—A
fact-
finding board
investigating
the
as-
sassination
of
opposition
leader
Benigno
Aquino
Jr.
is
debating
whether
to
travel
to
the
United
States to interview prospective wit-
nesses
as
fear? mount that a
sus-
pected military cover-up of the mur-
By Herbert H. Denton
Washington Pest Foreign Smlce
BEIRUT, March 16-A US. dip-
lomat
was
kidnaped
by
unknown
gunmen
in front of his west Beirut
apartment building as he set out for
work at the embassy this morning.
According
to
witnesses,
William
Buckley, first secretary of the polit-
ical section, tried to escape his ab-
ductors but two carloads of gunmen
blocked
his
auto. An armed man
leaped from a
car, put a
pistol
to
Buckley’s head, forced him into one
of the cars and sped off.
Robert Pugh,
first deputy at the
U.S. Embassy, said late today there
had been
reports that the
car was
seen south of the capital but there
were no hard leads nor indication of
why Buckley was kidnaped.
“We are handicapped," Pugh said,
“because as is the case with any em-
bassy, we would deal with the legally
constituted
authorities,
of
which
there are none in west Beirut.”
“What we have
is what
I would
call
a
precariously
balanced
anar-
chy," he said.
For help
in finding Buckley, the
embassy turned to the two dominant
militia
in west
Beirut, the
Shiites’
j\Tnai anu me Druse oi
t»*e x zugics-
sive
Socialist Party. Pugh said
the
embassy had also asked
the militia
to provide
protection
for American
diplomats at their homes.
Buckley was the third American
to disappear under mysterious
cir-
cumstances since the Feb. 6 militia
takeover that aggravated lawlessness
in west Beirut Shoot-outs on
the
streets, daylight holdups,
break-iiis
and car and boat thefts are
recur-
rent.
Unlike the random shelling of res-
idential
neighborhoods
by
warring
sectarian
factions, these crimes are
often without any
political dimen-
sion but appear to be the work of
young
toughs
taking advantage of
the chaos.
[In the civil war Friday, the As-
sociated
Press
reported,
Christian
and Moslem militiamen traded mor-
tar and rocket-propelled grenade fire
from
midnight
until
midmorning.
The firing resumed at nightfall.)
As of this evening, no group had
claimed responsibility
for Buckley’s
kidnaping.
There
was
speculation
that it might have been carried out
by
a shadowy group
calling
itself
Islamic Jihad that has claimed
re-
See BEIRUT, A22, Col. 1
der has taken a violent turn, accord-
ing to people working on the inves-
tigation.
The board
also expects
to
place
more witnesses under protective cus-
tody in light of a
trail of deaths or
disappearances
that
followed
the
murder of Aquino at Manila
Inter-
national
Airport Aug.
while
he
was
in
the
custody
of
military
guards. So far at least six other per-
sons have died or disappeared
as. a
result of that
assassination, lawyers
said.
Testimony
about
the
disappear-
ances
has
shifted
attention
away
from questions about the actual as-
sassination
to
suspicions
about
a
subsequent cover-up, and the need
to protect witnesses who can further
the investigation.
The
trail
begins
with
Rolando
Caiman,
a
purported
professional
gunman who the government claims
shot Aquino on the airport tarmac
on behalf of communist rebels before
being gunned down himself by
se-
curity guards.
Two weeks later, according to tes-
See MANILA, A21, Col. 1
T
Mozambique, S. Africa
JL
Sign Detente Accord
By Glenn Frankel
WajdiJngvm Po^t Foreign JVrvtre
ON THE MOZAMBICAN-SOUTH AFRICAN BOR-
DER. March 16—The leaders of South Africa and Mo-
zambique signed an accord today pledging “nonaggres-
sion and good neighboriines3" in the first such pact ever
signed between one of Africa’s independent black nations
and its sole remaining white-ruled one.
The Komati Accord, signed by South African Prime
Minister
Pieter W. Botha and Mozambican President
Samora Machel
in a
colorful ceremony
in a no-man’s
land on the bank of the Komati River between the two
countries’ borders, commits each to respect the sover-
eignty of the other and to refrain from supporting insur-
gents seeking to overthrow the other government.
For both nations, the treaty marks a dramatic reversal
of policy following nearly a decade of hostile relations
that in recent years led to cross-border raids into Mo-
zambique by South African commandos and warplanes.
It is also the first formal step toward what American
diplomats, who helped orchestrate the negotiations that
Dennis and Brice Mover
Popular Couple Died
At Edge of 2 Cultures
By Ken Ringle
Fust sun M flbrf
In many respects, Bruce and Bonnie Glover
led to the pact, hope will be a region-wide detente that
will result in indepMjW^fcll
trolled territory of Namibia and end a series of bush wars
were a couple
right out of
their
time: young
and possibilities of Washington and the personal
Hughes Gets Bill
Md. Votes to Limit Pensions
By Saundra Saperstein
and Michel McQueen
Washington Post Staff Writers
ANNAPOLIS,
March
16—The
Maryland
House
of
Delegates
re-
versed
its vote of two days ago and
passed legislation today that will re-
strict
pension
benefits
of
80,000
state employes and teachers. Then,'
with extraordinary speed, the State
Senate approved the
bill, sending it
to Gov. Harry Hughes, who
is ex-
pected to sign it
f
Reversing
its
dramatic
70-to-70
tie
of Wednesday
which
had
de-
feated the measure, the House ap-
proved the
bill on a 71-to-6S vote
after House Speaker Beniamin
L.
Cardin
(D-Baltimore)
secured
the
victory margin with a deal
for
in-
creased state aid to schools.
Then, amid cries of foul play from
the
pension
bill’s
stunned
oppo-
nents,
the
measure
was
rushed
across
the
marble
hailvay
to
the
Senate
chamber
and
introduced
there. Employing a
series of proce-
dural
maneuvers,
the
Senate
rut
short a
process
that
usually
tabs,
days or even weeks and
in- less than
seven hours approved the
bill, 29 to
ia
Today’s action provided 3n unex-
pectedly
swift climax
for the
issue
that had turned the General Assem-
bly into a battleground between the
pension bill’s teacher-opponents and
legislative leaders, who made
it the
linchpin of the 1984 session. The bill
became
critical
when
the
Senate
threatened to
kill a huge aid-to-ed-
ucation package, particularly prized
by Baltimore,
if the House failed to
pass the pension bill
Tonight, the Senate Budget and
Taxation Committee held up its end
of the bargain by approving, 11 to 2,
See PENSIONS, Aid, Col. 3
CT RN ERS CA AULA RR EET REESE e 4 2 ' 59 bee Sok on 6 LUA ~ im : BS ” a ee ia BEIRU? z Bram & wlhsilbeer Fane th oti. SPOT uy rota the Suiside Bomb - exelosion of the US. Euiheesy last : Asn i, the hombings of US. Marine and French millary headquarters in October and the assassination in * dannary of Malcolm Kerr, the pres- deat of the American University of Beinit, Buckley, 55, a native of Medford, Mas. urrived in Beirut last duly after Joining the | Stste Department onhy last year. The department said be worked previously as a civilian employe of the | Army. He has no orvtanen thare Heteee cost mt yeDErc, mor de Gules ating Gui side the official compound. A ‘bach- elor, he lives six blocks from the em- basey in a 10th-floor penthouse of a once fashionable neighborhood that is now bomb-aarred and slightly seedy, The Druze militia operates in the neighborhood, as du iwe amaller Sunni Moslem mulities, the Museateers and the Mourabitoun Fare mun anew comed wom sees un line = (piste sir ra-aee-tucn}. According to Mohammed Moussa, concierge at Buckley's building, when the diplomat got into his car to go to work shortly before 8 am. a Groen 2T8en ~ee €bae83 4 1 Approved RonRelease Lock SHOW SPRINGFIELD SHOWING . TODAY, SUNDAY, MONDAY Friendship On FSS gi intorsocton of 1-495 & 1395, Exit 4S At ft. 644 Exif Collone Park « Mor. Holiday inn—10, £00 Baltimore Blvd. ase200U0 a Renault. with three gunmen inside blocked him after he had driven a few varda. A second car with men blocked the O TGre gun~ street further down, other witnesses ssid. They | said Buckley threw his car in reverse but was trapped in the dead-end street. He did not put up a struggle when a gunman jumped from the Renault and forced him inside, the witnesses eaid. The two other missing are Frank Regier, an American Uni- versity cf Beirut professor, who was abducted at gunpoint from his home ca the school’s campus on Feb. 10, and Jeremy Levin, bureau chief for Cable News Network, who has not been seen since his wife left home to go to work March 7. French diplomats said a French engineer living in west Beirut Gisep- peared two weeke ago, alter telling a hotei clerx he was going out to take photographs, The embassy’s diplomaiic siaff now numbers about 36, haif of its normal size, Many U. S, Embassy employes have moved into buildings used by the embassy on the seafront that are guarded by about 100 ma- Americans MARCH 17, 18, 19 inn-—Formerty Howard Jobnssa’s NEXT LOCATION 20,23 8/08: CIA-RDP96-00788R001900538011-3 e/ rines. But there is no guarantee of even in that area. Gn March 5, Marine Col Date Dorman was shot in the chest and arra a3 he was walking along the seafront near the embasay. Marine embassy guards who have ventured a blocka out of the compound said they have been threatened by carloads of young men and warned that if they go into town wear civilian clothes, Pinna any One marine said One or loads threatening him appeared sur- prised that not all of the contingent from the former muitinational peace-keeping force had withdrawn te ships at sea. But Americans are not the only targets. A Lebanese contractor, a ole related by martiage to Arnal militi head Rabin © Berri, was stunned when he and his wife were held up around noon Sunday by a gunmen whe took their identification pupers and car. Foves au te af the Ti a COT Last Friday, two groups of mill-: tiamen fought for several hou with semi-automatic weapons and recket- propelied grenades in 2 densely non- ated nei¢ chborhecd two blocks east of the prime minister's office. According to neighbors, the shoot- out stemmed frern an eight-year-old dispute between the owner of a small shoe shop and a service-station car washer across the street, In the past, the two men had merely shouted at ‘one another, but this time each got militia friends for backup. Residents 1 felt some "relief when three armored trucks carrying Leb- anese Army soldiers came, but the goidiers merely observed the fighting and continued on. Only when mih- ase sR & GAME TABLE CLEARANCE ibe peat Hae IOTDOUSS 1-4 err ne of forced rome car a4 way to work a tiamen of Amatl’s “police unit" ar- rived did the fighting end. “What we have is a state without instruments of poner and militias without atrategies,” 2 university nro- fessor here lamented the other day. He and cihers worry that factional leavers meeting in Switzerland do not appear to be attempting to find any compromise for a security force. Without such agreement, these sources fear, political decisions will be rendered meaningless. The Progressive Socialist Party and Ama! “have tried very hard to be cooperative and supportive” of U.S. Embassy personnel, said Pugh. “But they are not equipped te gov- ern or to carry out those functions of government that are important” in something like Buckley’s kidnaping. A European diplomat said he had been told that Amai and the Social- ists had killed 10 petty criminals in a show of force against the lawlessness. “Tt. wasn't enough,” he added, afi the Lebanese coast came clos colliding recently with five Ame ships conducting maneuvers. According to Capt. Robert Cooner, commander of the am: ious landing ship USS Trenton incident cceurred a few days the Feb. 26 completion of the t fez of U.S. Marinea from Beirut the five ships. Coorer said the Soviet Kes type destroyer bore down on the umn end only turned away at jast minuie under the bows of teed American ship. the Fort 5 Jing g, aout 700 yards away. Tt locked awiully close,” Ceo ‘a Lebanese Ho! Durme Paus i enbhan= 4 i LAUSANNE, ie M 16 (AP)—Specialists worked ti te drait final political proposals mediators hope might win appi Saturday from the rivai Moslem Christian factions at the Leh: peace talks. informal talks between facti leaders were report ied making bh way as Syria pressed both side reach a compromise on plans post-civil structural reforms. “Let’s face it, it’s Syria’s sh Co said one West European diple who dropped in at the luxury } where the conference began Mon Two committees of experts se by the National Reconciliation |