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Approved For Release 2000/08/08
: CIA-RDP96-00789R000400040001-3
(
Today: Hazy, hot and humid. High
J8. Low 78. Wind 6*12 mph.
/
i unday: Partly sunny, hot, possible
hunderstorm. High 94.
'esterday: AQl: 95. Temperature
ange: 73-96. Details on Page B2.
L 1 1th Year
No. 238
© 1988, The Washington Post Company
SATURDAY, JULY 30, 1988
Optimism
Voiced on
Gulf Talks
[raqi ‘Brinkmanship’
May Cause Additional
Sessions, Official Says
By Patrick E. Tyler
Washington Post Foreign Service
UNITED NATIONS,
July 29—
Negotiations on a cease-fire to end
he Iran-Iraq war reached a critical
joint tonight as senior U.N. officials
miced optimism they had crafted a
>lan
that
would
be
acceptable
to
joth sides.
U.N.
Secretary
General
Javier
Jerez de Cuellar said earlier in the
!
lay he was
“very,
very
pleased"
vith the talks he held with the for-
eign ministers of the warring coun-
ries
and
said
negotiations
were
Jnoyiagjnjhe^right direction"
to
ind acompromise on one
of the
nain stumbling blocks—Baghdad’s
lemand
for
early,
face-to-face
jeace talks with Iran.
But
tonight,
after the secretary
general's
final meeting of the day
vith
Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq
^ziz, a senior U.N. negotiator said
fraq was engaging in what he de-
scribed as “brinkmanship," and he
low
expected
the
talks
to
carry
jver into next week. Aziz made no
:omment to reporters as he left the
Jnited Nations tonight.
Iran’s foreign minister, Ali Akbar
/elayati, said after a one-hour ses-
sion with Perez de Cuellar that he
lad been presented with a “new and
inal
proposal" on
the
cease-fire,
felayati said his reaction to the lat-
est plan was generally positive and
:hat he would
consider
it
further
before responding on Saturday.
“1 think we will reach our aim of
naving a cease-fire very soon," Se-
curity Council President Paulo No-
gueira-Batista
told
reporters
this
afternoon, discounting reports that
the cease-fire talks being sponsored
here had reached a deadlock.
“Things
are going
well,"
Batista
said, adding that, “one should not be
alarmed by difficulties which may be
faced
at
this stage
of the
negotia-
tions."
The
secretary
geiferal
also mqt
this morning with
thfe Wife of U.S.
Marine Lt. Col,
. William R. Higgins,
who was
kidnaped
while
on
: U.N.
i
peace-keeping duty in southern Leb-
anon
last February. Robin Higgins,
who
is
a
Marine
major,
also
ad-
dressed the Security Council, thank-
ing
its members for passing a reso-
lution today condemning the kidnap-
ing and demanding Higgins' release,
Higgins
is thought to be held by a
:
pro-Iranian group in Lebanon.
U.N.
officials
meanwhile
' ex-
pressed optimism that Higgin?’. re-
lease might be secured in thfenear
ruture as a conciliatory gesture by
Iran
to the United Nations
for
its
role in bringing about an end to the
ong-running
war.
Officials
added
hat Iran was motivated by the like-
ihood that U.N. forces may be nec-
essary
to monitor
a
future
truce
jetween Iran and Iraq.
But Perez de Cuellar
said
there
See GULF, A20, CoL 1
A20
Saturday, July 30, 1988
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAI/REUTER
Robin Higgins, wife of kidnaped Marine Lt. Col. William R. Higgins, meets with
Perez de Cuellar, UJL Security Council yesterday condemned Higgins’ abduction.
U.N. Officials Optimistic
On Gulf Cease-Fire Plan
GULF, From AI
date when a cease-fire would com-
mence and soldiers would remain in
their own territory.
Meanwhile,
an
Iranian
rebel
guerrilla
group
,
trained
and
equipped by Iraq gave up its drive
to take the Iranian provincial capital
of Bakhtaran after a three-day cam-
paign that reportedly took
its Na-
tional
Liberation
Army
(NLA)
forces nearly 100 miles
into
Iran,
. the deepest penetration of the war.
was no credible confirmation of Hig-
gins' whereabouts or of the rumors
that Iran was working to free him.
“I would be delighted
if you are
right" about reports of his release,
he told one reporter. “But I have no
reason, unfortunately, for thinking
that he will be released soon."
Still, U.N.
offipials were looking
-fnr cAmo nnciitivft m r>yf> hy Tran that
r v :rka..u gn u in l
^icutuauuu ui LUC war.
would secure
the release of
Washington. Aladin Touran, a
gins. Another eight Americans are
representative of the National Lib-
;
believed held captive by Hezbollah
(Party of God), a radical Lebanese
Shiite
Moslem
group
that
is
fi-
nanced by Iran.
“Iran wants a U.N. peace-keeping
force" as part of the cease-fire, one
western
diplomat
1 here
said,
“and
Higgins was a member of a U.N.
peace-keeping force,”
Robin
Higgins
wore
civilian
clothes to her meetings at the Unit-
ed Nations today, a move that was
interpreted
by
diplomats
here
as
stressing her husband’s connection
to the United Nations and not to the
U.S. Marines.
Today’s
cease-fire
negotiations
turned on finding a way for Iran and
Iraq to agree on the timing of the
cease-fire.
The
agreement
must
satisfy
Iran's
demand
that
the
cease-fire be implemented without
preconditions while meeting Iraq’s
demand that direct peace talks be
conducted.
Velayati
appeared
to
open
the
way for a compromise by signaling
new flexibility this evening on hold-
ing direct talks with
Iraq. “We do
hope
that, after the acceptance of
the D-Day and the establishing of a
cease-fire
and
the
withdrawal
of
forces from both sides to the inter-
national
border
and
exchange
of
POWs, the face-to-face talks
in an
acceptable
level
could
be
consid-
| ered positively,” he said.
D-Day is the term that Perez de
Cuellar has used in describing the
eration Army’s umbrella group, the
People's Mujaheddin of Iran, denied
a report in The Washington Post on
Friday that Iraqi forces had turned
over captured Iranian weapons that
the group used
to
seize
territory
near
Bakhtaran,
Washington
Post
staff writer Chris Adams reported.
[Iraq “played no
role
in
this
of-
fensive,"
Touran
told
reporters.
The Washington Post story “is not
at
all
true, ...
I can say
flatly,
I
reject it.”]
There were
conflicting accounts
of why the NLA drive had ended.
Iranian rebel spokesmen said their
forces were making a planned with-
drawal, and Iranian military author-
ities said they smashed the offen-
sive and were
chasing
the
rebels
back toward the Iraqi frontier.
In Baghdad, where the Mujahed-
din
is based, spokesman
Ali Reza
Jafaarzedeh
told news agency
re-
porters that the withdrawal
“is
al-
most complete, and no major fight-
ing is taking place now.”
But a different accounting of the
offensive was given by
Iran’s par-
liament speaker, Ali Akbar Hasheml
Rafsanjani, who led the Friday pray-
er
service
at
Tehran
University
today.
Rafsanjani acknowledged that the
opposition forces got
to within 22
miles
of
their
objective
at
Bakhtaran,
but
he
characterized
Iran’s response as laying a trap for
the Mujaheddin.
CPYRGHT
CPYRGHT
CPYRGHT
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Shiite Captors Release
West German Hostage
Link to Hammadi Brothers’ Case Asserted
By Nora Boustany
Washington Poat Foreign Sernce
BEIRUT,
Sept. 12—West Ger-
man
hostage
Rudolf Cordes was
released
here
tonight by
his
pro-
Iranian
Shiite
Moslem
abductors
after 20 months
in captiyity, Leb-
anese
Interior
Minister
Abdullah
Rassy announced.
Cordes,
55,
a businessman em-
ployed by the Hoechst pharmaceu-
ticals firm, was neatly dressed and
clean-shaven and was reported
in
good health and spirits. He was ta-
ken to Damascus by Syrian military
authorities
to
be
turned
over
to
West German officials on Tuesday,
The group holding Cordes said in
a message earlier today that it was
freeing him “because of guarantees
for a settlement” of the cases of two
Lebanese
brothers
held
by West
Germany
as
terrorists,
including
Mohammed
Ali Hammadi, now on
trial in Frankfurt in the 1985 hijack-
ing of a TWA jetliner and the mur-
der of a
U.S. serviceman. A note
from Cordes before his release to-
day also urged that West Germany
“please
do
everything
regarding
Mohammed.”
West German officials questioned
Shiite CaptonRa^tGerrl
HOSTAGE, From A18
Syrian officials here and a seniA
figure in the pro-Iranian HezbollJi
movement professed surprise asli
series of statements from the cal
tors, called "the Stragglers for Frel
dom, announced the impending
r<
lease today.
Some analysts said they saw til
development
as an
indication thl
Iran has assumed control over til
fate of western hostages
in LebI
non. At least 17 foreigners are sti
believed
to
be
held hostage her^
including
three
Britons
and
nirl
Americans.
Abdel Hadi Hammadi, the olde|
brother
of the Hammadis
held
i
Germany and a senior military
o,
ficial
in
the
Hezbollah
commanl
structure
in
Lebanon,
reportedl
was
surprised by
the
notificatio.
today and went to Syrian-controlle
Baalbek
to consult with
his organ
ization's leadership!
A
senior'
Hezbollah
aide
sail
Abdel Hadi Hamadei was "furious
and rushed there "in a huff to fin
out what was going on." Hammad;
who reportedly has led Iran's canq
paign
of
abducting
foreigners
ii
Lebanon, was
said to be eager t
see
his brothers out
safely befon
Cordes was released.
Hezbollah sources said, however,
that
the
Stragglers
for
FreedorJ
were operating "independently an<
following orders directly from Teh
ran,
disregarding
the
local
scenJ
here, including the Syrians."
It was
unclear why Ragsy
wa;
chosen by Syria to play a key role
ii
dealing with Cordes after
the
ab-
ductors released him. But observ-
ers noted that the interior minis tet
is the
son-in-law of former
presi-
dent Suleiman Franjieh, Syria's cho
sen
candidate
in
Lebanon’s
ap
proaching
presidential
. elections
House
Speaker
Hussein
Husseia
RUDOLF CORDES
. held captive since January 1987
in Bonn, however,
said they were
unaware
of any concessions having
been made in the case and diplomatic
sources there said they were confi-
dent there had been no promises of
lenient treatment. High West Ger-
man and Iranian
officials have, held
everal meetings in recent days.
See HOSTAGE, A23, Cot l
today
set Sept. 22
for convening
the parliament to elect a successor
to President Amin Gemayel, whose
term ends the next day.
Rassy quoted Cordes as saying,
“The
kidnapers dropped me
in
a
* street. I went to a house in the area
and
told them,
‘I am
the hostage
Rudolf Cordes/ and asked for help.
The people of the house immediate-
ly called the Lebanese
police, who
came for me."
The
captors
had
issued
three
statements
through
news
outlets
today
promising
Cordes'
release
within
hours
and
asking
for
the
West German and
Iranian ambas-
sadors and a representative of Syr-
ian President Hafez Assad to gather
to await him.
The first message was accompa-
nied by a note, handwritten in Ger-
man and signed by Cordes, and, the
third was accompanied by a photo-
graph of Cordes.
"I
shall
be
freed
on
Monday
(12.9.88)/'
the
note ‘from Cordes
said. "Please inform my family, but
please do everything, regarding Mo-
hammed
(Ali
Hammadi],.
Please
help the hogtagesr-several are ex-
pecting something now,
especially
since
I am
being
released." The
note was addressed to the "govern-
ment
of
the
Federal
Republic
of
Germany."
The final statement from the cap-
tors
said: "We do not wish
to
be
hostile to the German government
and out of respect for the sincere
calls
by
[Syrian]
President
Hafez
Assad and the Islamic Iranian gov-
ernment, and because of guarantees
for a
settlement of
the Hammadi
brothers
problem,
we
announce
that the German Cordes will be re-
leased within 12 hours.”
West
German
businessman
Al*
fred Schmidt, also abducted by Iran-
backed extremists .here ip Januarp
1987, was freed- last SeptembeFln
’
CPYRGHT
CPYRGHT
m Seized 20 Months Ago
what his captors called "a good-will
gesture."
/
:
Approved For Release 2000/08/08
: CIA-RDP96-00789R000400040001-3
Mithileijhwftr Sin.k ... r,..d by
yMt„d.y
D„lrut
LlU Ml„, Slngh , ffiT.*
Captors Free
Hostage in
Lebanon
HOSTAGE, From Al~
stretch of wasteland on the fringes
of Beirut's Shiite Moslem southern
suburbs.
Throughout the day,
his captors
had
Americans and
authorities
in
Beirut
playing
a
guessing
game
about which of
the
four hostages
held
by
the
group
would
be
re-
leased.
;
The Islamic Jihad for the Liber-
ation of Palestine also holds Amer-
icans
Robert
Polhill, Alann
Steen
and Jesse Turner. The
initial com-
muniques, delivered to news o'rgan-
zations with
pictures of the
four,
iad indicated only that one of them
votild be released yesterday,
Syrian
Foreign
Minister Farouk
-haraa
had
told
reporters
at
the
Jnited
Nations yesterday
that
an
\merican hostage was expected to
>e released last night and two U.S.
:elevision
networks
said
the man
released would be Steen.
Previous communiques from the
?roup
holding
Singh
had
been
ougher, demanding
the
liberation
,
f 400 TtraFTncTPaie S’lrTTa rrprts?5ir~
rf
rs held in Israeli jails as a condition
or the release of the four profes-
ors.
U.S.
officials
said
initial
indica-
ions that there had been a change
n
approach
by
the
captors
had
ome from
Syrian
authorities and
;ovemments intHe'"Middle East
.
rhen a series of statements by the
•
Toup
delivered
to
news
agency
otuces
in Beirut last month, timed
to coincide
with
the
beginning of
U.S.-Syrian talks here between As-
sistant Secretary of State Richard
Murphy and
top
Syrian
officials,
irged Washington to take positive
iction regarding the recognition of
’alestinian rights.
The Islamic Front for the Liber-
tion of Palestine—which apparent-
t
is not Jinked to Islamic Jihad, a
etter known movement holding at
;ast two American hostages—has
equently been
described by ana-
sts
as
pro-Iranian.
But
Iranian
jurces
in
Beirut
recently
pro-
sted
that
description.
The
urces, who have close ties to the
mian
Embassy,
suggested
that
e
kidnapers
of
the
professors
re
linked
tc
another
regional
wer having interests in Lebanon.
U.S. and Syrian sources said ear-
I
today that Singh
is spending the
;ht at a government rest house
]
d
will
be examined by
doctors
'
LIVING IN CAPTIVITY:
FOREIGN HOSTAGES IN LEBANON
Terry A. Anderson, chief Middle East correspondent for the Associated
Press, kidnaped March 16, 1985, in West Beirut. Anderson worked at
the AP bureaus in Tokyo and Johannesburg before being assigned to
Beirut. Islamic Jihad asserted responsibility for his kidnaping.
Thomas Sutherland, acting dean of agriculture at the American
University of Beirut, kidnaped June 9, 1985. Sutherland, a
•
Scottish-born American, worked in Beirut for two years before his
abduction. His wife also taught at the American University in Beirut.
Islamic Jihad asserted responsibility for his kidnaping.
Frank Herbert Reed, American director of the Lebanese International
School, kidnaped Sept. 9, 1986, Before disappearing, Reed spent nine
.
years in Lebanon. He
is a convert to Islam. His wife, a Syrian, also
I
taught at the International School. Arab Revolutionary Cells asserted
responsibility for his kidnaping.
.
J
Joseph lames Ciclpplo, acting comptroller at the American University
of Beirut, kidnaped Sept. 12, 1986, outside of his apartment building
on the West Beirut campus. Cicippio moved to Beirut in 1984 and
converted to Islam.in 1985. He
is married to a Lebanese woman.
Revolutionary Justice Organization asserted responsibility tor his
‘
kidnaping, j.
-
..
;
,
-
;
j
j
.
.
.
i
Edwin Austin Tracy, a writer, disappeared in October 1986, Tracy'
spent most of his adult
life traveling around the world, but was a
resident of W*st Beirut when kidnaped, The" Revolutionary Justice
;
Organization aborted responsibility for his obdjjction Oct. 21,
1900.
I
Robert Polhill, a certified public accountant and leclurer in accounting
i
at Beirut University College, kidnaped from the campus Jan. 24.1 987.
Polhill lectured at BUC for one year before his disappearance.'
. f
Alann Steen, communications instructor at Beirut University College
i
v -dnaped from the campus Jan. 24, 1987. A Boston native, Stern
‘
:
< umpleted his academic studies at Humboldt State University in
;
California. His wife was teaching fine arts at BUC at the time of
Steen's abduction.
'
Jesse, Jonathan Turner, q visiting professor of mathematics and
'
^ computer,sciqocqafcflU£.^idnaped from the campus Jan, 24, 1987. A
n^Tfte oT BoiserTtirnernolaO^ffiW Trwirw Idaho universities;-
Marine Lt. Col, William R. Higgins, kidnaped Feb.
17,' 1988, ‘Higgins
headed a 75-man observer group attached to the U.N. Interim' Force jn
Lebanon when he was grabbed from his U.N.jcar by three men' near
the town of Tyre, The pro-Iranian Organization of the Oppressed on
‘
;
Earth said April 21 that Higgins would be put
(pn trial for spying.
Alec Collett, a journalist, kidnaped Marc h 2^^985^li::^
r
'
j
John McCarthy,. a television producer, kidnaped April
j
Brian Keenan (Irish), kidnaped April H, 1986.
Alberto Mollnari (Italian), kidnaped Sept. 11, 1985.
William Jorgensen (Norwegian), kidnaped Feb. 5 , 1988.
Jan Stoning (Swedish), kidnaped Feb. 5, 1988.
Hm
E
Jw
P‘* 1966, ^ **CM*nl'* 0,«»ninWo
,
n <>< SocWil Moslem* „ld Alec CMlotl hed
'
SO UflCC, A ssocia lea Press, Reuter
,
. L
Syria's minister of state
for for-
;n
affairs, Nasser Qaddour,
said
sterday that Singh will be handed
er to U.S. Ambassador Edward
Jrejian today.
U.S.
Embassy spokesmen
here
d Singh was being turned over to
-
American
diplomatic
mission
-e because he had expressed his
rsonal desire
t
be
a
U.S,
res-
nt when he applied for his green
d."
In
Beirut,
Singh's
wife
choked
back
tears
as
she
told
reporters:
"This
is
a happy day for me, but
I
still did not see him. I want to see
him,"
The
Associated
Press
re-
ported.
Singh who was born in Varanasi,
India, taught eight years at the Uni-
versity of Agra and eight years
at
the University of Gorakhpur before
moving
to
the
United
States
in
1965 for graduate work at the Uni-
versity of Oregon, the AP said. He
received
a
master’s
degree
from
Oregon
in
1968
and
a
doctorate
from Western Colorado, formerly in
Grand Junction. He taught
at
the
University of Wisconsin-Platteville,
Milton
College
in
Wisconsin
and
Western Colorado before going to
Beirut.
He
and
the
three
Americans
were
kidnaped
when
a
group
of
gunmen disguised as policemen set
a trap by calling them to a meeting
on the campus that purportedly was
to discuss security measures. The
four
professors
were
then
taken
away at gunpoint and’ bundled into
cars and commandeered police vans
that had been
unwittingly allowed
onto the campus.' 7
The three Americans seized with
Singh
are among
nine Americans
still being held hostage in Lebanon.
J wo
have
been
in
captivity
since
1985 and most of them are believed
held by groups associated with the
Iran-sponsored
Hezbollah
organi-
zation,
Hopes
for the
release
of three
Britons among foreigners kidnaped
in
Lebanon
were
raised
Friday
when
Britain
and
Iran
agreed
to
resume full dinWnaH*
-RDP96-00789R000400040001 -3
CPYRGHT
U.S. Resident Indian Freed in Move to Gain American Good Will
By Nora Boustany
Wj»hm|hni P,)« Foreign Strvitt
DAMASCUS,
Syria,
Oct.
(Tuesday)—A U.S, resident of In-
dian origin held hostage with three
American professors in Lebanon for
20 months was released
in Beirut
last night and brought here
to be
turned over
to
the American am-
bassador, today,
U.S.
and
Syrian
officials said.
Mithileshwar
Singh,
60,
chair-
man of the business administration
department
at
the
Beirut
Univer-
sity
College, was
released
by
the
Islamic Jihad for the Liberation of
CPYRGHT
CPYRGHT
raiestme, a little-known group that
had kidnaped him and three Amer-
ican colleagues
at
the Beirut Uni-
versity College on Jan. 24, 1987.
The captors, in messages distrib-.
ated
before
releasing
Singh,
said
:hey
intended
their
action
as
a
Zoo d -will gesture toward the Unit-
id States and ah effort to gain U.S.
support for the Palestinian uprising
n
the
Israeli-occupied West Bank
nd Gaza Strip.
In Washington, however, White
louse
spokesman
Marlin
Fitzwa-
2 r,
responding
to
the
-captors’
tatements,
said
that “we remain
steadfast
in our policy" of "making
no deals, no quid pro quo.
1 ’.
_
partmen
t
spokeswoman
Phyllis Oakley told reporters: “We
join
with Mr.
Singh’s
relatives
in
rejoicing in his release and call for
the urgent unconditional release of
hostages in Lebanon."
Singh, who studied and taught
in
the United States for several years
before joining the Beirut University
College faculty in’ 1983, was taken
into protective
custody
by .Syrian
forces
after he was
released near
the headquarters of the U.N. Relief
and
Works
Agency,
on
a
sandy
Sea HOSTAGE, A26, CoU
’'
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CPYRGHT
GlliLK, From AA
under ?he plafi, but an Iranian dip-
lomat
said
the
stifh
confidential
terms
call
for commencement
of
repatriation
by
the
end
of
this
month or in early September.
In
Tehran
,
President
Ali
Kha-
, m cnei, who had
earlier expressed
~doubt about the prospect for impos-
ing a tiuce, said the war “is appar-
ently coming to a close.”
Negotiations
that
led
to today's
agreement followed Iran’s surprise
announcement July
that
it was
ready b drop
its year-old precon-
dition tiat Iraq be branded the “ag-
gressor' in the war before the fight-
ing coud stop. Then
Iraqi Foreign
M iniste- Tariq Aziz, under orders
from
President
Saddam
Hussein,
insisted that Iran
sit down for face-
to-face
negotiations
before
any
cease-fire
as a measure
of "good
faith."
With the arrival in New York two
weeks ago of Aziz and Velayati , Iraq
and Irar set up rival camps on Man-
hattan’s East Side, where both dip-
lomatic missions
are
located near
U.N,
headquarters.
Both
sides
is-
sued coitentious statements, while
fighting continued along the border.
Iran complained of a new chem-
ical weapons attack that
it said
in-
jured
njore
than
2,000
civilians.
U.N.
officials
railed against
Iraq’s
refusal 1o enter
into any “substan-
tive" tails with them until Iran sub-
mitted
to. a face-to-face meeting, a
condition Iran said was an attempt
toTiumilate its foreign minister.
: Perez de
Cuellar
and
his
staff
worked streak the deadlock, while
both
sides lobbied
in
the
interna-
tional community
for support. The
Security Council's
five
permanent
member* groped for ways to “guar-
antee" a good-faith negotiating pro-
cess,
and
today’s
announcement
carried
the
council’s
strong
en-
dorsement
that
a
cease-fire
could
not be
‘.eparated from a
full-scale
negotiation
to
achieve
lasting
peace.
In the end, pressure from Iraq’s
Arab
neighbors,
including
Saudi
in Win war
bronchi
finri -
dam
Hussein
to
compromise,
ac-
cording
to knowledgeable
sources
and U.N. diplomats,
rFahd
reportedly
telephoned
re-
gional
-
leaders
including
Saddam
.Hussein and
se nt
his
foreign min-
ister, Saud Faisal , to Baghdad and
his ambassador
in
Washington
to
New York.
These sources said Saudi Ambas-
sador Bandar bin Sultan met a num-
ber of times with representatives of
the five permanent Security Counc il
member states— th e Ohitcd States.
•Wviet
UnjffnT flhinai
'"
Britain "atkPH
ance-r-to help build a coalition of
states friendly
to Iraq to assure a
cease-fire would be followed by
a
comprehensive peace
process and
_settlement.
The Saudi diplomats
reportedly
also provided the channel for Perez
de
Cuellar
to
present
to Saddam
Hussein the last and best offer the
secretary
general’s
staff
believed
•
they could craft to draw both sides
into a peace process.
The sources said Fahd and Hus-
sein spoke
again by
telephone
as
the weekend began,
with
Hussein
agreeing to moderate his position in
return
for
"Iraqi-Saudi
closeness"
after the war and a pledge of “col-
lective"
Arab
support
should
the
peace talks break down.
The deadlock broke with Saddam
Hussein’s
surprise
announcement
Saturday night that he was willing
to
remove
his demand
for
early
face-to-face
talks
if
Iran
would
make an official pledge to enter into
direct
talks
immediately
following
the imposition of a cease-fire.
V
.
Perez de
Cuellar,
looking
tired
and
relieved
that
the
negotiating
marathon had ended, told reporters
that he thinks the truce will yield an
agreement.
"I am
persuaded
that
both
parties very much are
inter-
ested
in finding a just and
lasting
solution."
He acknowledged that there had
been mpments of despair in the past
two weeks, “but
I had to conceal
it
from you," he said, adding that he
jyould not take any personal credit.
The Umled Nations
It
.
•
j
.
Military Observer Group. a
3 50-man unarmed force,
will
|
mbhTTbn lie Truce and
tn>r>|)
~
withdrawa l. THe~group dTo"
will include the first U.N.
naval peacekeeping force,
which will palrol areas in the
|
northern gulf and on the
disputed Shall al Arab
waterway. Total cost is
estimated at $74 million for
six months.
OY LARRY fOCEL— THE WASH.NOTON POST
'This is not a personal success,
it is
i success
for
the
parties and
the
Security Council."
Following
the secretary general
E
ut of the chamber was Kittani, the
regarious Iraqi ambassador. “I am
very happy man," he said.
A
few
minutes
later,
Velayati,
ivho was
scheduled
to
return
to
[Tehran
last
night,
called
a news
inference to say that he had come
:o New York to begin a peace pro-
:ess, but
“at the same
time,
Iraq
:ontinued
its sabotage against the
ifforts of the secretary general by
ntensifying
its
acts
of aggression
igainst bur 'territory,' using chem-
cal weapons,
insisting on precon-
litions T.
. and refusing to talk to
:he secretary general."
Velayati
renewed
Iran's demand
:hat the Security Council condemn:
raq for using nerve gas and mustard
tas in the war. U.N. officials said tdis
[veekend that the chemical weapons,
charges
will be treated as an issue
separate
from
the
peace
talks. A
earn is expected to visit the site.
Velayati was
asked whether
the
[
he peace process would have a pos-
tive impact on the prospects tor the
elease
ot
foreign
hostages,
in-
cluding eight Americans, in Lebanon
by Islamic fundamentalist groups.
The Iranian said the issue of the
hostages was “quite different and has
no
relation
to peace
with
Iraq and
our
relations
with
the
United
States." He
then
pointed
out
that
even though the hostages are~being
l)eld
in Lebanon, there were “spin
itual
and
historical
relations”
be*
tween
the
Shiite
fundamentalist
holding the hostages and the Irani;
regime.
If Iran
could
help
in
thf
release, Velayati said,
it was the
p'
i cytOt, his government to do so.
eek
, that/, he;' believedj
Ira n
\
"forking on'Vthe release of U.S. J
i
TneLt. CoL William. RJrfiggins,
was_seized
while
serving
with
felted ijaijQnsr.Today, 'tnVjP.eoi
^pt^aT"expfessed jiopfejhat
Iginnlng* of
peacfefTaT^^beb
tnTmd Jraq under
U
rwotild Sff&fed Hi ggi ns* release.^
'Ih^CihHnhati,
President R
praised the accord, saying, “T
the news the world has
wait-
and
the United
States has p
for, news that we may finally
end to that long and bloody w«
Approved For Release 2000/08/08
: CIA-RDP96-00789R000400040001-3