Diplomats’ killers arrested in Beirut

Press, 18 June 1976, Page 6

Diplomats’ killers arrested in Beirut

NZPA-Reuter Beirut The suspected killers of two United States diplomats outside Beirut have been arrested, the Palestinian Lebanese Leftist alliance central command has announced. A statement said that investigations into the suspects are continuing, and that another statement will be issued later to explain the circumstances of the murders, and to reveal all the facts. The statement does not give any clue to the identity of the suspected killers.

The bodies of the American Ambassador (Mr Francis Meloy), the United States Counsellor (Mr Robert Waring). and their Lebanese driver were found near the Beirut seafront after the three men had disappeared at the “green line” crossingpoint between Moslem west and Christian east Beirut yesterday. A United States Embassy spokesman says that arrangements are being made to fly home the bodies of Mr Meljoy and Mr Waring, although Beirut Airport is still closed because of fighting around the perimeter. On the political front. President Franjieh has made the surprise announcement that one of his closest Rightwing supporters, the Minister of the Interior (Mr Camille Chamoun) has been appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister.

The decree says that the present Foreign Minister (Mr Philip Takla), now believed to be in Europe, is “considered as having resigned.” The pro-Leftist Radio Beirut accused Mr Franjieh, who has not stepped down despite last month’s election of Mr Sarkis to succeed him, of trying to buttress his own power. The radio said that Mr Franjieh’s move might be a first step towards inviting French intervention in Lebanon — a notion often floated by Right-wing leaders but rejected by the Left. In the city the three-day-old truce negotiated by the Libyan Prime Minister (Major Jalloud) appeared to be holding, except in the volatile eastern suburbs

where Christian and Moslem gunners traded artillery fire which has killed 24 and wounded 45 over the last 24 hours.

The joint central command statement says that the suspected killers will be handed over to the proposed Arab League peace-keeping force when it arrives. The statement expresses strong condemnation of the murders, and adds: “We would like to emphasise that fighting against American imperialism cannot be achieved through such individual and suspected acts.” The experience of the 14-month-old Lebanese civil war, which has already cost more than 30,000 lives, is that a single incident can ignite fresh violence on a huge scale. Major Jalloud left Beirut for Damascus yesterday on another stage of his shuttlediplomacy attempts to end the confrontation between Syrian forces and the LeftistPalestinian alliance in Lebanon. The three murdered men disappeared yesterday while driving through Beirut’s main Moslem - Christian crossingpoint on their way to an appointment with the President-elect, Mr Elias Sarkis. In Washington President Ford has demanded that the killers of the two Americans should be brought to justice, but has said that the murders will not deter the United States from its search for peace in the area. Mr Ford said that the killings were “an act of sense- ' less, outrageous brutality.” He asked all countries in the region to help to find the killers and said that he was mobilising all the appropriate

United States resources to try to identify those responsible. Nine ships of the United States Sixth Fleet have been standing off the Lebanese coast for several days. The State Department announced yesterday that four rescue helicopters had been sent to Cyprus “to assist in the possible evacuation of refugees from Lebanon.”

A State Department spokesman (Mr Robert Funseth) said that no decision had yet been taken on whether to enact contingency plans to take to safety the 53 officials and 1400 private United States citizens still in Beirut. Mr Ford said he had instructed the Secretary of State (Dr Henry Kissinger) to continue the United States efforts to achieve peace in Lebanon. Dr Kissinger said that the search for peace would not be deterred by “brutal and vicious action” but “no nation or group should believe that the United States will not find ways to protect its diplomatic personnel.’’ He did not elaborate. Mr Jimmy Carter, the probable Democratic Presidential nominee, said that while the deaths were very regrettable, the United States should neither send troops to Lebanon nor interfere in Lebanese investigations into the killings. The murders of Mr Meloy and Mr Waring are the latest of a series of attacks on United States diplomats throughout the world in the last few years. Since August 1968 there have been eight incidents where United States diplomats have been murdered—usually in connection with kidnapping—and eight kidnappings where the victims have been released. Five of the incidents have been in Beirut.