Captives feel for Amal cause

Press, 29 June 1985, Page 10

Captives feel for Amal cause

NZPA-AP New York An American hostage, Allyn Conwell, told the A.B.C. television network in an interview yesterday in Beirut that many of the 39 hostages being held by Shi’ite Muslims had a “profound sympathy” for their captors’ cause. Mr Conwell made the statement in an interview with an A.B.C. news reporter, Charles Glass, who also met two other American hostages, the Rev. James McLoughlin, and Ralf Traugott, at a Beii-ut resort. The three captives appeared unshaven and somewhat tired but otherwise healthy. Glass apparently was called by the captors and given a time and place to meet some hostages taken from a hijacked T.W.A. airliner that remains at Beirut

airport He said the only condition was that he not reveal the place? The hijackers, Shi’ite Muslims, demand the release of more than 700 Lebanese Shi’ites held by Israel. “Fortunately or unfortunately as the case may be, we find that many in our group have a profound sympathy for the cause, for the reason the Amal have in saying, ‘lsrael free my people’,” said Mr Conwell. “I certainly do not exonerate them from blame. I say that they are indeed capitalising on the situation, but let’s face it, if someone captured my wife and children and had them across that border, I also would be taking drastic actions and doing things that would be indeed against my principles to secure their free-

dom.” He said the hostage situation “sort of fell into the Amals’ lap. I think they’re dealing with it the best they can.” Glass said that during the interview the hostages were surrounded by six Amal militiamen but that only one was armed. He said the three appeared to be on good terms with their Amal guards and were even “laughing and joking together.” He also said all three looked to be “in very good shape,” both mentally and physically. Glass was told the hostages were being held in five groups. Father McLoughlin, aged 46, was asked if he felt he was being used for propaganda purposes.

He said he felt the interview gave him a chance to “speak directly to my

family and the people of my parish... an opportunity to show them by seeing me on the TV that I’m doing well.” His only other statement was that his prayers were with them “as much as they are with myself.” Mr Traugott, who on Thursday night telephoned his girlfriend in Massachusetts, said he thought negotiations could be speeded up if the hostages were moved to the French Embassy in Beirut. Mr Conwell, who acted as spokesman for the group during a news conference last week, said the group die) not know the status of those negotiations. But, he added, “I can’t imagine having the opportunity for securing the safety of the hostages and turning it down.” The Shi’ites’ leader, Nabih

Berri, said he was more optimistic of a successful conclusion to the affair. There were positive signs “but not something complete,” he told American television. The mood of optimism arose when he released one hostage on Thursday and offered to place the rest in the safe-keeping of a Western embassy in west Beirut until the hijackers’ demands were met. But France and Switzerland, suggested by Mr Berri as possible recipients of the hostages, said they could not accept such conditions. “We cannot act as substitute jailers,” a French official said. In Beirut speculation that a-deal was in the making was heightened by strict news black-outs in Israel and Washington.