ENVOY TELLS OF 'HOPE' FOR HOSTAGES' RELEASE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00587R000100200052-4
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 30, 2011
• Sequence Number: 52
• Publication Date: November 14, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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Approved For Release 2011/08/31 :CIA-RDP91-005878000100200052-4
AitTICLE APPEARED
OM PALE -.~---
WASHINGTON TIMES ~IL~ 0~~~
14 November 1985
Envoy tells of `hope'
for hostages' release
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) - A special
envoy sent by the archbishop of Canter-
bury to negotiate the release of
American hostages held by Shiite Mos-
lem extremists said last night he saw a
"real opportunity for a breakthrough"
"I see some hope;' said the envoy,
'Ihrry Waite, who successfully negotiated
the release of Britons held in Iran and
Libya.
"The fact that I'm here does indicate
there's a possibility of freeing the hos-
tages;' said Waite, who was ringed by
Moslem militiamen and airport security
officials upon his arrival.
Mr. Waite, a special adviser to Arch-
bishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie, the
spiritual head of the Church of England,
said after arriving from London that he
was "here on humanitarian grounds be-
cause Iwant to see a resolution to this
problem ..:'
Lebanese security guards and
militiamen at the airport whisked the
burly envoy past scrambling reporters
and television crews.
He was taken through the terminal,
ringed by militiamen linking arms, with-
out immigration formalities. Yelling
guards bundled him into a sedan. The car
sped away with arifle-toting militiaman
hanging out the window and Mr.Waite
jammed in the back seat between
militiamen.
His escorts belonged to an airport "se-
curity force" composed of militiamen
from the Shiite militia Amal and the Pro-
gressive Socialist Party of the mystic Is-
lamic Druze sect.
Before leaving London, the 46-year-old
emissary called his mission the most
dangerous he has undertaken because
his earlier efforts involved "an identifi-
able person or group or government:'
Archbishop Runcie on Tuesday said
Mr. Waite was "a joint envoy" of his
church and Pope John Paul II, "and the
pope is corresponding with us:' However,
Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro said
yesterday that although the Holy See
hoped Mr. Waite would succeed in his
mission, he could not be considered a
papal envoy.
Mr. Waite embarked on his latest mis-
sionafter making contact with an uniden-
tified intermediary in Beirut about the
Americans, who have been missing five
to 10 months, and after receiving a con-
fidential letter from four of the
Americans believed held by Islamic
Jihad, or Islamic Holy War.
Islamic Jihad, a fundamentalist Shiite
group loyal to Iran's revolutionary patri-
arch, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, has
claimed responsibility for abducting six
Americans. It said Oct. 4 that it had killed
one of the six, diplomat William Buckley.
It released blurred photographs of a
body said to be Mr. Buckley's, but U.S.
officials say there is no proof Mr. Buck-
ley is dead. There has been no recent
mention of another hostage, American
University librarian Peter Kilburn.
The letter, delivered Friday to The As-
sociated Press bureau in Beirut, was
signed by the Rev Lawrence Jenco, a
Roman Catholic priest; Terry Anderson,
chief Middle-East correspondent for the
Associated Press; and two officials of
Beirut's American University, hospital
director David Jacobsen and agriculture
dean Thomas Sutherland.
Approved For Release 2011/08/31 :CIA-RDP91-005878000100200052-4