Wednesday, November 28, 1984

ALL 108 ON HIJACKED JET ARE FREED IN ETHIOPIA

The hijackers of a Somali airliner seized on Saturday released their 108 hostages unharmed today and were given the choice of political asylum or safe passage to a country of their choice by Ethiopia. The hijackers, led by a Somali military officer, had been threatening to blow up the plane and kill the people on board, including one American, identified today as Lieut. James Dell, 30 years old, of Orangeburg, N.Y., if their demands for the release of 21 political prisoners in Somalia were not met. Seven of those prisoners are students who, the hijackers said, were to have been executed in Somalia the day after the hijacking.

The hijackers told reporters today that they had agreed to free their hostages after being told that the Italian Government, which has been acting as an intermediary, had received assurances from Somalia that the seven students would not be executed. There has been no public statement to that effect from the Somali authorities. The freed hostages moved slowly and stiffly down the stairs to the runway and to a waiting bus. Most appeared dazed and bewildered, and several shielded their eyes against the bright morning light.

Lieutenant Dell, identified as a naval engineer working on port construction in Berbera, Somalia, said he was ''feeling a lot better'' now. He said the hijackers ''treated us very well.'' The three hijackers met with reporters in a lounge at the airport and defended their action. ''We are not terrorists,'' the leader of the hijackers, Capt. Awil Adan Bourhan, who was wearing a still fresh-looking khaki uniform and green beret, said several times. ''Just, we are trying to save our brothers.'' Another of the hijackers added: ''We had no choice but to act as we have done. If the international community does not come to the aid of the struggling Somali masses, more actions will be forthcoming.''

Captain Bourhan and his two compatriots, identified as Bashe Muse Mohammed and Ahmed Haji Mohammed Adan, both wearing civilian clothes, appeared drawn and groggy as they read from a prepared statement and answered questions. A member of the Somali Airlines crew said later that none of the hijackers had slept at all in the last three days and nights. The hijackers stressed that they had not wanted to kill anyone and that they had spared the lives of 20 Somali Government officials who were aboard.

The hijackers said they had ''already succeeded'' because Somalia had guaranteed the safety of the students. ''It is an international guarantee,'' one said. But he said the Somali President, Mohammed Siad Barre, had ''refused to give freedom'' to any of the political prisoners, including a former Somali Vice President, five former Cabinet members and two army colonels. Passengers Describe Hijacking

After the passengers and crew left the blue and white Boeing 707, which was guarded by armored vehicles and more than two dozen Ethiopian paratroopers, they described the hijacking, which occurred Saturday morning on a flight from Mogadishu to Jidda, Saudi Arabia. According to the accounts of several passengers and crew members, Captain Bourhan rose calmly from his seat and walked toward the cockpit carrying a briefcase from which he took a pistol. He then approached the cockpit door. ''I tried to stop him,'' said Suad Mohammed, 26 years old, who was the chief flight attendant. ''I grabbed him. But he was too heavy, too strong.''

A man in the crew also struggled with Captain Bourhan and was shot in the hip. A second shot was fired to force the pilot to open the door. The pilot, too, struggled briefly with Captain Bourhan and the two other hijackers, who had joined him, but he was beaten and quickly overcome. The wounded crew member, the slightly injured pilot and the co-pilot, who had fallen ill, were released on Saturday, as were 19 women and children.

Source: New York Times

Sunday, November 25, 1984

3 SOMALI SOLDIERS SAID TO HIJACK A JET TO ETHIOPIA

A Somali jetliner carrying 130 people was hijacked Saturday by three armed Somali soldiers who beat the pilot and wounded a crew member in a midair shootout, Ethiopian officials said. After arriving at the airport here, the hijackers released 22 people, the Ethiopian press agency and Western diplomats said. Ethiopian officials said the hijackers threatened to blow up the plane unless Somali authorities released a number of political prisoners and canceled the execution of seven Somali youths who were convicted of anti-Government activities. The execution was scheduled for today.

Ethiopian officials said the hijackers, who seized the Boeing 707 on a flight from Mogadishu, the Somali capital, to Jidda, Saudi Arabia, had told them that they planned to blow up the plane at midnight Saturday. That deadline passed and the hijackers threatened early this morning to blow up the plane by noon if their demands were not met by then. One American on Board According to a senior Western diplomat, one American, whose identity was not known, was among the 118 passengers and 12 crew members on the plane when it was seized.

The official Mogadishu radio broadcast a statement early today saying that the Somali Government had discussed the issue with ''various embassies about this action of banditry and terrorism against the civilian passengers, since this terrorist action is in breach of international agreements covering civilians,'' The Associated Press said. It added that the statement did not say what the Somali Government would do about the hijackers' demands.

Pro-Western Somalia and pro-Soviet Ethiopia fought a war in 1977 over the disputed Ogaden region and relations between the two nations remain strained. Relief Pilots Hear Messages Pilots of Britain's Royal Air Force who were flying relief missions to Ethiopian famine victims learned of the hijacking Saturday morning when they picked up radio messages from the Somali plane. The Britons said they heard the pilot identify the hijackers as members of a Somali political resistance group. But the official Ethiopian press agency said the hijackers were three heavily armed Somali Army officers who had demanded that the execution of the seven youths in Somalia be called off and that international guarantees be given for the youths' safety. The agency said the hijackers were also demanding that a number of political prisoners in Somalia be released and sent to neighboring Djibouti, and that their arrival there be confirmed.

According to a British Broadcasting Corporation report, the hijackers freed 15 women and 4 children Saturday. Also freed, the BBC said, were three crew members - the wounded Somali crew member, who was assumed to have been a security guard, the injured captain, and the first officer, who was reported to have become ill. Food and other provisions were delivered to the passengers still on board Saturday. The Somali plane landed at Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa after being refused permission to land in Aden, in Southern Yemen, the official Saudi press agency said.

Ethiopian officials negotiated with the hijackers throughout most of Saturday and early today. Late Saturday evening, spotlights illuminated the Somali aircraft, which was parked just off the main runway and was being guarded by armored vehicles. A delegation of eight United States Congressmen arrived at the airport here Saturday night as scheduled on a trip to assess famine relief efforts in various parts of the country.

Source: New York Times

Monday, November 5, 1984

Sandinistas claim election victory

Nicaragua's ruling Sandinista Front (FSLN) has claimed a decisive victory in the country's first elections since the revolution five years ago.

Within hours of the count beginning, the leader of the country's left-wing junta, Daniel Ortega, said he had gained nearly 70% of the vote in the presidential election. Mr Ortega said his party won a similar share of the vote in the parliamentary election. Mr Ortega said: "We can already say that the FSLN is the clear winner of these elections by an ample majority."

The Sandinistas' nearest rivals have so far polled just 11% of the vote but Nicaragua's leading right-wing parties boycotted the ballots. Turnout was high with an estimated 83% of the country's 1.5 million-strong electorate casting a vote. The Sandinistas have been at pains to convince the outside world, especially the US, that the elections were free and fair.

Approximately 400 independent foreign observers, including a number of Americans, were in Nicaragua to monitor proceedings. The unofficial British election observer, Lord Chitnis, said proceedings were not perfect but he had no doubt the elections were fair.

In 1979 the Sandinistas - named after an assassinated former leader of Nicaragua - ousted long-time dictator Anastasio Somoza. The Sandinistas have been at odds with the US ever since, especially since the superpower began assisting the party's main opponents, the Contras. The Contras, based in neighbouring Honduras, are engaged in a guerrilla war aimed at ousting the Sandinista Front.

Source: BBC