GADHAFI HELPS GAIN RELEASE OF BELGAIN HELD IN LEBANON

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: STARGATE
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP96-00789R000400020003-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 4, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 25, 1998
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: June 16, 1989
• Content Type: NSPR

Gadhafi ~e~ps~C~i~nzld~~ R~
Of Belgian Held in Lebanon
By Nora Boustany Cools, wha told reporters he was
Washington Post Foreign Service treated reasonably well by his cap-
BEIRUT tors, specifically thanked Gadhafi
June 15-A Belgian for helping gain his release.
physician taken hostage over a year Belgian Foreign Trade Minister
ago in southern Lebanon was freed Robert Urbain traveled to Sidon
unharmed in Sidon this afternoon with Belgian diplomats based here
and taken to Damascus amid re- to receive the released hostage at
ports that Belgium may have struck the home of Mustafa Saad, a leading r
a deal by promising to unfreeze Sidon Sunni Moslem politician.
trade contracts with Libya. Belgian Foreign Minister Leo
Jan Cools, 32, a general practi- Tindemans, apparently circum-
tioner working for Norwac, the vented in the negotiations leading
Norwegian Aid Committee, was to the alleged Libyan-Belgian ar-
~eized at gunpoint on May 21, rangement, suggested in Brussels.
1988, after leaving the Rashidiyeh that Urbain may have reached a
Palestinian refugee camp in south- deal with-Gadhafi that would violate
ern Lebanon. sanctions imposed aainst. Libya
Members of the Fatah Revolu- three years aga by the European
tionary Council, a radical Palestin- Community. Last March, Tinde-
ian group led by Abu Nidal, were mans had gone to Syria but failed to
instrumental in his release despite secure Coals'freedom.
repeated denials they were involved Urbain flew to Damascus, Syria,
in his abduction. An obscure group today after being telephoned in
calling itself Soldiers of the Truth Brussels by the Libyans and..then
announced yesterday that it would went to Lebanon to meet Cools, a'
free him in response to an appeal by Foreign Trade Ministry spokesman
Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. said in Tripoli, Libya.
Sale Prices Effective Through June 22nd
Canon Sure Shot Ace Ganon Sure Shot Supreme.
Loots, center, hugs a friend after his release as Belgian official wipes tearseureR
In an interview today in the daily
La Libre Belgique, Tindemans said
Urbain went to Libya "without any
mandate by the Belgian govern-
. ment on the question of hostages
and without consulting me."
Reporters who saw Cools said he
appeared fresh and well-fed when
he arrived to a tearful reunion with
friends. and an emotional embrace
.with the trade minister, Cools' gar-
ents flew to Damascus to meet him.
A spokesman for Urbain said that
in Tripoli, Gadhafi had expressed
wishes for boosting trade links with
Belgium and had pledged to consid-
er the issue of Belgian hostages
held in the Middle East, Reuter re-
ported from Brussels.
The spokesman added that Ur-
bain promised to unfreeze Belgian
contracts in Libya worth $60 mil-
lion that had. been delayed for "tech-
nical reasons."
Great "Pics" for father'
F r Release 2000/0
_../ ~1~