Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 10, 1990 TAG: 9004100708
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A/1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BEIRUT, LEBANON LENGTH: Medium
Jacqueline Valente, 32, Fernand Houtekins, 43, and 2-year-old Sophie-Liberte were released by masked gunmen who sped up to the main gate of the French Embassy in three cars with drawn curtains, police said.
"I embrace all my family. I am well, and the little one also," Valente told French reporters who were given exclusive access to the three.
The release came about a month after France sent to Libya three Mirage F1 warplanes that Libya purchased in 1986. The sale had been blocked by the French government as part of an arms embargo imposed when France aided Chad in fighting against Libya. There was no public explanation by France for its decision to release the planes.
Because the hostages released today were believed to have been held in Libya, the case is considered unrelated to the 18 Westerners held hostage in Lebanon by pro-Iranian Shiite Moslem factions.
Houtekins said the four members of his family still held by the terrorist group were also well.
"They have morale. They are holding firm," he said, adding, "We expected our freedom, we knew it was coming one day. The day of our freedom has arrived. For those who stay behind, we keep hoping."
The two, accompanied by their daughter, refused to discuss certain other subjects, including the death of their second child in captivity or their living conditions while they were hostages.
A chartered twin-engine executive jet arrived from France to pick up the hostages. Cypriot officials said it would fly the three from Beirut to Villacoublay, near Paris.
A police spokesman said French Ambassador Rene Ala "apparently had advance notice of the release. Ala was waiting at a cement outpost manned by French Marine guards near the main gate" of the West Beirut compound.
French Embassy spokesman Francois Abi Saab said the three were "OK." He said Houtekins was "clean shaven and looked relaxed."
Hours after the release, Walid Khaled, spokesman for the terrorist group, the Fatah-Revolutionary Council, drove to the French Embassy and said he would release a statement "after my talks with French diplomats."
Fatah announced on Nov. 8, 1987 it had seized hostages from the French yacht Silco in the Mediterranean off the Gaza strip. It accused them of collaborating with Israel's Mossad intelligence agency. Friends said the group was on a holiday cruise.
The Abu Nidal group had acknowledged holding Valente, 32, Sophie and five Belgians: Houtekins, his brother Emmanuel, and Emmanuel's wife and teen-age daughter and son. A boy born to Valente in captivity in March 1989 died shortly after birth, French government sources said.
by CNB