Angola Rebels Plan to Free 22 Hostages : Prisoners ‘in Fine Health’ After Long Trek, Guerrillas Say

Angolan rebels said today that 22 American, British and Filipino hostages captured six weeks ago will be freed unconditionally after talks with the International Red Cross.

A spokesman for the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola, contacted by the Associated Press in Lisbon, said the 2 Americans, 3 Britons and 17 Filipinos arrived “in fine health” at the rebels’ Jamba base in southern Angola last weekend after a 600-mile cross-country trek.

The spokesman, who asked not to be identified, said the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva had proposed a plan for the repatriation of the hostages at the rebels’ request. “Important steps toward getting them home will have been taken by early next week,” the spokesman said.

Seized in December Raid

Rebels waging a guerrilla war to topple the Soviet-backed Angolan government seized the hostages in a two-hour raid Dec. 29 on the remote diamond-mining center of Kanfunfo close to the border with Zaire, 220 miles northeast of the capital, Luanda. UNITA claimed 130 government troops were killed in the battle.

The rebels marched the hostages 470 miles through the bush until they reached the Benguela railroad that cuts from west to east across the center of Angola, the spokesman said. Once in areas controlled by the rebels south of the railroad, they traveled the remaining 156 miles to the Jamba base by truck, he added.

The two American captives were identified as pilot Gerhard Opel and flight engineer Alan Bogard. Their L-100-30 Hercules cargo aircraft was hit by rebel fire on the runway at Kanfunfo shortly after it had landed with supplies.

Filipinos Not Identified

The plane was owned by Trans-america Airline based in Oakland, Calif., and chartered by the Angolan government. British hostage Paul Huggins was the cargo supervisor aboard the flight.

The other Britons were named as mining technicians Glenn Dixon and John McMichael. No identification for the Filipino captive was immediately available.