Zimbabwe IDs Slain Tourists; One From U.S.

Prime Minister Robert Mugabe announced today that his government has positively identified the remains of three foreign tourists, including at least one American, who were abducted by anti-government rebels nearly three years ago.

Six skeletons were found last week in three graves in the western Lupane district of the troubled Matabeleland province.

Five of the victims were shot to death and the sixth was strangled three days after the July 23, 1982, capture of the six foreign tourists, Mugabe told a news conference.

He said pathologists had positively identified the bodies of Kevin Ellis of Bellevue, Wash., who was 24 at the time of the kidnaping; James Greenwell, 18, of Britain, and William Butler, 31, of Australia.

Marched at Gunpoint

The other tourists who were marched into the jungle at gunpoint were Brett Baldwin, 23, of Walnut Creek, Calif.; Martyn Hodgson, 35, of Britain, and Tony Bajzelj, 25, of Tasmania.

In Walnut Creek, Brooks Baldwin, Brett’s father, said he and his wife are assuming that their son is dead, although positive identification has not yet been made.

Baldwin, who went to Africa twice with Ellis’ father in hopes of finding the missing men, said that he had spoken with the Ellis family and that they had decided not to return to Africa to recover the bodies.

Mugabe charged that officials of opposition leader Joshua Nkomo “had knowledge of both the abduction and the killing of the six tourists” by rebels.

Denies Charges

Nkomo and his opposition party deny charges by Mugabe’s government that they give orders to the rebels. Many Nkomo followers deserted national army barracks and took to the bush with their guns in 1982 when Mugabe kicked Nkomo out of the coalition government for allegedly plotting a coup.

Mugabe said the kidnapers sent many messages to the government demanding the release of two of Nkomo’s former commanders in exchange for the safe return of the tourists.

Mugabe said information about the graves and the deaths of the tourists came from the leader of the kidnaping gang, Gilbert Ngwenya, and his top lieutenant.