U.S. Leaving Jet Crisis in Hands of Algerians : ‘We Appreciate What They Are Doing,’ Shultz Says; Red Cross May Enter Into Negotiations

Secretary of State George P. Shultz passed up receiving an honorary doctorate to personally direct the U.S. response to the TWA hijacking Saturday, but officials said that the Algerian government has taken charge of all efforts to free the plane and its American passengers.

“We see it as a situation that is in their hands,” White House spokesman Robert Sims said with reference to the Algerians. “They have had a traditional role in recent years as an intermediary in solving some similar problems. They want to do it. We appreciate what they are doing. This is a problem that they have to deal with.”

Algeria served as go-between in the drawn-out but ultimately successful effort to free the hostages at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran five years ago, and the Algiers regime is one of the few in the world that enjoys the trust of both the United States and of Muslim militants.

Red Cross May Participate

The State Department said that the U.S. and Algerian governments also had requested the assistance of the International Committee of the Red Cross. However, a Red Cross spokesman, interviewed by telephone from the committee’s Geneva headquarters, said that the organization was not yet ready to intervene.

The spokesman said the Red Cross is willing to play a neutral negotiator’s role only if requested by parties on all sides. So far, he said, the hijackers have not agreed to Red Cross mediation. Nevertheless, he said, a Red Cross delegation left for Algiers late Saturday so “if we decide to act, we could be ready.”

Sims said that President Reagan sent personal messages to a number of Middle Eastern leaders--including Syrian President Hafez Assad--urging them to provide whatever help they can. The message to Assad, first reported by the Syrian news agency, was the second one Reagan has sent to the Syrian leader in recent weeks. Reagan earlier asked Assad to help obtain the release of seven Americans held captive by Shia Muslim militants in Beirut.

Reagan at Camp David

Reagan did not change his plans for a weekend at the Camp David presidential retreat, and he did not mention the hijacking in his regular Saturday radio address.

“The President has followed this closely throughout the hijacking,” Sims said. “He was briefed early this morning by (White House National Security adviser Robert C.) McFarlane on what happened overnight. The President has stayed abreast of what is happening through memos from Shultz and McFarlane.

“His objective is some negotiated resolution of the situation that will allow the people to depart the aircraft safely,” Sims said.

U.S. officials carefully avoided any talk about possible U.S. military action to free the plane, apparently to avoid goading the hijackers into drastic action. It also was clear that the Algerians would not welcome the use of American troops, at least not for the time being.

Shultz had been scheduled to receive an honorary law degree from Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. He canceled his trip, however, and was at his State Department desk by 7 a.m., a department spokesman said.

U.S. officials said they were encouraged by the release of more than half of the passengers, but they admitted that they did not know just what the hijackers’ gesture might mean.

The State Department said it has been unable to determine the identity of a young man with a short haircut who was murdered by the hijackers and dumped out of the plane at the Beirut airport early Saturday. The hijackers said he was a U.S. Marine but the Marine Corps said they knew of no Marines who had been aboard the TWA flight.

“Apparently he did not have any ID on him,” State Department spokesman Pete Martinez said. “Given what the situation is in Beirut, it may be a while before we get an identification.”