Won’t Extradite Hijack Suspect, Yugoslavia Tells U.S.

Yugoslavia gave the United States formal notice Thursday that it would not extradite alleged hijacking mastermind Abul Abbas and said that the official of the Palestine Liberation Organization has left the country.

Word of Abbas’ departure for an unknown destination reached Washington shortly after the White House suggested that he might still be in Yugoslavia, where he flew Saturday after Italian authorities declined to hold him for the United States.

Belgrade’s formal refusal to detain Abbas came as no surprise because Yugoslavia has maintained close ties with the PLO. The Reagan Administration, nevertheless, expressed sharp disappointment that the man it believes was behind the Oct. 7 hijacking of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro apparently has slipped beyond American reach.

‘Difficult to Understand’

White House spokesman Edward P. Djerejian said the Administration is “extremely disappointed.”

While acknowledging the close ties between Yugoslavia and the PLO, he said that the United States still finds it “difficult to understand if the Yugoslavian government chose to equate its treatment of this individual, who was clearly implicated in a terrorist plot, with its relations with the PLO as a whole.”

Abbas flew from Rome to Belgrade last Saturday, hours after the United States asked the Italian government to make a provisional arrest on the basis of a warrant issued by a federal district judge here.

Rome’s handling of the controversy brought down the Italian government Thursday as Prime Minister Bettino Craxi submitted his resignation and issued a bitter denunciation of the United States.

U.S. Request ‘Ungrounded’

Yugoslavia’s decision to reject the U.S. request to hold Abbas was relayed to a U.S. Embassy official in Belgrade by an assistant foreign minister. Belgrade took the position that the U.S. request was “legally ungrounded” and noted that Abbas is a member of the executive committee of the PLO, which Yugoslavia recognizes as the only legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.

Craxi and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak have emphasized the diplomatic damage caused by the U.S. interception of the Egyptian plane carrying the hijackers, but Milan Veres, Yugoslavia’s assistant foreign minister, said Thursday that his government does not believe the release of Abbas should harm relations between Washington and Belgrade.

Abbas was aboard an Egyptian airliner with the four hijackers, apparently flying to freedom in Tunisia, when the plane was intercepted by Navy F-14s. Later, after the four hijackers were taken off the Egyptian aircraft, the plane flew on to Rome with Abbas among those aboard. The next day, he was allowed to board a flight for Belgrade.

Arabs Arrested in Rome

On Capitol Hill, meanwhile, Secretary of State George P. Shultz confirmed that two Arabs, arrested in Rome while carrying explosives and weapons, had arrived in Rome on an Iraqi airline flight from Baghdad. But Shultz, appearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, carefully avoided implicating the Iraqi government in terrorism, saying he believes that Iraq opposes such activities.

Shultz made his comments in response to questions from California Rep. Howard Berman (D-Panorama City) who, earlier this year, called on the State Department to put Iraq back on the list of nations that support international terrorism.

The White House and the Pentagon refused either to confirm or deny reports that the U.S. 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean was unable to find the Achille Lauro for 24 hours after it was hijacked off Port Said and that the vessel was finally located by an Israeli ship.

But Navy sources questioned how such a delay could have occurred because the U.S. destroyer Scott left the Israeli port of Haifa within 24 hours of the hijacking and began shadowing the Achille Lauro from over the horizon, using its sophisticated radar.