Hostages’ Envoy Trapped by Gunfire, Remains Optimistic : Waite Pinned Down by Gunfire in Beirut, Remains Optimistic

Terry Waite, the archbishop of Canterbury’s envoy who is trying to free American hostages in Lebanon, was pinned down by gunfire between battling Muslim militias today, but in a message for the hostages’ families, he said he was optimistic about the kidnaped Americans’ chances for freedom.

“Have courage. Keep calm. We’re making progress,” Waite said in an interview in the Associated Press office as fighting raged in the streets below.

But, he cautioned, “We’ve a long way to go yet.”

Police and hospital officials said at least five people were killed and 32 wounded in the fighting between the Shia Muslim Amal militia and the Islamic Druze sect’s Progressive Socialist Party.

The street battles forced Waite to delay until Friday a news conference and his departure by plane to Larnaca, Cyprus. He planned to fly on to New York for meetings with U.S. officials and church leaders on the hostage crisis.

Waite met the Americans’ kidnapers last week, flew to London to talk to U.S. officials and then returned to Beirut on Tuesday for more contacts with the Shia fundamentalists holding the hostages.

Islamic Jihad, the group holding the Americans, has demanded the release of 17 comrades convicted in Kuwait in the 1983 bombings of the U.S. and French embassies. Kuwait has refused to free the prisoners.