Anglican Envoy Optimistic on 3 U.S. Hostages

Anglican Church envoy Terry Waite, who recently helped secure the release of Father Lawrence M. Jenco from Islamic radicals in Lebanon, said Friday that he is optimistic that three other American captives known to be held by the Islamic group would also be freed.

Waite, in what he said was a message to Islamic Jihad (Holy War), told reporters: “I would say I don’t believe now there is anything to be gained by the captors in keeping these hostages any longer.

“It is quite clear that the Christian church has heard the cry of the captors, but we cannot help while they are holding people captive.”

He had said earlier during the news conference that the taking of hostages was a cry for help from people who thought they would not otherwise be heard.

Waite, the personal emissary of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert A.K. Runcie, said he is appealing to Islamic Jihad to resume their dialogue with him, saying he is ready to return to Lebanon “at any moment.”

“The longer these people (hostages) are kept, the longer the stalemate continues,” he said, adding he felt most people, including the captors, now want “out of the problem.”

‘Feelings and Compassion’

Waite said he is optimistic because “I believe that a lot of people in the Lebanon have human feelings and compassion.”

But he added that, realistically, the road ahead is still difficult.

Waite said he had twice tried to contact leaders of Islamic Jihad since the freeing of Jenco, a Roman Catholic priest, on July 26, but had received no response to his telephone calls.

He said that at the moment he is negotiating solely for the release of the remaining American hostages because they are being held “by the group I have been dealing with for a number of years.”

The three Americans known to be still in captivity are Terry A. Anderson, Associated Press bureau chief in Beirut, Thomas Sutherland, dean of agriculture at the American University of Beirut, and David P. Jacobsen, of Huntington Beach, Calif., director of the American University Hospital in Beirut.