Abu Nidal Group to Release 2 French Hostages

BEIRUT —  A Palestinian terrorist group said Saturday it will free two French girls held hostage for more than a year, in response to an appeal by Libyan leader Col. Moammar Kadafi that captives be released.

A statement issued by the Fatah Revolutionary Council, led by Abu Nidal, said the girls to be released are the daughters of French hostage Jacqueline Valente. They are Marie-Laure, 7, and Virginie, 6.

The group’s announcement was released a few hours after the arrival of Valente’s mother, former husband and brother-in-law in West Beirut from Paris. They came to press for their relatives’ freedom.

The statement set no date for their release. But the group’s spokesman, Walid Khaled, said the two girls were to be freed within 24 hours.

The Fatah Revolutionary Council announced in November, 1987, that it had captured the three, along with five Belgians, from a boat it seized off the coast of the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip. The group accused the adults of being Israeli spies, which their relatives deny.

“In light of the appeal made by brother Moammar Kadafi on the occasion of Christmas and New Year for the release of the hostages, especially the two girls, Marie-Laure and Virginie, our Central Committee has decided to free the two girls within the framework of specific security arrangements set for this purpose,” the statement said.

The statement, released in Beirut, did not spell out the security arrangements involved or the hostages’ whereabouts. But it did say that Libya pledged to “extend all the necessary facilities that will guarantee the safety of the two girls.”

Valente, her three daughters (she gave birth to daughter Liberte last Christmas) and the five Belgians have been called the “forgotten hostages” by the French media.

The Belgians being held are Emmanuel Houtekins, his wife, Godelieve, their two children, Valerie, 18, and Laurent, 19, and Emmanuel’s brother, Fernand.