European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 17, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday april 17, 1992 the stars and stripes b Page 9waite says pacifism prevented escape new York apr former hostage Terry Waite says he had a Chance to escape from his captors in Lebanon when he came across a loaded gun but he passed it up because of his pacifist views. Waite recalled the incident during an interview scheduled for broadcast today on abcs 20/20. One Day during his five years in Captivity he was unchained and taken to a bathroom. A the door was closed a he recalled. A and i discovered on top of the Cistern an automatic weapon. I thought Here a a  but he  bring himself to use it against the Man guarding him. Before he was taken hostage he had tried to persuade the kidnappers to renounce violence. A and now Here was i in a tight Corner and was i going to use violence a he said. A because if id picked up that gun id have had to use it. And i thought a no i must stand by what i  a Waite a special envoy for the archbishop of Canterbury was trying to negotiate the release of other hostages when he was taken captive in 1987. He was released in november 1991. Waite reiterated that he knew nothing about any  for hostages Deal arranged by former White House aide Oliver North although he met the then Marine officer while North was arranging secretly to Swap  to Iran for the hostages Freedom. A had i known anything about that then 1 would have had to Stop All connections with anybody from the american administration a he said. Waite who was in solitary confinement for four years said fellow hostage Terry Anderson chief Middle East correspondent for the associated press helped him stay sane by tapping out headlines through a Wall. Anderson had Access to a radio and was being held next door with two other hostages. Waite was sometimes allowed to read the Bible but he said it was Little Comfort. A outside the apartment in which 1 was held the constant sound of gunfire people knocking the daylights out of each other a he said. A and then you come to the Bible and you see that they were doing that 2,000, 3,000, 4,000 years ago. And things Haven to changed there in the Middle  afghan chief gives up Power officials say Kabul Afghanistan a president Najibullah installed by the soviets six years ago surrendered Power thursday to a coalition of generals and a Kev rebel commander As guerrillas closed in on the capital government officials said. Najibullah reportedly was taken to the office of the . Special envoy Benon Sevan. The area around the . Compound was surrounded by members of the elite presidential guard who would not allow anyone to enter. Initial reports of Najibullah a resignation came thursday from the French foreign ministry citing information from its embassy in Kabul. The development came a Day after an offensive by seven Muslim rebel groups who overran the governments main military air base 35 Miles from the capital. Rumours had been circulating for Days that Najibullah had fled or tried to flee to India. The French spokesman in Paris Maurice Goudrault Montagne said afghan military sources reported that Najibullah tried to escape from the capital wednesday but was stopped by  officers Allied with rebels. Senior government officials and members of Najibullah a Watan Homeland party said the 44-year-old president agreed to turn Over Power to four top generals who joined forces with Ahmed Shah Masood the key commander with the rebel group Jamiat a islami. The group has dominated much of northeastern Afghanistan and was uncompromising in its demand for Najibullah a ouster. Sources in the Watan party speaking on cond new . Chief Philadelphia police commissioner Willie Williams will replace embattled Daryl Gates As police chief of los Angeles. Williams 48, will become the first Black police chief of los Angeles a City More than twice the sue of Philadelphia but with fewer officers per capita of population than the Pennsylvania City. Williams will also be the first chief chosen from outside the la. Department in 40 years. Tion of anonymity said Najibullah agreed to surrender Power to try to prevent bloodshed in this City of 1.5 million people. Radical rebel groups had threatened to attack the capital. The four generals who took Power were identified As Mohammed Nabi Azimi Baba Khan Asif Dilawar and Abdul Moh min. They arc considered by most rebel leaders to be Long time career Offin Jib Ullah cars who have emerged from the civil War untainted by the 1978 marxist coup and the bloody brutal years that followed. Ghulam Farouq Yaqubi head of the dreaded secret police known As khad killed himself thursday upon learning of Najibullah a plans the party sources said. They gave no details. Najibullah a former secret police chief who was installed by Moscow in May 1986, announced last month that he was prepared to turn Power Over to an interim government under a .-mediated plan for ending the 13-year-old civil War. An estimated 2 million people have died in the fighting. Jamiat a islami which has said it wants Afghanistan to have a government based on islamic Laws said thursday that the . Plan was dead. The group has never defined what it Means by an islamic government although it has not espoused strict Muslim fundamentalism. The . Plan May have fatally weakened Najibullah a government which already was riven with ethnic and personal differences. Many Middle and Low ranking officers in the military apparently made deals with the guerrillas encouraging Radical rebels to make one last attempt to bring Down Najibullah. In Pakistan where most of the rebel groups Are based government officials said they expected All except the most Hartline resistance groups to support the new ruling coalition. Re he United states which had expressed concern that a Hasty departure by Najibullah could Lead to chaos urged restraint by the rebels. France urged All afghan parties to work together to implement the . Plan. Jamiat a islami one of the biggest and Best organized of the resistance forces said it seized the International Airport on the Western Edge of the capital thursday with the help of Neutral government troops and a smaller pro iranian guerrilla group. The claim could not be independently verified. Roads to the Airport were blocked and journalists were not allowed near the facility. There also were reports that Jamiat a islami was fighting to keep a rival rebel group a cab a islami away from the Airport. The two rebel factions have spent As much time fighting each other As they have battling government troops in recent years. Seabee marines work round clock to help protect Village from Etna lava by Jim Derheim staff writer mount Etna Sicily a As the lava flow from this sicilian Volcano crept to within a mile of the town of Zafferano Etna . Navy Seabee from naval air station Simonella and marines from the amphibious transport Dock Shreveport battled the elements in a round the clock Relief Effort dubbed by participants As operation hot Rock. High winds gusting in excess of 80 Mph together with Low Clouds and fog on thursday Cut Short the Relief Effort being staged from a ski resort on the Snow covered mount Etna Volcano which has been spewing molten Rock since dec. 13. On thursday a Marine ch-53e super stallion dropped two 15,000-Pound Concrete slabs into a 10-foot-wide Hole the entry Point above Zafferano Etna where molten Rock is pouring at a rate of 6 feet per second. A a it a racing through a Long Tunnel and coming out the other Side directly towards the City a said Marine staff sgt. . North a spokesman for the 24th Marine expeditionary unit from the Shreveport. North is one of 17 marines involved in the operation. Some estimates placed the Speed of the lava at Between 9vi and 16 feet per second although local italian news reported on wednesday evening that the flow had abated. The lava is flowing into a Long Tunnel underneath lava that has already cooled to a crust of broken Rock. Local . Military and italian  officials Are attempting to create a bottleneck within the Tunnel to divert the lava away from a City of worried residents. Three Homes already have been destroyed with the leading Edge of the lava now creeping into an Apple Orchard about 40 feet past an earthen Barrier that proved no obstacle to the flow. According to it. Robert curia officer in charge of the . Effort a a we re going to throw everything including the Kitchen sink into this Hole and Hope it sends the lava in a different  this May include trash dumpsters filled with Concrete Laden 55-gallon steel Drums and 15,000-Pound Concrete slabs. Thursdays operations halted because of the weather just 90 minutes after they began at 10 a.m., came after several of curiae a men had spent two consecutive nights on the freezing slope preparing a steel launching platform and a sled built from scratch which planners Hope to be Able to Send into the Mouth of the Tunnel above Zafferano Etna. The steel sled was built to careful specifications Given by the on site italian explosives expert directing the operation. Officials Hope it will act As an 8-foot-wide-oy-10-foot-Iong 100,000-Pound a a Corky of 10 to 12 8,000-Pound roadblocks nicknamed a Beirut busters a to Stop the tide of destruction Long enough for the lava to find a new path of least resistance according to cmdr. John Carpenter base air operations officer at Simonella. On thursday afternoon marines and members of the italian  smeared globs of grease onto the Bottom of the sled and launch platform surface in preparation for a planned Early morning lift by helicopter to the site of the lava diversion. First though the winds gusting across the face of the Mountain must die Down enough for the super stallions to lift the platforms into place North said. That like the tide of lava that is the cause of operation hot Rock is up to Mother nature