The Sacramento Bee from Sacramento, California • 7

I The Sacramento Bee Thursday December 26 1985 A7: Soviets confirm hijack of Aeroflot plane to China Algerian rebellion leader dies ALGIERS Algeria (AP) Ferhat Abbas a moderate named by Algerian independence forces as president of the while the country was still governed by France has died the official APS news agency said He was 86 The agency announced his death Tuesday but did not say when he died Abbas a pharmacist was named the first president of the Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic in 1958 by the Algerian National Liberation Front He held the post through 1961 during some of the bloodiest fighting between the independence forces and French troops After Algeria gained independence in 1962 Abbas supported Ahmed Ben Bella as the new first president Abbas was elected president of the National Assembly He resigned in 1963 after breaking with Ben moves to develop a socialist state Abbas was placed under house arrest and remained so under President Houari Boume-dienne who ousted Ben Bella and speeded up the development into an authoritarian Marxist state with a strict centrally planned economy successor President Chadli Bendjedid has tried to open the country up to Western investment Abbas was released from house arrest and Bendjedid decorated him on the 30th anniversary of independence in November 1984 officially rehabilitating him Independence forces considered their struggle began in 1954 though independence was not gained until 1962 Abbas was profoundly influenced by French culture despite his strong Moslem convictions and backed independence only after spending years trying unsuccessfully to integrate the European and Arab Corazon Aquino cradling her first grandson spent a Christmas campaign break with her family Manila archbishop decries injustice Sin warns of political turmoil news agency attacks Aquino Under Chinese law hijacking is a car- rying a maximum sentence of life in prison Hijacking with loss of life carries the death penalty in the SovF et Union No injuries were reported in the hijacking In the 1983 hijacking at least 10 people died Four of the hijackers were sentenced to death and the fifth was sentenced to 14 years in prison In Peking Chinese officials said the plane hijacked last week which was carrying 39 passengers and four' crew members all Soviets crossed the Chinese border over the Inner Mongolian city of Manzhouli then landed in a cow pasture "On Dec 21 crew members and all the passengers returned to the Soviet Union said Chinese For- eign Ministry spokesman Ma Yuzhen in a short statement the first by the Foreign Ministry on the incident A Chinese official in Gannan near where the plane was forced down said Soviet diplomats and Chinese officials traveled to the remote area about 300 miles east of the Soviet border to negotiate an end to the hijacking Ma refused to comment on the report that four hijackers were in custody He also declined comment on possible motives for the hijacking and refused to clarify conflicting reports on the whereabouts of the plane An official in Hailar a nearby city in Inner Mongolian Autono- mous Region said the plane was flown back to the Soviet Union but another Chinese official said Wednesday the plane was still in Gannan The heavily militarized border area where the plane landed has frequently been the scene of clashes By John lams MOSCOW (UPI) The Soviet Union confirmed Wednesday that an Aeroflot jet was hijacked to China last week and said the passengers and crew had returned home Moscow said there was a sole hijacker but a Chinese official said four were in custody The announcement by the official news agency Tass was the first official confirmation by the Soviet Union of the Dec 19 hijacking the first publicly announced hijacking since five people attempted to hijack a Tu-134 in 1983 Tass said the plane a twin-engine turboprop Antonov-24 was on a domestic flight from the Soviet-Chinese border town of Nerchinski Zavod to Irkutsk 700 miles to the west when it was hijacked and forced to land in a cow pasture Antonov-24 plane flying a local Aeroflot route had to alter its course as a result of forcible actions by an armed criminal on board and landed in the northeastern part of the Republic of Tass said According to Tass Chinese side adopted measures for finding the plane and returning the passengers and crew home as soon as possible Soviet side expressed gratitude to the Chinese authorities for the spirit of good-neighborly cooperation they displayed in the Tass said The fate of the hijacker or hijackers was unclear The Soviets mentioned only a single criminal on but a Chinese Foreign Affairs official said four Soviet hijackers were in custody It was unclear if Chinese officials would return the hijacker or hijackers to the Soviet Union or prosecute them in China By Denholm Barnetson fllANILA Philippines (UPI) Cardinal Jaime Sin the outspoken archbishop of Manila delivered a grim holiday message Wednesday in only Christian country saying Filipinos the bleakest Christmas in living The archbishop told Filipinos that people indeed are a nation in travail suffering all kinds of affliction Acts of injustice continue to blight the national soul Economic hardships burden us and political turmoil casts its long shadow over our On the political front the official media leveled its sharpest attack yet against opposition presidential candidate Corazon Aquino as she and her rival President Ferdinand Marcos took a holiday break from campaigning is unfortunate that the opposition put up a candidate without experience in government affairs and whose campaign strategy is based on vengeance hatred emotion and sympathy and less on the legitimate issues affecting the country and the state-run Philippine News Agency said Marcos facing the toughest election challenge of his 20-year rule in Feb 7 polls celebrated Christmas with his family at the presidential palace as his wife Imelda made her annual visit to the Manila jail passing out gifts and ordering the release of 53 inmates In an annual Christmas message the president appealed for dialogue with the opposition and hoped that spirit of Christmas will soften their Aquino wife of slain opposition leader Benigno Aquino spent Christmas at home with her family in suburban Manila but prepared to resume her campaign with a trip to historic Bataan Peninsula today In a Christmas message carried by opposition daily newspaper Malaya (Free Press) she said us remember those who are less fortunate and oppressed most especially those in term was officially scheduled to end in 1987 but he called the election ahead of schedule to reaffirm his mandate amid US criticism of his handling of the economy a growing communist insurgency and lack of political reforms These soft and snuggly imported flannel sheets are completely machine washable with the shrinkage already built in! 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