FRIENDS of British journalist John McCarthy yesterday launched a new
campaign in London to win his freedom three years after he was kidnapped
in Lebanon.
McCarthy, 32, acting bureau chief in Beirut for Worldwide Television
News, was seized by four gunmen on the way to the airport on April 17,
1986 -- only days after US jets had taken off from bases in Britain to
bomb Libya.
McCarthy's girlfriend Jill Morrell, who has fought tirelessly for his
release, launched a cinema advertisement with the slogan: ''Close your
eyes and think of England. John McCarthy's done nothing else for the
last three years.''
Morrell renewed her attacks on the Government's low-profile policy
towards McCarthy and two other British hostages in Lebanon -- Anglican
church envoy Terry Waite and Belfast teacher Brian Keenan.
''What we find frustrating now is that three years later there is no
perception by (the Government) that their policy has failed at all,''
she told BBC TV.
In BEIRUT, tanks battled at close quarters in the streets as artillery
mercilessly pounded apartment blocks where frightened residents tried to
hide in basements and shelters.
Security sources said tank battles between Syrian gunners backed by
their local Moslem allies and mainly Christian troops were raging across
Beirut' Green Line dividing the city in Moslem and Christian sectors.
Artillery shells were falling on almost every street in the city, they
said.
United States and Arab League mediators intensified efforts to end the
nearly five weeks of terror and mayhem which has killed at least 219
people and wounded 800 since March 14.
Britain's ambassador in Beirut yesterday described the desperate
situation in the city after heavy fighting which cost the life of the
Spanish ambassador.
''The city is breaking down, it is virtually dead,'' said Mr Alan
Ramsey, adding there were no immediate plans to pull British officials
out of the country.
''I think that governments will have to reflect about the usefulness
of maintaining missions in a place that first of all ... etc''.
On the death of the Spanish ambassador, he added: ''It was a very
great shock. He was a personal friend.''
The part of the city in which the British Embassy is located was
without water and electricity after constant shelling and rocket attacks
on the Christian sector.
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