Newspaper Article

U.N. Envoy Ends Visit To Beirut and Damascus

IHSAN A. HIJAZI, Special to The New York Times

1989

Overview

The official, Under Secretary General Marrack Goulding, who is in charge of United Nations peacekeeping operations, told reporters in West Beirut today that he had not been able to obtain ''reliable information'' about the fate of Lieut. Col. William R. Higgins, the kidnapped United States marine who was reported a week ago to have been killed. [ Mr. Goulding spoke before the Federal Bureau of Investigation said in Washington that its forensic experts had decided that Colonel Higgins was most likely the person depicted in a videotape issued by his kidnappers last Monday and that he was dead when filmed in the tape. ] Mr. Goulding said after a meeting with Prime Minister Selim al-Hoss, who heads a predominantly Muslim Cabinet, that he was returning to United Nations headquarters in New York to submit his report to Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar. Reported Hanging ''But I have not been able to secure reliable information about Lieutenant Colonel Higgins's fate and whether he is dead or alive,'' he said today. ''The Imam always attacked,'' he said of Ayatollah Khomeini. ''He always had an offensive posture towards the United States.''

• Publisher: New York Times Company
• Subject: GOULDING, MARRACK / HIGGINS, WILLIAM (LT COL) / HIJAZI, IHSAN A / HOSTAGES