British Curbing Aircraft Studies of 300 Libyans

LONDON — The British government Friday sharply curtailed the training courses for more than 300 Libyan student pilots and apprentice aircraft engineers and told them they would have to leave the country.

The action came as 22 other Libyans, including a trainee pilot who had allegedly offered to lead suicide missions against U.S. targets, returned to Tripoli on a flight from London’s Heathrow Airport after being accused of “revolutionary activities.”

Most of those expelled Friday were college students known for their active support of Col. Moammar Kadafi’s government. Twenty-one were served with expulsion orders Tuesday and another the following day.

The British actions are part of a series of measures taken against Libya by Washington’s Western European allies in the wake of the U.S. air raid on Tripoli and Benghazi on April 15. The raid was ordered by President Reagan in reprisal for the April 5 terrorist bombing, blamed on Libya, that killed two people and injured more than 200 in a West Berlin nightclub popular with American servicemen.

Libya Vows Vengeance

Libya and various Arab groups have vowed vengeance on America, and on Britain for allowing some of the attacking planes to take off from bases in England. In the aftermath, the foreign ministers of the 12-member nations of the European Communities agreed to several anti-terrorist measures, including cutting the number of Libyan diplomats in their countries.

There were these diplomatic developments Friday:

--The Spanish Foreign Ministry said it had ordered the expulsion of 11 Libyans, including three diplomats. A ministry spokesman said a diplomat and two administrators at the Libyan mission in Madrid had carried out activities incompatible with their diplomatic status. The other eight Libyans were ordered expelled because of links with “activities contrary to state security.” No date was set for the expulsions.

--France, which already has expelled six Libyans, two of them diplomats, this month, restricted the movement of Libyan diplomats and made it tougher for Libyans to obtain entry visas, moves that will reduce the Libyan diplomatic presence in the country, officials said.

A Foreign Ministry statement said as “initial measures . . . the movements of the personnel of the Libyan People’s Bureau in Paris and the Libyan Consulate at Marseilles will be limited, except for special authorization, to the immediate area of the cities concerned.”

“The delays in delivery of visas will be extended to permit a particularly attentive study to the requests presented by the Libyan nationals,” it said.

--West German Interior Ministry spokesman Michael-Andreas Butz said European Communities interior and justice ministers who met Thursday at The Hague decided to ask their governments to discuss making diplomats and their luggage subject to searches if there is strong suspicion of terrorist activity.

By international agreement, diplomats and diplomatic luggage and shipments are not subject to the usual customs and police checks. But Butz said the carrying of explosives by diplomats and their luggage violates international rules.

--In Washington, Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III said that law enforcement officials from the European Communities reached agreements to establish periodic consultations on international terrorist threats, and to establish a continual exchange of information regarding known terrorists who are being excluded from entering various countries.

Libyan Staffs Reduced

West Germany said earlier this week it would reduce the Libyan embassy staff from 41 to less than 15 and Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Denmark also said similar cuts would be made.

British Home Office officials stressed Friday that the Libyan aircraft trainees were not being expelled, but noted that most would have to leave within the next 6 to 8 weeks as their visas expired. However, these officials added that if the trainees did not leave voluntarily, deportation proceedings would most likely be instituted.

In a written statement to the House of Commons, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher announced that the government had ordered aircraft operators and airports to prevent the Libyan trainees from having any access to aircraft except as passengers.

“The effect of these measures will be that such trainees will be unable to complete their courses or obtain qualification,” Thatcher said. “In that event, their current basis of stay will no longer exist and they will be expected to leave.”

In an interview following Thatcher’s formal statement, Secretary for Transport Nicholas Ridley said the measures were taken in light of heightened political tensions surrounding the U.S. attack.

‘A Security Decision’

“It is entirely a security decision,” Ridley explained. “I don’t think it right and I don’t think the public would understand it if we allowed Libyans to train on civilian aircraft which are . . . going into service the day after they have finished with them.”

Ridley also said the government could not expect the public to accept the idea of Libyan pilots flying solo around the country.

The move is likely to quell widespread disquiet in Britain over revelations earlier this week of the existence of the Libyan trainees.

Their presence only became widely known Tuesday with news that a 23-year-old Libyan, Adil Masood, who had recently completed pilot training at a school near Oxford, had telephoned a Tripoli radio station last month and offered to carry out suicide missions against American targets. He acted after the March 24 clash between U.S. and Libyan forces over the disputed waters of the Gulf of Sidra.

That offer was taped and played on an evening television news program throughout Britain.

British Airways Programs

The majority of the trainees are said to be engineering apprentices in programs operated by British Airways at Heathrow and Stanstead airports.

Neither the Home Office, which handles immigration, nor the Department of Transport, which is responsible for civil aviation matters, was able to give exact figures on the numbers involved in the restrictive measures, but both spoke of “about 300.” About 20 of these are said to be pilot trainees.

A British Airways spokesman confirmed that all its 180 Libyan students had been confined to classroom training for the past week but said the airline was seeking clarifications on the government order.

British Caledonian Airways, which suspended its flights to Libya shortly after the American attack, said it had also confined its 21 Libyan students to classroom instruction, but an airline spokesman said he does not expect the students to leave immediately.

“We’re trying to find out more about the order,” the official said. “Right now, we don’t expect them (the Libyan students) to leave. Our intent is to keep teaching them, but confine them to the classroom.”

Meanwhile, an international news agency in Beirut received a telephone call from someone representing an organization called “The Revolution Continues.” The caller said the group had caused the explosion at a British Airways office in London early Thursday, injuring one person. Only the earliness of the hour prevented more widespread injuries from the explosion. Oxford Street, where the blast occurred, is one of London’s busiest shopping streets.

The caller said the bombing was an act of retaliation “for the crimes committed by the American and British governments against the Palestinian and Libyan peoples.”