Khartoum diplomatic assassinations
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Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
stated that he refused to negotiate with terrorists, and insisted that "no concessions" would be made, the three Western hostages were killed.
Hostage-taking
On March 1 1973, the Saudi embassy in Khartoum was giving a formal reception, and George Curtis MooreGeorge Curtis Moore
George Curtis Moore was an American diplomat who was assassinated during a terrorist attack on the United States embassy in Khartoum, Sudan.- Diplomatic career in Sudan :...
, chargé d'affaires at the American embassy, was the guest of honor as he was due to be re-assigned from his post. Palestinian gunmen burst into the embassy, and took Curtis hostage, as well as fellow American Cleo Allen Noel, a Belgian diplomat and two others.
Eight masked men from Black September
Black September (group)
The Black September Organization was a Palestinian paramilitary group, founded in 1970. It was responsible for the kidnapping and murder of eleven Israeli athletes and officials, and fatal shooting of a West German policeman, during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, their most publicized event...
entered the building and fired shots in the air, detaining ten hostages:
- Cleo A. Noel, Jr.Cleo A. Noel, Jr.Cleo Allen Noel, Jr. was a United States ambassador to Sudan who was murdered by the Black September Palestinian terrorist organization in the 1973 attack on the Saudi embassy in Khartoum.-Early life:...
, US Ambassador to Sudan - SheikhSheikhNot to be confused with sikhSheikh — also spelled Sheik or Shaikh, or transliterated as Shaykh — is an honorific in the Arabic language that literally means "elder" and carries the meaning "leader and/or governor"...
Abdullah al Malhouk, Saudi Arabian Ambassador to Sudan- Wife of Sheikh Abdullah al Malhouk
- Malhouk's four children
- George Curtis MooreGeorge Curtis MooreGeorge Curtis Moore was an American diplomat who was assassinated during a terrorist attack on the United States embassy in Khartoum, Sudan.- Diplomatic career in Sudan :...
, US Deputy Chief of Mission to Sudan - Guy Eid, BelgianBelgiumBelgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
Chargé d'affairesChargé d'affairesIn diplomacy, chargé d’affaires , often shortened to simply chargé, is the title of two classes of diplomatic agents who head a diplomatic mission, either on a temporary basis or when no more senior diplomat has been accredited.-Chargés d’affaires:Chargés d’affaires , who were...
to Sudan - Adli al Nasser, JordanJordanJordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
ian Chargé d'affairesChargé d'affairesIn diplomacy, chargé d’affaires , often shortened to simply chargé, is the title of two classes of diplomatic agents who head a diplomatic mission, either on a temporary basis or when no more senior diplomat has been accredited.-Chargés d’affaires:Chargés d’affaires , who were...
to Sudan
Demands and negotiations
The morning after the hostages had been taken, the gunmen demanded the release of numerous Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, as well as the release of members of the Baader-Meinhof GroupRed Army Faction
The radicalized were, like many in the New Left, influenced by:* Sociological developments, pressure within the educational system in and outside Europe and the U.S...
, and the release of Sirhan Sirhan
Sirhan Sirhan
Sirhan Bishara Sirhan is a Jordanian citizen who was convicted for the assassination of United States Senator Robert F. Kennedy. He is serving a life sentence at Pleasant Valley State Prison in Coalinga, California.Sirhan was a Christian Arab born in Jerusalem who strongly opposed Israel...
. However, they revised their demands and insisted that ninety Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
militants being held by the Jordan
Jordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
ian government must be freed within 24 hours or the hostages would be killed.
In a news conference on 2 March, President Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
said that the United States would "not pay blackmail". American negotiators seemed confused as to how to best respond to the hostage-takers' demands, and Nixon seemed to believe that the gunmen would give themselves up in exchange for safe passage as others had done when storming the Israeli embassy in Bangkok a year earlier.
After twelve hours, the gunmen stated that they had killed Noel, Moore and Eid, the three Western diplomats in their custody. They demanded a plane to take them and their hostages to the United States, which was rejected by both the Sudanese and American governments.
The Sudanese government continued to negotiate with the militants, and after three days the gunmen released the remaining hostages and surrendered to Sudanese authorities.
Trials and convictions
In October 1973, charges against two of the militants were dropped for insufficient evidence. A court of inquiry commenced to try the remaining six in June 1974. The court sentenced the six to life imprisonment before their sentences were reduced to seven years. The US government unsuccessfully lobbied the Sudanese government to put them to death.Sudanese President Gaafar Nimeiry
Gaafar Nimeiry
Gaafar Muhammad an-Nimeiry was the Nubian President of Sudan from 1969 to 1985...
was on an official trip abroad during the incident and condemned it in the strongest terms on his return, stating that the perpetrators rewarded Sudan, which had provided peaceful sanctuary to Palestinian refugees, with the disturbance of Sudan's internal peace. He decided to delegate the punishment of the perpetrators to their compatriots and handed the six to the custody of the Palestine Liberation Organization
Palestine Liberation Organization
The Palestine Liberation Organization is a political and paramilitary organization which was created in 1964. It is recognized as the "sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people" by the United Nations and over 100 states with which it holds diplomatic relations, and has enjoyed...
. The next day, the PLO sent the six to Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, where they were to serve their sentences. In protest of Sudan's handling of this situation, the United States withdrew its ambassador to Sudan and froze economic assistance to Sudan in June. A new US ambassador returned to Sudan in November that year, and aid resumed in 1976.
Three of the Black September militants disappeared from Egyptian custody and were never recaptured. The remaining three served out their sentences.
The United States also tried to prosecute Yasser Arafat
Yasser Arafat
Mohammed Yasser Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini , popularly known as Yasser Arafat or by his kunya Abu Ammar , was a Palestinian leader and a Laureate of the Nobel Prize. He was Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization , President of the Palestinian National Authority...
in the United States for his role in event. However, John R. Bolton
John R. Bolton
John Robert Bolton is an American lawyer and diplomat who has served in several Republican presidential administrations. He served as the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations from August 2005 until December 2006 on a recess appointment...
, then Assistant Attorney General at the Department of Justice, in 1986 concluded that they lacked the legal jurisdiction for trying Arafat, as the appropriate statutory laws were not yet in force in 1973.