
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, July 1, 1990                   TAG: 9007010178
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: MANILA, PHILIPPINES                                LENGTH: Short

PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEER KIDNAPPED

Communist rebels kidnapped an American Peace Corps volunteer and are holding him on the central island of Negros, the U.S. Embassy said today.

Embassy spokesman Stanley Schrager said the male volunteer, whose name was withheld, was apparently abducted June 13.

He said the embassy learned of the kidnapping after it was unable to contact the volunteer when the United States decided to recall the 261 Peace Corps volunteers.

The withdrawal of the volunteers was ordered because of fears the rebels would try to kill or kidnap Peace Corps staffers.

Schrager said the embassy confirmed the kidnapping Saturday and rushed diplomats to the Negros city of Bacolod.

Previously, U.S. officials had said all 261 volunteers were safe.

Negros, about 300 miles southeast of Manila, is a stronghold of the rebel New Peoples Army, which is waging a 21-year insurgency to establish a Marxist state.

- Associated Press

by CNB