Beirut Cabbies Spot Missing Negotiator

BEIRUT, Lebanon--Two taxi drivers said they saw missing hostage negotiator Terry Waite walking yesterday in a southern Beirut suburb with an escort of about 10 gunmen and four turbaned Shiite Moslem sheiks.

Waite, the 6-foot-7 Anglican Church envoy, was last seen by reporters Jan. 20 when he left the Riviera Hotel in west Beirut to meet the kidnappers of two Americans. Since then, Waite has not contacted the church or his family.

The taxi drivers, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press they saw Waite walking with his escorts in a street close to the Lebanese capital's airport highway at about 3 p.m. yesterday.

"I saw him smiling and waving his hand to onlookers as he walked. He wore a gray raincoat," said one witness. "I stopped my taxicab to watch, but the escorts waved me away, shouting: 'Don't stop. Drive on.' I did."

Waite wore a raincoat when he was last seen by reporters.

Another taxi driver said he saw Waite at the same time in the same procession, smiling and waving his right arm to onlookers on the left side of the street.

Both drivers work in the neighborhood of the Riviera Hotel, where Waite stayed between his arrival in Lebanon on Jan. 12 and the time he dropped from sight Jan. 20.

Waite came to Beirut to try to win the freedom of foreign hostages. A total of 26 foreigners, including eight Americans, are missing and presumed kidnapped in Lebanon. Many are believed held by Shiite Moslem captors.

The taxi drivers said that before Waite's disappearance, they had frequently seen him walking on the beach or traveling in a motorcade.

"I haven't the slightest doubt about his identity. I know him and I saw him this afternoon," one driver said.

There have been a spate of conflicting reports about Waite.

In West Germany, the mass circulation newspaper Bild quoted unidentified "Beirut security circles" as saying Waite was shot and critically wounded after he tried to escape from captivity in Lebanon. The newspaper, in a report prepared for its Friday editions, did not say when the alleged shooting occurred or provide other details.

Shiite and Druse militia officials in Beirut scoffed at the newspaper report.

"It's absolute fantasy," said one militia official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity.

Also Thursday, police and military officials in Beirut renewed their denial of any U.S. military action anywhere in Lebanon, following rumors that U.S. Marines were landing to attack Shiite guerrillas.

"We have had no report of any such attack anywhere in Lebanon, yet," a police official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity.

The rumors were sparked by the presence of a flotilla of U.S. warships off Lebanon. Some Lebanese politicians and news media said the warship were ordered into the area to put pressure on groups holding foreign hostages. Two of those groups have threatened to kill their captives in response to an attack.

In Washington, sources speaking on condition of anonymity said no attack on Lebanon was planned.

The Reagan administration announced the aircraft carrier USS Kennedy would begin a port call in Israel on Friday and that four of the Kennedy's escort warships had been ordered to sail for home.

The Washington sources said one of two Marine amphibious groups now in the Mediterranean soon would also be allowed to head home.

"We're dropping back a bit because our presence there is being blown out of proportion with rumors of invasions," one U.S. official said.

The naval buildup occurred after the abduction of three Americans and an Indian in Moslem west Beirut late last month and Waite's disappearance.