Missiles Down U.S. Aircraft Over Sahara

WASHINGTON — Five Americans said to be working under contract for the U.S. Agency for International Development were missing and presumed dead Thursday after an American plane was shot down by missiles in the Western Sahara region of northern Africa.

The plane was one of two DC-7s that were hit by missiles from an unidentified source, U.S. officials said. The second plane was able to land safely in Morocco.

“The two planes were part of a major desert spraying operation that the United States is supporting to combat massive swarms of insects in the Sahel,” an AID spokesman said.

Sandy, Remote Area

The sandy, remote region over which the planes apparently were hit has been the site of a long-running war in which a guerrilla group called the Polisario Front has been seeking independence from Morocco. The United States has supplied arms to Moroccan King Hassan II, who has sought to suppress the independence movement.

A Justice Department spokesman said the FBI “is trying to determine whether it was a terrorist attack.” U.S. officials in Morocco were rushing to the Moroccan city of Agadir to interview the crew members of the plane that landed safely.

The five Americans were not direct employees of AID, officials said. They were employed by T&G; Aviation, a private company in Chandler, Ariz., that U.S. officials said has been providing planes under contract to AID for the spraying effort.

A woman who answered the telephone at T&G; Aviation said no company officials were available to answer queries. “Are you a reporter? We have no information to give out at this time,” she said.

According to U.S. officials, the two DC-7s left Dakar, Senegal, and were over the Western Sahara, headed for Agadir and flying at about 10,000 feet, when they were attacked by missiles at about noon local time (3 a.m. PST). Information about the incident was not made public in Washington until nearly 12 hours later.

“They had done spraying in Senegal. I don’t know whether they were going to Agadir to pick up pesticides or do more spraying or what,” AID press spokesman Gerald Lipson said.

A Moroccan press statement said the plane was shot down over Bir Mogrein in Mauritania, although Lipson said it was unclear exactly where the plane went down.

The flight from Dakar to Agadir is 1,300 miles and goes directly over the disputed area of the Western Sahara where the Polisario has waged its guerrilla war. Lipson said the planes were flying in an international civil aviation corridor at the time they were hit.

According to the Moroccan statement, the first DC-7 hit by a missile exploded, while the second fell in altitude but managed to land at Sidi Ifni in Morocco.

Lipson said Thursday night that he did not know the names of the five Americans presumed killed. He said he was not certain where they were based while working under contract with AID, but believed that they had been stationed in Dakar, the Senegalese capital.

Asked if he could supply more information about T&G; Aviation, he replied: “I can’t help you. We can’t force them to release this information.”

AID, the State Department agency responsible for supplying help for economic development and humanitarian relief in developing countries, had $21 million in its budget for the current fiscal year to combat locusts in Africa.

“One of the things we’re supporting is a fairly large fleet of planes, large and small,” Lipson said.

The guerrilla war in the Sahara dates back to 1975, when Spain relinquished sovereignty over its former colony, the Spanish Sahara, to Morocco and Mauritania. The Polisario Front was formed to seek independence for the region. Over the past year, the United Nations has sponsored peace negotiations between Morocco and the front aimed at ending the fighting.

Several years ago, Morocco claimed that the Polisario Front, also known as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el Hamra and Rio de Oro, has been supported both by Libya and the Soviet Union.

The guerrillas are believed to possess Soviet-made SAM-6 surface-to-air missiles.