In December 1975, when Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, aka Carlos the Jackal, and an armed group attacked Opec headquarters in Vienna and took dozens of ministers and delegates hostage, one man kept his cool. His name was Abdul Samad al-Awadhi, a member of the Kuwaiti delegation and a former head of the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation’s (KPC) Europe operations. He died in London last week.
On 21 December, Carlos and five men armed with guns and explosives forced their way into the Opec building and took 60 people hostage after killing an Austrian policeman, an Iraqi security guard and a Libyan delegate. They called themselves the “Arm of the Arab Revolution” and their declared aim was to liberate Palestine. To that end they planned to kidnap the Opec ministers and hold them for ransom. Opec at the time was made up of 12 member states but the Libyan minister was absent because of a pressing appointment elsewhere. Two of the ministers, Saudi Arabia’s Ahmed Zaki Yamani, and Iranian Oil Minister Jamshid Amouzegar were to be assassinated. Ministers and their delegations were divided into separate groups – friendly countries, neutrals and enemies. The list of enemies included the Saudi, Iranian, Qatari and UAE delegations. (CONTINUED - 621 WORDS)