STATE DEPARTMENT INQUIRY FINDS U.S., PERU SHARE BLAME IN SHOOTING DOWN OF
PRIVATE AIRPLANE

WASHINGTON An inquiry has found that the downing of an American
missionary plane over Peru was caused by an array of problems - and U.S.
and Peruvian officials, as well as the plane's pilot, share responsibility,
officials said Tuesday.

Peru's air force shot down the Cessna on April 20 after a CIA-operated
surveillance plane initially identified it as a possible drug flight. An
American missionary, Veronica Bowers, and her 7-month-old daughter were
killed and pilot Kevin Donaldson was seriously injured.

U.S. drug surveillance flights in Peru and Colombia - the world's main
producer of cocaine - have been suspended since the downing. U.S. officials
have been awaiting the conclusions of the U.S.-Peruvian investigation to
decide whether to resume them.

The investigative team, led by Assistant Secretary of State Rand Beers, did
not directly assign blame for the accident, but rather explored the
circumstances surrounding it.

Its report is not expected to be released until late this week, but some of
its findings were reported in Tuesday's Washington Post, which cited
unnamed sources.

State Department officials briefed members of Congress privately Monday on
its findings. Following the accident, many lawmakers questioned whether the
United States should support policies of shooting at civilian planes - even
those of suspected traffickers.

Four officials familiar with the report discussed it with the Associated
Press. All spoke on condition of anonymity.

Among the issues they said were raised in the report:

- -U.S. and Peruvian officials have failed to ensure that safeguards
implemented in 1994 to prevent mistaken shootings were still being observed.

- -Peruvians disregarded warnings from the American crew to call off the
downing when the Americans realized they probably were not dealing with a
drug flight.

"The U.S. crew was pretty vociferous in expressing their reservations and
the Peruvians blew past those reservations and the results were tragic," a
government official said.

- -Language limitations could have impeded communications. Though a Peruvian
aboard the CIA plane spoke English, none of the Americans spoke Spanish.

- -Peruvian officials were not aware of Donaldson's flight plan. A plan had
been filed on the first leg of his trip, from Iquitos to Islandia. But on
the return flight, there was no air traffic control on Islandia, so
Donaldson waited to notify authorities about the plan until he was
approaching Iquitos - a common practice in the area.

- -Peruvian pilots could not communicate with the missionary plane because
Donaldson was not using the regular civilian frequency. That frequency was
normally useless in the area, so Donaldson used another.

Donald Davis, the attorney for the missionaries group, said Donaldson
contacted the Iquitos tower when he realized he was being pursued.

The report made no recommendations. A follow-up report is being prepared by
Morris Busby, a former ambassador to Colombia, on how the policy might be
changed.

Rep. Benjamin Gilman, R-N.Y., said changes need to be made quickly "to
restart this program soon to help keep illicit drugs out of our communities."

Peru's policy of shooting at suspected drug flights is credited with almost
halting traffickers' flights carrying coca to Colombia, where it is
processed into cocaine. Peru's coca production has dropped sharply over the
past decade.

Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., said while she has not seen the report, it
confirms her belief that the United States should not encourage other
governments to fire on suspected drug flights.

"It certainly does seem to me that this kind of occurrence was really
inevitable," she said.

State Department and Peruvian officials declined to comment on the report
until it is released. A member of the joint investigative team, Abraham
Ramirez, said the two Peruvian pilots from the A-37 fighter jet that shot
down the Cessna have been grounded.

They were being detained on an air force base in Piura, on Peru's northern
Pacific coast, as part of a judicial military process, but there is no
presumption of criminal wrongdoing, said Ramirez, an aerospace consultant
to Peru's air force.

However, prosecutors in the jungle city of Iquitos are trying to pursue
criminal charges against the Peruvian pilots, who are challenging the
court's jurisdiction. Civilian trials against soldiers are rare in Peru.

The missionaries group, the Association of Baptists for World Evangelism,
has said that Donaldson has done nothing wrong.

"We agree with the statement that the U.S. shares fault with Peru and have
maintained all along that our pilot did not contribute in any way to the
incident," said Davis, its attorney.