World Notes Fugitives

Where is a failed communist to go these days? Ousted East German leader Erich Honecker thought he had found a safe haven in the Soviet Union. But last week Russian President Boris Yeltsin said Honecker, 79, had to leave.

The East German quickly found a friend: Clodomiro Almeyda, the Chilean ambassador to Moscow, who had been given refuge in East Germany following the $ bloody 1973 coup in Chile. Almeyda invited Honecker to stay in his embassy while he asked his government to give Honecker asylum. Then came Santiago's response: no.

The German government has formally requested Honecker's return, but if truth be told, the Germans hope he will not come. A trial would give Honecker a chance to claim political persecution, and he could prove an embarrassment.

At week's end the East German still had two options: North Korea offered temporary refuge, while permanent sanctuary was held out by Dzhokhar Dudayev, the President of the tiny, self-proclaimed Chechen republic (which broke away from Russia's Chechen-Ingush region). A staunch anticommunist, Dudayev said he offered his hospitality "to save the honor of both Gorbachev and Yeltsin."