Sadat off to Moscow

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32734, 11 October 1971, Page 13

Sadat off to Moscow

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter —Copyright) CAIRO, Oct. 10. President Sadat of Egypt, on the eve of his departure for Moscow to discuss the Middle East crisis, has outlined his country’s conditions for any talks about a settlement.

The newspaper “Al Akhbar,” today quotes Mr Sadat as telling university professors yesterday that Egyptian troops must advance up to the strategic passes in occupied Sinai if there is to be a peaceful solution to the Middle East crisis.

Mr Sadat, who left for Kuwait today on his way to Moscow, was answering a question after delivering a speech to about 4500 professors and university staff at the Gamal Abdel Nasser Hall of Cairo University. The President is quoted by “Al Akhbar” as saying that there should be no discussion of Egypt’s international frontiers, and that the people of the Gaza Strip should have the right to decide whether to become independent or to join Egypt. But that the strip

must never be annexed by Israel. These, Mr Sadat said, were Egypt’s conditions for any talks about c settlement. Informed sources in Cairo say that Mr Sadat’s discussions tomorrow night with Soviet Union leaders—he was invited by the Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party—may provide a good opportunity to restore Russian-Egyptian relations to normal after a somewhat uneasy period. The execution of leading

Communists in Sudan last July, and Libya’s proclaimed feelings against the Communists are understood to have affected relations between Mr Sadat and the Kremlin.

On his way to Moscow, the Egyptian leader will pay flying visits to the leaders of Kuwait and Iran—the first by an Egyptian Head of State to either country. The Egyptian Minister of War (General Mohammed Sadek) is already in Moscow having talks with Soviet Union military leaders, including the Minister of Defence (Mr Andrei Grechko). In New York, the Egyptian Foreign Minister (Mr Mahmoud Riad) has had talks on the Middle East crisis with the United States Secretary of State (Mr William Rogers), who has since restated his view that both Egypt and Israel want to work towards an interim agreement involving the re-opening of the Suez Canal.