THE LIBYAN CONNECTION Angry reaction to subversive attack

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33516, 23 April 1974, Page 15

THE LIBYAN CONNECTION Angry reaction to subversive attack

. B.v

PAUL MARTIN

of "The Tt-ie.- through XZ.PA.i

BEIRI T. \pril 22. Egyptian security forces have begun a hunt for members of a secret organisation supported b\ I ibya which is bent on subversion, sabotage and murder in Egypt. This follows the abortive attempt by a guerrilla squad to seize the military technical academy in Cairo last Thursday. The discovery of Libya’s hand in the Heliopolis operation has caused the most serious rift in Egypt-Libya relations so far.

According to preliminary I reports, the aim of the opieration was to embarrass the Egyptian Government with 'the intention of inciting internal strife. At least 11 people were Skilled and 27 others wounded [as the attackers, many of them students, and guards fought pitched battles in the grounds of the academy. Although the incident did nothing to shake the position of President Sadat, it has caused an angry Egyptian reaction against the subversive policies of Colonel Gadaffi. i the Libyan leader. i Since the attack at least 70 [people, many of them studient extremists, have been ar'rested.

| According to the Egyptian prosecutor, the leader of the [attempted revolt was a Palestinian called Dr Salam Ibra[him Soraya, who worked for the Arab League in Cairo and [had recruited many dissident ■students. [ The Libyan connection, however, is the most import-

ant element in the affair. The Egyptians have detected [Libyan money and subversive■ elements active on the fringes of Egyptian politics in increased volume since the October war. There is even a strong belief in Cairo that one of the reasons for Colonel Gadaffi’s disappearance from the forefront of Libyan politics is to' [give him a free hand with his pan-Arab revolutionary ac-: itivities. According to reports from Egypt. Dr Soraya was last in contact with the Libyan] regime before he staged his attack. It is being strongly suggested that the money came from the Libyans. Even the original versions made it clear that the attackers had "an Arab Embassy” behind them. So far the Egyptian resnonse has been characteristicallv mild. The charge* against the I ibyans have been restricted to pointed innuendoes. RESTRAINT However, it is clear that the patience of President Sadat is running out and that his restraint so far is aimed at giving Colonel

Gadaffi’s colleagues a chance to rectify matters. For Egyptians there is a vivid precedent for the socalled "academy affair." The Sudan regime produced enough proof after the "Black September" massacre of din lomats in Khartoum to implicate the I ibyans The man who planned the whole operation was found to have escaped to Libya afterwards and to have received necessary support from there there have been serious fears in Egypt that Colonel Gadaffi’s decision to fade from public life meant that he would devote his time to his threatened "revolution" against regimes, like Egypt's, that disagreed with hint. He is known to lend active support to ultra-extremist Palestinian organisations and pan-Arab groups In recent months Egyptian intelligence has detected signs of a campaign of assassination and sabotage aimed at scuttling Middle East peace [efforts. - There have been several discoveries of attempted plots against the regime, in which the Libyan hand has been all too prominent.