Cable Briefs

Press, 22 June 1978, Page 6

Cable Briefs

Writer **u:rong M ' President Jimmy Carter's wife. Rosalynn. has attacked the exile Soviet writer, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, for Uiis charge that the United (States has grown weak and -decayed. Mrs Carter said in remarks prepared for a Natlional Press Club luncheon [that the Nobel Prize-winning author was wrong and she I rejected the remarks he made at Harvard University earlier this month. "AlexanIder Solzhenitsyn says he can [ feel the pressure of evil across our land.” she said. “Well. 1 do not sense the pressure of evil at all. There lis a pervasive desire among i Americans to live a useful life, to correct the defects in our society, and to make our I nation even greater than it is.” — Washington.

Space policy The United States will tiy to maintain world leadership in space, but focus more on earth-oriented uses while continuing defence progiammes under a new space policy adopted by President 'Carter, Administration I officials have said. The I space directive has two [prime objectives: to advance i the interests of the United (States through th® exploration and use of sapce; and (to co-operate with other nations in maintaining freedom of space. The directive ■recognises the advanced capability created by the new space shuttle and estab- ' lishes ground rules to work out conflicts between nati ional security, economic, political, and arms-limitation goals of the United States. >— Washington.

Consulates closed China has closed three Vietnamese Consulates in the southern part of the country “on a basis of reciprocity” as Peking had been unable to open three consulates it had requested in Vietnam. The Hanoi Government has bitterly attacked the closing of its Consulates in Kunming, in Yunnan province, and Nanning, in the Kwangsi Chuang autonomous region, both opened in 1955, and in Canton, opened in 1956. The Chinese action has brought SinoVietnamese relations to a new low, already seriously strained over what Peking has called the persecution and expulsion of Chinese residents from Vietnam in recent weeks. Two Chinese ships should be off the northern Vietnamese port of Haiphong and the southern port at Ho Chi Minh City to evacuate Chinese wishing to leave the country, but there has been no word so far of their arrival. — Peking.

Ogaden attacks Somali guerrillas say they have killed 800 Ethiopians in an ambush of truck convoys going through the disputed Ogaden Desert region of south-eastern Ethiopia. The guerrillas, reporting more battles in the region, said the ambush deaths brought the number of Ethiopians killed to nearly 2000 in a single week. Diplomatic sources with access to intelligence reports on the Ogaden. largely populated by ethnic Somalis, described the claims as highly exaggerated. But they said the guerrilla activity had become a constant headache for Ethiopian and Cuban commanders I who have been in the Ogaden since an eight-month [conventional war ended with a Somali retreat in March. — Nairobi.

Offensive denied i A military spokesman has denied a foreign press report that Indonesia has launched a big offensive with planes piloted by Americans against Left-wing Fretilin independence movement guerrillas in East Timor. “There is no such offensive, we don t I even have American pilots,” | the spokesman said. He refused to elaborate but said more Fretilin men and their families had been giving themselves up in the last few weeks. The report from the East Timor News Agency in Sydney said that some 15,000 Indonesian troops had taken part in the operation with air support piloted by Americans. — Jakarta.

Observers barred I The Soviet Union has refused to let Western mili|tary observers attend land and air manoeuvres by 39,000 Soviet troops in East Germany next month, diplo[matic sources have said. The 'five-day manoeuvres, stretching across the middle lof the country from Lieberose, near the Polish border Ito Magdeburg and Stendal near the western frontier, i are the biggest Soviet war [games in Central Europe [since the 1975 Helsinki security conference. The 35 signatory nations of the 11975 Helsinki accords pledged to inform each other lof manoeuvres involving 'more than 25,000 men and agreed that observers could be invited. — West Berlin. Unique Parliament . The Rhodesian Parliament [was officially opened on ‘Tuesday at a ceremony that i could be the last of its kind in nearly-90 years of white [rule. The black members of i the new transitional Government attended the ceremony, making it a unique occasion I Black leaders and Ministers sat with their white counterparts on the front bencn. The ceremony could be the I last of its kind because if things go as planned under the internal agreement, the Inext Parliament will open with a black government in i power. — Salisbury.