Egypt boycott ‘minimum’

Press, 2 April 1979, Page 8

Egypt boycott ‘minimum’

NZPA-Reuter Bagdad The decision to impose a total Arab economic boycott of Egypt, representing the first pan-Arab move to com* bat President Anwar Sadat’s signing of a peace treaty with Israel, has been hailed as a victory by Palestinian officials. But the boycott, agreed at an Arab League meeting, fell short of Palestinian demands for sanctions to be extended against the United States because of its part in arranging the accord. Palestinian officials also said the anti-Sadat measures

were only the minimum limit of punishment for the Egyptian leader. The meeting decided on Saturday to ban all economic and financial aid to Egypt, to withhold deposits from Egyptian banks, and to impose an oil embargo on President Sadat’s Government. After five days of tough bargaining the Ministers also decided to recommend a total severance of diplomatic ties with Egypt within a month, and said the remaining Arab ambassadors in Cairo were being immediately recalled. Informed sources in Cairo said the Bagdad decisions to

some extent only formalised an existing situation. They recalled that Egypt had already broken or suspended diplomatic relations with its main Arab critics — Iraq, Syria, Libya, Algeria, South Yemen, and, more recently, Jordan. They also said the economic sanctions were unlikely to harm Egypt since only about six' per cent of its total trade was with the Arab world. It was also virtually self-sufficient in pet« roleum products. An exporter of crude oil, Egypt is likely to export even more when it recovers [its Sinai oil-wells from Israel.