Cable Briefs

Press, 18 February 1980, Page 8

Cable Briefs

‘len/enis in Kabul 9 The semi-official Egyptian newspaper, “Al Ahram” has said that two battalions of South Yemeni troops have been airlifted to Kabul to fight alongside Soviet forces against Afghan rebels. In a report from Aden, the Yemeni capital, the newspaper also said South Yemen provided the Soviet Union with an air base equipped with sophisticated weapons and antiaircraft batteries. Another Cairo' daily, “Al Akhbar,” carried a similar report. “Al Ahram” said: “A Soviet plot to infiltrate the Arab region has become apparent. The Soviet military presence in South Yemen, Ethiopia, and Afghanistan serves the Soviet strategy in the region, l * — Cairo. Torture charge

The British Administration in Salisbury is investigating allegations that the Rhodesian police have tortured returning war refugees whom they suspected of being guerrillas. The complaint, lodged through the United Nations High Commissioner for. Refugees, involved men loyal to Joshua Nkomo returning from Zambia. — Salisbury.

Haughey. appeal The Irish Republic’s new Prime Minister, Charles Haughey, has appealed 'to Britain: to work urgently with, his Government to solve the bloody' conflict in Northern: Ireland. Warning that the British province may be on the verge of deteriorating: beyond recovery, Mr Haughey said: .“The time for a solution is now and that solution can only come through political action.” His call for .an unprecedented Anglo-Irish initi j ative leading to a British withdrawal was expected to bring a. strong reaction from Northern Ireland’s one million Protestants loyal to Britain. Mr Haughey’s speech made clear that a solution to the conflict was one of his main aims. — Dublin.

Plotters jailed Two Protestants from Northern Ireland who plotted to murder a man cleared of assassinating Lord Mountbatten have been jailed for a total of 12 years. Albert Taylor and Thomas Mullan M both members of the paramilitary Ulster Defence Association, were found guilty of conspiring to shoot Francis McGirl. They had pleaded not guilty. McGirl was acquitted of the Mountbatten murder last year, but a co-defendant; Thomas McMahon,. was jailed for life. Taylor has been jailed for seven years and Mullan for five years. — Dublin.

Cubans flee A band of eight Cubans, reported to be armed with handguns, has , commandeered a small freighter in Havana and forced- its crew to take them to the United States. There/was no reported violence and-, the Cubans peacefully surrendered their weapons to United States Government agents wfien the ship arrivgd in Key West, the Coast Guard reported/ On February 1 £ dredga was hijacked from the port of Varadero, west of Havana, and took 67 Cuban men, women and children to Miami.. — Key, West, Florida. Blasts injure 7

Seven people have been injured in two bomb attacks in the occupied Arab town of Gaza. The police said four Israelis were injured when a hand-grenade was thrown at their car in the. centre of Gaza. Soon afterwards a time-bomb went off near the scene of the grenade attacks Israeli occupation officials immediately imposed a curfew on the town.—Tel Avivi Helicopter crashes A helicopter has crashed while ferrying aid to flood victims in south-western Iran and at least two of the five people on board were killed, the official Pars news agency has reported. The “Azadegan” newspaper reported more than 250 people had died in the floods which swept the region this week. No official figure was available, but the death toll was believed to be considerably lower than that reported by the paper.—Teheran. ;