Sadat pledges Afghan aid

Press, 27 December 1980, Page 6

Sadat pledges Afghan aid

NZPA-Reuter Cairo President Anwar .Sadat,, a bitter critic of the Soviet intervention of Afghanistan, has pledged to send more arms to Afghan guerrillas. He gave the pledge in an interview with Catro television on his sixty-second birthday. The President satd. 1 have sent weapons (to Afghan guerrillas), andl I declare here that I will send more weapons." He gave no details. . , ~ Mr Sadat said he would also organise “an Afghanistan week” in Egypt during which assistance, including clothing, blankets, medicine, and foodstuffs would be collected and sent to Afghans fighting Soviet troops. After the Soviet intervention of Afghanistan last vear, President Sadat offered the United States military facilities to defend any Arab or Muslim country against external aggression. An Afghan rebel leader. Burhanuddin Rabbani, has called for a day of mourning on Sundav, the first anniversary of the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan.

Mr Rabbani, the head of Jamiat Islami Afghanistan, a resistance group based m Peshawar. Pakistan, accused the Soviets of having “killed thousands of Afghans, devastated hundreds of villages, and made innocent women and children homeless.” He said that "December 27, 1979, was the most catastrophic day in the history of Afghanistan .. . when (a) 10,000-strong Red Army equipped with modem weapons invaded Afghanistan to burn houses and plunder the local population.” The rebel leader called on Afghans to fly black flags on their houses and wear black armbands “as a symbol of hatred of the foreign occupation.” , . Mr Rabbani also . asked Muslim countries and "all humanitarian people to participate in the Afghan nation’s mourning and help them with their condemnation of the Soviet action.” fa Moscow, Tass has reported that the Soviet Union and Afghanistan have signed economic co-operation and trade agreements this week.