Egypt invited back into fold

Press, 20 January 1984, Page 6

Egypt invited back into fold

NZPA-AP Casablanca The 45-nation Islamic summit conference invited Egypt yesterday to resume its place as a founder member of the group — on condition that it endorse all joint Arab positions on the Middle East conflict.

The conference approved by consensus a proposal to

end the three-year-old suspension of Egypt from the Islamic Conference Organisation as soon as the Egyptian Government explicitly endorsed the decisions taken at an earlier Islamic summit meeting in 1981 and at another one in 1982.

The decision yesterday implicitly called on Egypt to accept wording that rejects the Camp David ac-

cords, though without requiring a formal renunciation of the agreements.

The summit conference took no action on a Syrian and Libyan demand that Egypt renounce its peace with Israel before being readmitted to the Islamic group. Conference sources said the meeting had reached a compromise after an acri-

monious debate on a demand by Asian and African moderates to readmit Egypt. The last summit meeting of the Islamic nations, held in Taif, Saudi Arabia, in 1981, decided to suspend Egypt’s membership because the late President, Anwar Sadat, had signed the Camp David peace agreements with Israel.