French task force at Suez
NZPA-Reuter Ismailia, Egypt Four French warships led by the aircraft carrier Clemenceau moved through the Suez Canal early yesterday towards the Gulf.
Eleven jet fighters were parked on the Clemenceau’s flight deck as the big carrier headed slowly southwards through earlymorning mist behind the destroyer Suffren, one of its three escort vessels.
The task force arrived on Tuesday night off Port Said, at the northern end of the canal, six days after leaving Toulon on what French officials said would be a two-week voyage.
France, apparently seeking not to aggravate its tense relations with Iran, has maintained a news blackout on the task force, saying only that its mission is “to protect French interests in the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean.”
French diplomatic sources in Cairo said they believed the force was heading initially for Djibouti at the northern end of the Gulf of Aden.
Paris-sent the 3000-man squadron, which also includes the destroyer Duquesne and the supply ship Meuse, two weeks after breaking relations with Teheran.
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Press, 6 August 1987, Page 6
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171French task force at Suez Press, 6 August 1987, Page 6
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