Reports of plans by Libya and Egypt for some kind of merger arrangement brought a hint here today that the French government might extend to Libya its six-year-old embargo on arms shipments to belligerents in the 1967 Six-Day War.
The French government decided today to take another look at future sales of Mirage planes to Libya if such an arrangement is formalized. France announced in the fall of 1970, when it announced it would sell 110 Mirage jet fighter planes to Libya, that the issue of arms sales to Libya would be reviewed if Libya became a belligerent in the Mideast conflict. Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Libyan leader Mouammar el-Qaddafi reportedly plan to sign some form of agreement in Benghazi shortly.
The French indicated that this development led to a decision to keep the matter open. Observers said the implication of the French action was that the arms embargo would be applied to Libya if it became an active Mideast belligerent by joining in an Egyptian-led Arab federation.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
