Defense Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel is scheduled to arrive in Kinshasa, Zaire on Sunday for a four-day official visit during which he will meet with President Mobutu Sese Seko and other top officials.
It will be the second Israeli ministerial visit to the Central African country since it re-established diplomatic relations with Israel last May. Sharon paid a secret visit to Zaire in November 1981 during which he reportedly paved the way for the resumption of formal ties between the two nations.
Zairian sources in Paris told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that Sharon will be accompanied by at least half a dozen aides, including his chief military advisor, Maj. Gen. Avraham Tamir, who was in Zaire recently. Tamir last year drew up a strategic defense plan for Mobutu. It is believed the plan will be re-discussed during Sharon’s visit. (In Jerusalem, Defense Ministry sources described Sharon’s visit as “designed to bolster defense ties between the two countries.”)
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.
