Begin Promises to Cooperate Closely with Zaire

Premier Menachem Begin has promised that Israel will cooperate closely with Zaire on a wide range of interests and would also help Zaire improve its image in the United States. The pledge was contained in a letter to President Mobutu Sese Seko last week after Saudi Arabia announced it was breaking diplomatic relations with the central African nation because Mobutu has restored Zaire’s relations with Israel.

The Saudis broke with Zaire last Tuesday, On Thursday, Qatar, another oil-producing Arab state on the Persian Gulf, acted similarly and yesterday Pakistan threatened to break off diplomatic relations with both Zaire and Costa Rica.

The Qatar Foreign Minister, Ahmed Bin Seif al-Thani said in a statement reported by the official Qatar news agency that Zaire’s move violated “the principles adopted by the Afro-Arab summit in 1977 and contradicts resolutions to this effect by the Organization of African Unity” (OAU).

In Islamabad, the Pakistani Foreign Ministry called on Zaire to reconsider ties with Israel because they would encourage “Israel to continue with its expansionist and hegemonistic designs.” The threat to break with Costa Rica was related to that country’s decision to move its Embassy in Israel back to Jerusalem. (See separate story. P.I.) The Pakistani statement was issued on the eve of a visit by Palestine Liberation Organization chief Yosir Arafat.

Israel, meanwhile, formally reopened its Embassy in Kinshasha, Zaire last Friday. It remained unclear, however, when and where Zaire would open its Embassy in Israel. Although an emissary of Mobutu announced a week ago that it would be located in Jerusalem, the Zaire Ambassador to the United Nations, Kamanda we Kamanda, said in New York last Wednesday that no decision had been made. Zaire’s Ambassador to Belgium, Kengo wa Dondo, said in Brussels at the same time that the Embassy would be in Tel Aviv.