Michael Sterner, the State Department’s Director on Egyptian Affairs for the past two years, is to take charge of the American “interests section” in Cairo. He is scheduled to take his post sometime this week. Sterner had previously served in Cairo as the American Embassy’s political officer in 1960-64. Sterner, who is 43, has been connected intimately with Arabic matters for almost 20 years in both private and diplomatic affairs.
He succeeds Donald Bergus who has held the post since shortly after the Six-Day War. Bergus, upon his return to Washington, will be assigned as a diplomat in residence to a university where he will be free to reach or write for the remainder of the current academic year. The United States and Egypt established “interests section” in Cairo and Washington to carry on matters involving the two countries when Egypt charged that the United States supported Israel in the Six-Day War and broke relations on a normal diplomatic basis.
STERNER CLOSE TO SADAT
Sterner’s appointment as the chief American diplomatic official in Cairo does not require confirmation by the Senate. The State Department, it is understood, consulted with Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman J. William Fulbright and several other members on this aspect. Sterner’s appointment is expected to be formally announced within the next few days. Sterner was born in New York City. After graduating from Harvard in 1951, he worked for three years as the government relations representative for the Arabian Oil Co. in Saudi Arabia.
Joining the Foreign Service of the United States, he served in Aden and Yemen. He was then assigned to Cairo and upon his return to Washington he started a five-year term as a Desk Officer concerned with Egyptian and Arab-Israel affairs. Sterner, fluent in Arabic, is regarded as perhaps the leading specialist on Egypt in the State Department. He was the official escort to Egyptian President. Anwar Sadat when the later visited the US for a month in the winter of 1966, when he was president of the Egyptian National Assembly. Sterner and Sadat are understood to be on most friendly terms from their associations both in Egypt and in the United States.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
