Secretary General Kurt Waldheim, who leaves Thursday for the Middle East, will visit Syria, Israel, Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt, it was announced here today, Waldheim will meet with the heads of state and will discuss with them the Middle East situation. He is expected to try to convince Syria and Israel to extend the mandate of the UN Observer Disengagement Force, which expires Nov. 30.
During his six-day stay in the Middle East, Waldheim will also confer with the chief coordinator and the commanders of the UN forces in the Middle East, Waldheim will be accompanied by Roberto Guyer, Under-Secretary General for Special Political Affairs, and three other assistants.
Sources here said that Waldheim will meet with PLO leader Yasir Arafat while in Damascus. But a UN spokesman said that full details of Waldheim’s Mideast trip had not been completed and he could not yet say whether the Secretary General would be meeting PLO representatives. In preparation for his trip, Waldheim conferred today with the Syrian and Lebanese ambassadors to the UN and also met late this afternoon with Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger.
According to reports, the Soviet Union prefers that Waldheim, rather than Kissinger, should undertake the effort to work out an according between Syria and Israel. The Security Council is tentatively due to meet Nov. 28 to consider the extension of the UNDOF mandate on the Golan Heights.
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