Kadafi Visits Sudan, Praises Ouster of Numeiri

Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi paid a brief surprise visit to Sudan on Saturday, congratulated his North African neighbor for ousting its “reactionary regime” and called on other Arab countries to follow Sudan’s example.

The Libyan leader, a bitter foe of deposed President Jaafar Numeiri, said that by its coup last month, the Sudanese military has “given the example of how armies can take the side of the masses.”

He urged Arab people “to liberate their countries.”

“I also call on the armies in the Arab world to join the masses and oust reactionary regimes,” Kadafi added.

The Libyan leader then flew to Saudi Arabia for a meeting with King Fahd, official sources in Jidda reported. No details were available, but Arab diplomatic sources said Kadafi and the king planned to examine ways to end the 4 1/2-year-old Iran-Iraq war, discuss support of the Palestinian quest for an independent state and improvement of Saudi-Libyan ties.

Relations between Saudi Arabia and Libya were at their lowest ebb in 1982, when Kadafi blamed Saudi Arabia for the glut in world oil markets and objected to American warplanes flying over Islamic holy areas in Saudi Arabia.

Improvement in Ties

Kadafi’s four-hour stop in Khartoum kept up the improvement of relations between Libya and Sudan that began soon after Sudan’s coup on April 6. Libya was the first country to recognize the new regime that ended Numeiri’s 16 years as president.

The radical Arab leader’s trip to the Sudanese capital was spent almost entirely inside the terminal at Khartoum airport. He stepped outside only for a brief walk in a parking lot.

He met in the airport VIP lounge with Gen. Abdul-Rahman Suwar Dahab, coup leader and chairman of the ruling Transitional Military Council, and Prime Minister Dafallah Gazouli.

Kadafi’s trip to Sudan followed visits to the East African countries of Burundi and Rwanda.