Egypt Demands Public U.S. Apology as Split Widens

The diplomatic crisis between Egypt and the Reagan Administration intensified Monday when President Hosni Mubarak demanded a public apology from the United States for ordering the interception of an Egyptian airliner carrying the hijackers of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro.

Mubarak, facing a groundswell of anti-American anger over the incident, indicated that a private message he received Sunday from President Reagan was not enough to defuse what has become the most serious dispute in U.S.-Egyptian relations since the 1973 Middle East War.

“Frankly, I have not read this message yet because I am so upset (with the United States),” Mubarak told reporters when asked about a letter from Reagan delivered a day earlier by U.S. Ambassador Nicholas A. Veliotes.

Although the contents of Reagan’s letter have not been made public, a senior U.S. Embassy official told reporters Sunday that the President expressed “considerable understanding” for Egypt’s anger over the airliner incident.

Mubarak dismissed this as insufficient, saying that what is needed is an “appropriate apology . . . to all Egyptians,” not just a “personal” apology to him.

Mubarak’s demand for a public apology came as the semiofficial press here began stepping up a vitriolic anti-American editorial campaign that appeared to contradict earlier assertions by U.S. officials that Egypt was seeking to minimize the effects of the airliner incident and get on with its formerly good relations with the United States.

The pro-government newspaper Al Akhbar, denouncing what it called “cowboy terrorism,” said that the seizure of the airliner and the way the Reagan Administration has been “rejoicing” over an incident deeply humiliating to Egypt have pushed Egyptian-U.S. relations to “a point of deterioration that cannot be cured either in the present or the future.”

Talking with reporters after a political party rally, Mubarak again defended his decision to hand over the hijackers of the Achille Lauro to the Palestine Liberation Organization as “the best available option.” He recalled that the PLO denounced the hijacking and promised to punish the perpetrators.

“A trial by the PLO would have spared the world more troubles and possible revenge directed at the country that will try them,” the Egyptian president said. “I fear the violence will not stop.”

Humiliation Seen

Diplomats and other observers here believe that Mubarak has been deeply humiliated and weakened politically by the airliner incident, in which U.S. jet fighters intercepted an Egyptian plane carrying the Achille Lauro hijackers toward Tunisia, where PLO headquarters is located, and forced it to land in Sicily, where the terrorists were arrested.

In addition to being criticized by the United States for letting the hijackers go, Mubarak has had to face charges by other Arab states--and by opposition parties and student demonstrators in Egypt--that he must have known about the U.S. action and secretly approved of it.

“It is ridiculous,” a Foreign Ministry official said. “We are being blamed from both directions. The Americans are blaming us and the Libyans are blaming us. This is the thanks we get for safely ending this crisis and freeing 400 American and European hostages. We should never have gotten involved in this at all.”

The official’s bitterness reflects the indignation felt in general by Egyptians, for whom the airliner incident is merely the latest in a long list of frustrations that many find it convenient to blame on their government or on the United States.

Abroad, Egypt’s alliance with the United States has brought it isolation from the Arab world it used to lead. At home, the prosperity that Egyptians were promised when Mubarak’s predecessor, Anwar Sadat, made peace with Israel six years ago has proved elusive.

Economy Deteriorating

Despite $2.5 billion in U.S. aid this year, the Egyptian economy is deteriorating, with prices and unemployment rising. Islamic fundamentalism is a threat, as is student unrest. And the fundamentalists and students, along with the established opposition parties, have now been given “a solid anti-American cause” with which to attack the government and its policies, a Western diplomat said.

To save face, to insulate himself from further public criticism and to preserve good relations with Washington, analysts said, Mubarak now needs a more dramatic gesture from the Reagan Administration than just a private and sympathetic letter.