Official fostered Camp David talks

Mustafa Khalil, 88, a former Egyptian foreign minister who took part in the negotiations that led to the 1979 Camp David peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, died Saturday in a Cairo hospital. MENA, the Egyptian state news agency, reported Khalil’s death but did not indicate the cause, saying only that he had been treated for an unspecified illness.

As secretary general of the governing Arab Socialist Union, Khalil accompanied Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in his historic visit to Jerusalem in November 1977. The visit paved the way for negotiations between the two countries at the U.S. presidential retreat at Camp David, Md. The talks were mediated by President Carter.

Khalil also served as prime minister from 1978 to 1980.

“Khalil contributed in serving the country for over 50 years and took part in making peace and building the basis of development,” said Boutros Boutros-Ghali, the former U.N. secretary general who also had been an Egyptian foreign minister.

More recently, Khalil was deputy chairman of the gov- erning National Democratic Party. He stepped down in November.

Born on Nov. 18, 1920, Khalil studied transport engineering at the University of Cairo and, in the United States, at the University of Illinois, where he earned his master’s and doctoral degrees.

Returning to Egypt, he was credited with overhauling the country’s railway system before going into politics.