INTERVIEW granted by PRESIDENT ANWAB, ITL SADAT to Editor_in-Chiref of the Kuwaiti <<Assiyassa> - Newspapor January g, 19?6 Mr. Ahmed AI Garallah, the Editor-in-chief of the Kuwaiti <Assiyassa>>newspaper began his interview with president El Sadat by saying : <certainly there were many who put their hands on their hearts when President Mohamed Anwar El Sadat assumed power in Egypt . .. There were many Western and Arab Leaderships writing and warning ' " But certainly now president the has becorne an inter- national figure representing moderation and the new Arab to the extent logic, that he is now described in the peace. west as a man of this period the president -..Pd"g applied a certain form of political thought like any poritician, he presented many causes, knowing that he may lose them at f"u."rt, but w'l win tiem again in the future . .. There were those who strongly opposed him, at the end, his but viewpoint proved to be the right srance, one . .. For in_ his fu' conviction that the Middle Eist game i" , on"- hundred per cent American game. Every time, I met with president Anwar to El Sadat, f used find myself charged with observations and queries concerning Arab worid' since the Pres- the internal situation in Egypt, and the from the locai and national ident is in a very sensitive position points of view. El Sadat' and let So, hail with me President Mohamed Anwar with him' and as usual' he us begin, a kind of controversial talk can come rout with fruitfull will open his heart to us so that we conclusions. Question:Mr.President,IhavebeeninEgyptforeightdays of the representatives of now, during which I met with a number Marei' writers' senior the People's e'"r"roUty, Engineer Sayed that they all journalists, and "o,,'" of the public ' ' I discovered wantyoutobefrankwiththeArabworldconcerningwhatishap. you refrain from talking pening in Egypt . '. They also say that to say now ? on this question ' .. So, do yoo have a^nything But first allow me to thank Presialent : I have much to say ' " introduce me " My answer you for the kind words you used to Arab nation is living in a is that not only Egypt, but our entire ' ' Prior to October 6 we lost state of regeneratiJn #t"t October 6 worse, we lost our self-con- the confidence of the world, and, even every Arab country have fidence . .. As our Arab brothers in pessimistic wave, as well known and have read. the defeatist and our morale altogether ' " as the psychological warfare undermined now is' in fact' new Then came October 6, and what we are living movements' understanding birth pangs of the Arab nation, in its had' found itself' as and tactics, especially after the Arab nation like individuals ; psychologists say . Nations are exactly' wheneveranationoranindividualfindsitselforhimself,sucha sense that a great moment is eonsidered a turning point' in the dealofgoodmayaccruethereof,whileifitismisunderstood,much harm can come of it. 4 For that neason, I am saying, today, that the Arab nation, and the Egyptian people at the .o"" "r" suffering new pains of birth giving. As you have seen and fert here in cairo, there is fulr freedom in every aspect of life here .. Detention camps were cros- ed four years ag1 .. AIr poritical prisoners received iuu amnesty, and sovereignty of the law is now prevailing. We have embarked upon a new stage in Egypt, and perhaps this experience wilI be attentivery viewed by our Arab brothers ever5nvhere el.regards foreign policy, r,ve got over the stage of slogans and outbiddings, and in--itiated the stage of fuil maturity, in the sense that we should study .nd analysu" urr""y .uuse with all its dimensions ' " we cannot isolate ourselves from the world, and in the meantime we cannot address the world with a ra^nguage other than the language accepted by our age. From this point we began our politicar rine which some might misunderstand, but as tong as we are fully convinced that we are assuming the responsibility, we shall eontinue in our line, God wil_ ing " As r am accustomed, r shall always lay the bare facts be- fore my people and before the entire Arab nation. In the inteynal sphere, we are undergoing a new experience much bigger than the one that is being carried out or had beenr carried out in the fierd of foreign poricy . .. we are setting up a state of institutions now in Egypt,"and r am reaty proud it has already been set up . .. rte aenates you hear about in the peopre,s Assembly, and ca'ing the Ministe"s io such a difficurt aecount by the Assembly, are but a crear evidence that the constitutional in_ stitution is performing its duty, and demonstratr"S il-i"u eharac_ ter in the best way .. Therefore, the exeeutive authority is existing in full form ' " Regarding the political organisation, we are eon- sidering its evorution in a way to senre the current stage through which Egypt and our Arab nation are passing, so that it mav be an access for other stages to follow . .. our new experience is being applied on every aspect of life . .. For example, we formed a corn- mittee headed by vice-President Hosny Moubarak to write the his- tory of the revolution since 1919 and up to the 1952 Revolution, and another sub-committee for the study and investigation of the reasons of the June 5th defeat. So, as you see, the political field in Eglryt is like a beehive, there is movement in every direction ' .. For instance, we are very active in the diplornatic field, and the diplomatic battle is going on successfully as a substitute for the military one until it proveS use- less. In the internal sphere, a completely new build.-up and a new experience are being undergone on the basis of true democracy and sovereignty of the law in the state of institutions, side by side with preserving national unity and social peace. Question : Mr. President, frorn the economic point of view' would you like to say something to the Arab world ? Prcsiilent : Yes . .. I am not accustomed to hide facts from my Arab brothers, as I am also not used at all to ask for anything, because, according to our criteria, we the peasants who glew up on the soil of this land, it is extremely difficult for us to ask anybody for anything. Nevertheless, the cabinet laid down the true figures of our debts before the People's Assembly, and with extreme frank- ness tJrey are more' than L.E. 2400 million. What really bothers me is the question of liquidity. For seven years before the ba.ttle we were drained of every drop of blood in our veins . .. Why ? Because we were living on our own economy, not like fsrael which receives a cheque from the Jews of the world, and then cashes it from the bank . But we were spending from our flesh and blood. .. As I told my Arab brothers in October 1973, our economy 6 reachedrock bottom ' . ' Alrow me,_hereto direct Arab brothersin Saudi;;; my thanks to the Ir*"i,,-fi;"#Emirates"gr,"",t"i rJl"n u* ou,and yearsl%Th"f;:t'J".'ffT,ii#l;;e before during the *"uur, rcJ our october lgz3 we **:^lsaid, veins. .. Nowwe need ," ,*::1il'Jr:il#?rf*:::;j i" We did not die nor did just we b completely need a blood bankrupt, we trans,fusion. *."to*" industry,ir,"aJitio' t" th";;r"";*rilTr:HJ,rff "*mtj *hi;;;;'; ffiiy;il.J"ffi#d contributingin tr,e new buird ;: ff #flH"#:.ffi",H?i"':f ::oilfields:11il- in Sinai, a1d "f#;:-,gffi"i are * ;;; to export bd;"'Ji,ou" a smaJt parr of our #ffiT:bff:f#s a""ui*lT* herpedus The total revenue from the Suez Canal and the rrstored ;i13i# mi,riond;,,;;ua,y oil_ properry?H::T":|#:;?LIT ',re rinancethe fian, *; ;;i,fiH":f:l-J#:J,:X","# l';ffi lfrTff.nmtptionbJ ; ;";*ionso, onlv1'{ 6 reasonable thenr"c;";:ff;Tl can we ";;J;;';"--"::^l .ffi;{?Xperiod or erace, in1""i"a." the sensethat _H they .;i;; *iu li.L" n:,li H$[ as fertilizer,,rs,ee'ent- time and an;arhers such *a ,osr"l.*"ro ,nr" "**"t, brothers:i"'xJ*"i, ;e for:ned a i1ilXffi"T::*:"r ror the exploitationor nutoAIICJ these are r il ffi;:T#1tr*TJ,T#"ilry*:ffi ,ffiH a critical stage. We have the fundamentals upon which we can rely, formost among which are the Suez Canal and the oil surplus. Our major problem is that of liquidity and how we can repay the short term loans the interests of which ranged betwem 20Vo and 22% last year. We were able to repay some loans from the aid we received from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the Arab Emirates, thus avoiding interests of L.E. 60 rnillion we used to pay annually. There is still a"nother part of these loans we have to repay in 19?6 so that we can finish with these interests altogether and initiate the stage of reconstruction a^nd production.. rn that case, and even before the end of this period of grace, our production would be restored to a position where we can re-imburse all our debts. Ttris is our economic position in all frankness. Question : Following your visit to the united. states, a consort- ium was declared for the support of Egypl combining rran, saudi Arabia, the States of the Arab Gulf and America too.. What happened in that respect ? President : The consortium you are talking about is between America, west Germany, Japan and Saudi Arabia, and was lately joined by Kuwait which assisted us last year.