Cavalcade to Cairo

It was one of the strangest marches since the Children's Crusade. More than 30,000 Libyans, waving banners and chanting slogans urging a merger of Libya and Egypt, last week poured over the border en route to Cairo. Some were on foot, others in buses and cars:

the column was six miles long. "We insist on going to Cairo," a spokesman said. "We have strict instructions from the People's Revolutionary Committee to stop only in Cairo." Egyptian officials attempted to stop the march--to no immediate avail. At the border, the Libyans destroyed benches and tables in the customs building, calling their vandalism "a symbolic action to remove the artificial boundaries between our two countries." They then bypassed a sizable roadblock at Mersa Matruh and ignored orders to halt.

Behind the determination of the marchers lay the shaken hopes of Libyan Leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, who demands a Libya-Egypt merger in the cause of Arab unity. Until a few weeks ago, Gaddafi saw himself assuming the late Gamal Abdel Nasser's mantle as the leader in the Arab fight against Israel. But Egyptian misgivings about the plan hardened during the Koran-thumping Gaddafi's bizarre visit to Cairo (TIME, July 23).

Angered by the Egyptian wariness toward unity, Gaddafi returned home to Tripoli. Two weeks later, the marchers set off on a 1,500-mile trek, vowing to stage a sit-in in Cairo's Republic Square until Egyptian President Anwar Sadat ended all opposition to the merger.

Sadat showed no enthusiasm for immediate merger with his fanatical neighbor. He sent a message to Gaddafi urging that he call the marchers off. Gaddafi's response could hardly have been more startling--or confusing.

He cabled Sadat saying that he had resigned as of July 11 as chairman of Libya's ruling Revolutionary Command Council--in effect disclaiming all responsibility for the marchers. His action did not necessarily mean Gaddafi was out as Libya's ruler, since he has offered his resignation several times in the past, but the council has refused to let him quit.

The Egyptian president reacted quickly. According to one account, Egyptian officials rolled a train across the highway at a crossing about 400 miles west of Cairo. There, the march ended. Libyans began flowing back toward their border, while a token delegation reportedly was being flown to Cairo to press their cause. With the merger scheduled to take place in just six weeks, Gaddafi's next move was anybody's guess.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.