Tough Times for Nasser

Cairo radio announced last week the death by suicide of Field Marshal Abdel Hakim Amer, the onetime second in command to Gamal Abdel Nasser be fore he fell into disgrace over Egypt's defeat in the Arab-Israeli war. At the same time, the radio announced that Amer, 47, had already been buried in his home village of Astal, 150 miles south of Cairo. Whether Amer jumped or was pushed into eternity, the news of his "suicide" added new tension and suspicion in a country already seething dangerously with plots, resentments and repression.

Hidden Pills. Dismissed from his post as vice president and commander of the armed forces in the wake of the war, Amer was arrested last month with 50 other officers on charges of plotting against Nasser. As Nasser's semiofficial mouthpiece Al Ahram rather fancifully reported it, Amer had planned to seize command of Egyptian troops on the Suez Canal, demand full reinstatement for himself and the 800 officers who were arrested or sacked as part of Nasser's postwar effort to find a scapegoat for his shattering defeat. If Nasser refused, the story went, Amer would march on Cairo and set up a revolutionary council to run the country.

Amer was kept under house arrest at his villa in the fashionable Cairo sub urb of Giza, where last week some Egyptian officers came to question him further. As the Egyptians tell it, Amer apparently swallowed a "large amount of poison pills" after they arrived, but was rushed to a hospital by the officers before they could become fatal. Back home the next day, he left his guards and entered a bathroom, where he swallowed more poison pills that he had concealed beneath an adhesive plaster on his body.

No Uniforms. Though Egypt finally lifted its visa restriction for tourists, it remained a closed country to most of the West. Rumors and reports flew about that Nasser had resigned, that thousands were being arrested. Certainly, Nasser has continued to arrest hundreds of army officers and civilians, creating deep and dangerous resentments that have yet to be cashed in. The army is still riddled with officers and men loyal to Amer, and it is furious over the disarray and disgrace that has fallen on it since the war. Some officers no longer wear their uniforms on the street.

Nasser also faces a threat from his own intelligence service, which turned up the Amer plot. An unfathomable maze of gross and petty intrigue, the intelligence network, like the army, has undergone a top-to-bottom purge since the war, which showed up its almost total ignorance of Israeli plans and strategy. Among the first to go was the service's powerful top man, Sala Nasr. Last week Al Ahram announced that Nasr, too, had been arrested in connection with the Amer plot. Since Nasr ran a tight one-man show, turning his agents into almost a private army, there is strong question in Cairo whether their loyalty will shift to Nasser or remain with their erstwhile leader.

Taking it all in from a distance, the Egyptian masses themselves are growing restive. They realize all too well that Nasser is no longer infallible, either as a military strategist or as a national hero. Israel still occupies Sinai, and they want to know why. If it were not for the prospect of aid from oil-rich Arab neighbors, Egypt's economy would be bankrupt. All in all, times are tough for Gamal Abdel Nasser, who promised his country glory but gave it only gore.

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