Lebanese President-elect Elias Sarkis left Egypt on Sunday (19 September) after a 24-hour visit, during which he discussed his country's crisis with President Anwar Sadat.

SYNOPSIS: The two leaders and their aides met for three hours on Sunday night at President Sadat's residence in the town of Ismailia on the Suez Canal.

Mr. Sarkis' short visit to Egypt came in the middle of discussions he was having at Shtoura, eastern Lebanon, with Palestinian commando leader Yasser Arafat and Syria's Deputy Defence Minister, General Naji Jamil.

According to sources quoted by Reuters in Beirut, Mr. Sarkis was expected to brief President Sadat on the Shtoura talks and the Egyptian semi-official newspaper Al-Ahram said on Sunday that signs of a settlement of the Lebanese crisis were encouraging. Mr. Sarkis was expected to stop over in Damascus for talks with Syrian President Hafez Al-Assad, before resuming his discussions in Shtoura.