East-bloc bases broached by spokesman for Libya

Libya could permit Warsaw Pact bases on its territory to counter the "arrogance" of the United States in the Mediterranean, a Libyan spokesman here said. The role of the Soviet Union in the Mediterranean is to "resist the US arrogance of power," said Ali Atiya, an information official.

"No Soviet bases exist in Libya now, but if the people's committees decide it , they could be accepted to defend our freedom, and nobody can forbid it," he said. Repeating Libya's claim to the Gulf of Sidra, the scene of last week's air battle with US fighter planes, he said that disputes in the Mediterranean are entirely the concern of the states bordering it and that the US has no rights there.