In May 1967, Major General Indar Jit Rikhye was the commander of the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) in the Sinai peninsula when Egypt deployed its own troops in that territory and demanded that Rikhye withdraw all of his troops. Rikhye did withdraw, including from the port at Sharm el Sheikh adjacent to the straits. The subsequent closure of the Tiran Straits by Egypt was closely linked to the preceding UNEF withdrawal, because having the peacekeepers (rather than the Egyptian military) at Sharm el Sheik was important for keeping that waterway open. Later in life, General Rikhye sought to downplay the importance that Israel attached to keeping that waterway open, saying that Israel's accusation in 1967 of a blockade was questionable given that an Israeli-flagged ship had not passed through the straits in two years, and that The U.A.R. [Egyptian] navy had searched a couple of ships after the establishment of the blockade and thereafter relaxed its implementation. Egypt had initially requested UNEF withdrawal from locations other than Sharm el-Sheik, but UN Secretary-General U Thant demanded an all-or-nothing withdrawal.