BRITISH TREATY WITH IRAQ

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25394, 17 January 1948, Page 7

BRITISH TREATY WITH IRAQ

“Major Instrument Of Security” CO-OPERATION IN WAR AND PEACE (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 9 p.m.) LONDON, January 16. “A major instrument of international security in the Middle East” is how “The Times” describes the new 20-year treaty of alliance between Britain and Iraq, signed yesterday at Portsmouth, which provides for close military and economic co-operation between the two countries both in peace and war. “The new treaty embodies the conception of close and effective co-oper-ation between two equal Powers for the preservation of peace in conformity with the United Nations Charter,” says “The Times.” “Britain has not increased her responsibilities by the new treaty. Indeed, in so far as these responsibilities are now shared equitably with Iraq, the British burden is lightened. “The new alliance, which replaces the 1930 treaty, provides that in the event of war or a threat of war British troops will be invited to enter Iraq immediately and will be given every facility. The Royal Air Force bases at Habbaniyah and Shaiba are to be handed over to Iraq, but they are to be maintained in the necessary state of operational efficiency by the assistance of British technical staff and equipment, and Royal Air Force operational units are to be granted full use of these bases until under the peace treaties all Allied troops are withdrawn from all former enemy countries. “A permanent British-Iraqi Joint Defence Board is to be set up to co-ordinate the resources of both countries for the maintenance of regional security.” The “Daily Mail” political correspondent says that Britain hopes eventually that agreement can be reached for a joint defence system for the whole Middle Eastern area. The Foreign Secretary (Mr Ernest Bevin), speaking at the signing of the treaty, said that it was the beginning of a new series of treaties regularising and expressing the friendship between Britain and the Arabic world. • “I hope that this treaty will start a new era of good relations,” he said. The occasion was the first since 1904 that any international agreement with Britain has been completed outside London. ITALY TO DEMAND REPARATIONS SOMALI RIOTS AT MOGADISHU (Rec. 8 p.m.) LONDON, January 16. The Italian Prime Minister (Mr A. de Gasperi) stated that Italy intended to demand reparations from Britain as a result of the Somali-Italian riots at Mogadishu, says Reuter’s Rome correspondent. Fifteen hundred Italians marched to the Asmara military cemetery singing the Fascist march “Giovinezza,” openly giving the Fascist salute and shouting “Viva il Duce.” They laid wreaths on the graves of local Italians after a Requiem Mass in the Asmara Cathedral to the 42 Italians killed during the rioting on January 11 between Italians and Somalis at Mogadishu. All Italian shops and schools in Eritrea are closed as a protest against the killings. GERMAN UNITY “BRITISH NOT LEAVING BERLIN” (Rec. 12.5 p.m.) LONDON, Jan. 16. The German audience whom he addressed in Berlin yesterday loudly cheered when Lord Pakenham, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, said: “We British have no intention of leaving Berlin.” Lord Pakenham, who is paying a short visit to Berlin and to the British zone, added (according to the Berlin correspondent of “The Times”): “The British Government is genuinely and honestly working for the unity of Germany. If you meet anyone who maintains the contrary, tell him he is either singularly ill-in-formed or deliberately perverting the truth.”

“PLAN M” CLAIMED TO BE FORGERY RUSSIAN-SPONSORED PARTY’S DENIAL (Rec. 10 p.m.) LONDON, January 16. The Russian-controlled Socialist Unity Party has denied the authenticity of “Plan M,” says the Berlin correspondent of “The Times.” The party said the plan was a clumsy piece of provocation and a forgery. [“Plan M” is an alleged Communist scheme for sabotage of the Marshall Plan by German workers, contained in a document in the hands of British Headquarters.] COMMUNISTS IN FRANCE ASSEMBLY OFFICES RESIGNED PARIS, January 15. After three days’ constitutional difficulties snd arguments, in which the attendants at times had to intervene between deputies who were threatening to come to blows, the French Assembly to-day sailed ahead in seemingly clear waters. The Communists failed in their attempt to hinder the election of the President and Vice-Presidents, and they resigned all Assembly offices today. They maintain, however, that the Assembly’s proceedings are illegal and observers predict a widening breach between the Communists and the rest when the Assembly meets again on January 26.