NO MAN’S LAND IN EGYPT

Press, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 26617, 31 December 1951, Page 4

NO MAN’S LAND IN EGYPT

Buffer Zone Established

(Rec. 10 p.m.) LONDON. Dec. 29. The British and Egyptian commanders have agreed on a six-mile-wide no man’s land between their re- I ipective troops along the Cairo-Suez 1 road. General Saad el Din Sabour, an Egyptian Army liaison officer, announcing the arrangement in Cairo, said it was made to prevent possible clashes between the two forces. The new buffer zone begins along ■ north-south line a little more than 37 miles from Cairo. Behind this the Egyptians have strong forces guarding the approaches to Cairo. On the other aide the nearest British Army checkpoint is some 56 miles east of Cairo. General Sabour said that the area was established after a British patrol had approached within a mile of an Egyptian outpost. The Egyptians were about to attack the patrol, but an incident was avoided when the Egyptian commander got in touch with the British commander in Suez (General Sir George Erskine) and the patrol withdrew. Police authorities in Cairo have received orders from the Ministry of the Interior to disperse would-be demonstrators “by all means possible” as a move to prevent a repetition of the anti-British violence earlier this week.