EVACUATION OF SUEZ CANAL

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 26971, 21 February 1953, Page 7

EVACUATION OF SUEZ CANAL

Defence Pact Held Essential

(Special Correspondent N.Z.P.A.)

(Rec. 8 p.m.) LONDON, February 20. A warning that there is a danger of the British evacuation of the Suez Canal Zone being over-simplified, that there can be no evacuation without safeguards, and that a British and Egyptian Defence Pact is essential, is given by the diplomatic correspondent of the “Manchester Guardian.”

The British evacuation, the correspondent says, has been made by General Naguib to sound a simple matter which merely requires the formal assent of the British Government.

“This is far from the case. Indeed, General Naguib is not strictly accurate in saying that the British Government has accepted the principle of evacuation.” The correspondent recalls that in the past negotiations to the British consent to evacuation had been conditional on Egypt joining a joint Board of Defence. An agreement to this effect in 1946 was later rejected by the Egyptian Parliament. Similar proposals were rejected by Egypt in 1951, and no final agreement on the withdrawal of the British troops was reached last spring.

“The British position seems, therefore, to have been that we were prepared to agree to the evacuation of our forces from the Canal Zone pro-, vided adequate alternative measures to ensure its defence were adopted. General Naguib’s recent public utterances, however, seem to make it clear that he envisages the forthcoming negotiations as confined exclusively to arrangements for the complete evacuation of British forces from Egyptian soil. “He does not seem to be prepared, in other words, to link these negotiations with the discussion of joint Middle East defence, the part Egypt might be prepared to play in it and, in particular, the manner in which through this joint defence organisation the defence of the Canal Zone might be assured.

“In London there is extreme caution in discussing the nature, timing and extent of these forthcoming negotiations.

• “It is agreed that they will probably begin shortly. But it seems clear that the British Government has no very clear picture yet of the policy it should adopt. “And there is certainly no disposition to believe that the negotiations can be brief or simple.” Huge Cost of Base

The correspondent goes on to refer to “the enormously complicated problems” associated with the evacuation, and says that the cost of developing the Suez Canal base, together with the, present value of war material and supplies, amount to about £508,000,000. “What sort of compensation could the Egyptians be asked to pay if this great base and its supplies and equipment were to be turned over to them? And how would the Egyptians find the sterling or other acceptable currency to pay for such compensation?”

The correspondent says that no alternative base has yet been decided on, and although in October, 1951, Britain, America, France, and Turkey proposed a joint Middle East Command, virtually nothing has been done. “And though nine months ago these four countries and Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa announced that a Middle East defence and planning organisation would be established in Cyprus, this seems to have come to nothing. “All that has happened is that the seven countries have been exchanging views.

Delay by Egypt “It is clear,” says the correspondent, “that it is Egypt’s refusal even to consider ,the plan for the Middle East Command until the British left the zone that has 1 eld up this muchneeded project. “Now that the British and Egyptian Governments are going to make one more attempt to settle their dispute over the Canal Zone base it seems reasonable to expect that rhore urgent discussions will take place between the four Powers concerning the Middle East defence project. “It is difficult to see how Britain can conclude a separate agreement with Egypt on a matter which will so vitally affect the possibility of creating a Middle East defence organisation.

“And however reluctant General Naguib may be to do so, th fere can be no question but that th* 1 solution of the problem of the Canal Zone base could be settled infinitely more easily within the framework of the Middle East defence organisation, of which Egypt agreed to become a founder member.”