JORDAN IN TURMOIL

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27916, 13 March 1956, Page 13

JORDAN IN TURMOIL

Dissension Over Glubb (Rec. 11 p.m.) LONDON. March 12. Jordan remains racked by the immediate consequences of General Glubb’s dismissal and already it is apparent that the ruling forces of the country are at sixes and sevens about It all. with successive statements by various dignitaries serving only to confuse the issue, says a special correspondent of "The Times’’ in Amman. He quotes two principal schools of thought. One, he says, appears to regret the concern caused in Britain by the treatment accorded General Glubb and wants to maintain the remaining British officers more or less in the present position. The other school insists that the British officers should remain only as instructors and advisers. Where King Hussein stands is not clear, says the correspondent. It is not known whether he is collaborating with or is dominated by the military clique within the Arab Legion which secured General Glubb’s pre-

cipitate removal. It would seem, however, that the British Government cannot necessarily accept as representative of Jordian national intentions any protestations made by the Jordan Government itself.

He says the Prime Minster (Samir el Rafai) may be anxious to maintain the British link as firmly as possible, but other forces that are at work, especially if they are encouraged by the deliberations in Cairo of Colonel Nasser. King Saud and the President of Syria, may soon foice him to change his tune. To add to the complexly of the situation. there. are rumotrs of dissension within t!4e Legion iSelf, he says. Some Jordanwh officers are believed to disapprove the treitment given General Glubb and the high-handed way other British offices were dealt with. There is no doubt that plenty

of sensible Jordanian officers who are afraid of the Legion slipping into war asainst Israel and who regret the withdrawal of British officers from positions of command on the frontier. A “News Chronicle” correspondent in Amman also supports the suggestion that a serious split is developing between Jordan’s leaders. Two issues at stake in the new struggle for power, he says, are the future role of British officers in the legion, and the rivalry between the various groups of officers in the Jordan Army, which Colonel Nasser's Cairo bloc wants to take over.