Allied Complaint To U.N. Against Egypt

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28155, 19 December 1956, Page 15

Allied Complaint To U.N. Against Egypt

(Rec. 11 p.m.) NEW YORK, Dec. 17. Britain and France would call for a full-scale debate in the United Nations General Assembly tomorrow on the maltreatment of their nationals in Egypt unless satisfactory assurances were received from Cairo in the meantime. delegation sources said today. Principal delegates of the two nations conferred today with diplomats representing their Western European allies before reaching this decision. Both Britain and France want action unless the Egyptian Government gives assurances of proper treatment. A French spokesman said last night that 3670 French nationals had been expelled from Egypt and 740 still were imprisoned. A British spokesman said 2500 British subjects had left Egypt, largely as the result of intimidation, and 700 others had been interned.

Israel also has complained about the treatment of Egypt’s 50.000 Jews. The sources said they had agreed not to raise the issue in the Assembly today, so as to give more time for Mr Dag Hammarskjold, the SecretaryGeneral. to negotiate with the Egyptians.

A British delegation spokesman said the Western European delegations had shown “understanding and sympathy” with the Anglo-French position. A United States delegation spokesman said there was some question among the United States and other delegations whether a General Assemblv debate at this time would be the best means of handling the problem. But, he emphasised that the

United States was not bringing any pressure to bear on Britain and France and would not oppose the efforts of the two countries to raise the matter in the Assembly. The director of the Egyptian Information Office (Abdel Adar Hatem) said in a statement broadcast by Cairo Radio tonight that the Egyptian Government had told 800 Britons and 280 stateless Jews to leave the country. He said 584 French citizens had already been expelled. Mr Hatem accused Britain, France, and Israel of a lying campaign aimed at misleading and deceiving world opinion by saying Egypt was expelling Egyptian Jews. There were 3500 Jews living in Egypt and not one of them had been expelled. He said that of 11,046 Britons in Egypt, 800 had been asked to leave because they had been working for British intelligence and their presence in Egypt was harmful to the country’s security.