EGYPT SEEKING COMPENSATION

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28160, 26 December 1956, Page 7

EGYPT SEEKING COMPENSATION

Resolution To Go To United Nations

-Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 10 p.m.) NEW YORK, December 25. Egypt submitted yesterday a resolution to the United Nations General Assembly asking for indemnities against Britain, Prance, and. Israel for losses suffered in the recent Suez and Sinai Desert military operations. The resolution would request the United Nations SecretaryGeneral, Mr Hammarskjold, to report to the General Assembly “as soon as possible on required assessments as a basis for payment by Israel, France, and the United Kingdom of adequate compensation to Egypt.”

, T h £ ?gyP tian action is expected to lead to counter-claims bv Israel, Britain, and France.

.j Egyptian action came some hours after Mr Hammarskjold had announced that he was sending two top United Nations officials to Egypt to confer on problems concerning clearance of the Suez Canal, and the United Nations Emergency Force now stationed on Egyptian territory.

BRITISH M.P. IN CAIRO

Guest Of Nasser Government (Rec. 9 p.m.) CAIRO, Dec. 24. Colonel Cyril Banks. M.P. who resigned from the British Conservative Party in protest against the government's Suez policy, arrived in Cairo today from Beirut as a guest of the Egyptian Government. He is the first Briton privately to arrive in Egypt since the breakdown of British and Egyptian relations. Colonel Banks said: “It was very difficult to come here under present circumstances.

“I am the guest of the Egyptian Government but I do not represent anv authority.” Colonel Banks has asked for an appointment to see President Nasser. “I have come to have a talk about the situation,” he said.

CLEARING OF CANAL

U.N. Officials To Visit Egypt (Rec. 8 p.m.) NEW YORK, Dec. 24. The United Nations SecretaryGeneral (Mr Hammarskjold) announced today that his executive assistant, Mr Andrew Cordier, would leave New York by air tomorrow on his way to Egypt for a consultation

with Major-General E. L. M. Burns, commander of the United Nations Emergency Force. Mr Cordier would be accompanied by Colonel Alfred Katzin, Deputy-Under-Secretary in charge of Headquarters Planning for the Suez Canal clearance.

They also would meet LieutenantGeneral Raymond Wheeler, who is in charge of the work of clearing the canal.

They are due in Egypt on Wednesday. Reuters United Nations correspondent said that he understood that the purpose of the visit of the two officials was primarily to help to expedite work on the canal. However, while in Egypt they would also deal with problems concerning the United Nations Emergency Force. It was expected at Uriited Nations headquarters that Mr Cordier and Colonel Katzin would also see Egyptian officials.

The two men expect to be back in New York by January 1 to report directly to Mr Hammarskjold. It was learned that there had been no late messages received from General Wheeler about the latest position on canal salvage operations. That was one of the reasons why it was decided to send Mr Cordier and Colonel Katzin to Egypt. Mr Cordier has been m close touch, from an administrative point of view, with all phases of the Suez crisis ever since it came to the United Nations. Colonel Katzin, a South African national, has recently been acting as Deputy Under-Secretary in the Department of Public Information. However. Mr Hammarskjold gave him snecial responsibility in the Middle East crisis. In 1950. Colonel Katzin was sent by the United Nations to Korea.

A Cairo message says that Egypt’s Education Minister, Mr Kamel el Din Hussein, who is commander of the National Liberation Army, announced today that members of the National Guard called up for duty would return to their civilian work. Arms distributed to civilians would be retrieved for maintenance. “This is not an outright withdrawal of arms. It means they will be put away until needed again,” he said. The commander of the United Nations Emergency Force, MajorGeneral E. L. M. Burns, will hold talks with the Israeli Chief of Staff, MajorGeneral Moshe Dayan, on Wednesday

to discuss plans for the further withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Sinai Peninsula. Three Allied salvage ships—two British and one French —resumed operations today at Port Said. But they were only finishing work they began before the British and French withdrawal, the British United Press reported. The United Nations canal salvage expert, Lieutenant-General Raymond Wheeler, said today that Egypt would allow only three British and French salvage vessels to continue clearance work at present, according- to the American Associated Press.

Indonesians For U.N. Force

(Rec. 8 p.m.) NEW YORK, Dec. 24. An Indonesian contingent of 550 men will soon join the United Nations Emergency Force in Egypt, a United Nations spokesman said today. Indonesia will be the ninth nation to contribute troops to the emergency force, which now totals 3827 officers and men.

The Indonesian contingent will be flown from Jakarta during the first 10 days of January, by United States Air Force planes.

M.C.C. TEAM IN SOUTH AFRICA

Colour Bar Causes Embarrassment (Rec. 8 p.m.) LONDON, Dec. 24. According to London newspapers today, the M.C.C. team has become embroiled in an embarrassing colour bar dispute. The Johannesburg “Sunday Express” said yesterday that M.C.C. members on the voyage to South Africa had deliberately thrown overboard into the sea 16 copies of Father Trevor Huddleston’s Book. “Naught For Your Comfort,” which he had sent to them.

The team manager. Mr F. R. Brown, admitted yesterday that copies of the book (which deals with South Africa’s colour problem) had been dumped overboard, according to London newspapers. He said: “I was under the mistaken impression that the book was banned by the South African censors.”

The Rev. David Sheppard denied yesterday that he had not gone with the M.C.C. team to South Africa because he would not give an undertaking to avoid politics and in particular, the colour problem, according to the “Daily Herald.” The “Daily Herald” said a South African newspaper had claimed that this was the reason Mr Sheppard was not in South Africa. But Mr Sheppard said yesterday: “I was never invited by the M.C.C. to make the trip because the officials knew very well that I was not available.”