Western Reactions To Coup In Sudan

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28748, 20 November 1958, Page 5

Western Reactions To Coup In Sudan

(A’.Z. Press Association—Copyright)

(Rec. 8.20 p.m.) WASHINGTON, Nov. 18.

Recognition of the new Sudanese regime by the United States was only a question of formality, authoritative sources said today.

They assumed the United States would bo ready to follow whatever course was set by the new govern) lent itself and to abide by that government’s decision as to whether new recognition was necessary or not.

Officials recalled that in the recent similar case of Pakistan it was decided that new recognition was not necessary.

The State Department spokesman, Mr Lincoln White, asked about the matter at his daily press briefing, said he understood that the new regime would submit a formal request for recognition.

Meanwhile the State Department is being cautious in its official comments on the bloodless coup which has established General Abboud at the head of a military-civilian government.

Arab delegates to the United Nations today declined immediate official comment on the news that a military group had taken over control of the Sudan.

Most delegates had heard only brief radio reports of the coup before coming to United Nations headquarters, says a New York message.

The Sudanese resident representative (Mr Hacoub Osman) arriving to attend the political committee’s debate on outer space, said: “I have had no word from the Government, and cannot make any comment.”

Opinion in London

In London diplomatic opinion seems still uncertain what attitude to adopt towards the military coup in the Sudan to leadership of the Army Commander-in-Chief, General Abboud.

In spite of the fall of the proWestern Sudanese Government under the Prime Minister, Mr

Abdullah Khalil, there is a general feeling it is far from a proNasser development and that the new military administration will be no more favourably inclined towards Egypt than the previous Government. It is rather regarded as a move to ensure Sudanese independence and save the country from falling under the domination of President Nasser. The deposed Prime .Minister' was regarded as a moderate Liberal friendly towards the West, but for some months, according to observers in Khartoum, he had been finding his Government’s authority flaunted and undermined by his own Ministers, some of whom had been in Cairo without his authority conferring with Colonel Nasser and other Egyptian leaders. Mr Khalil himself, it is pointed out, was to have visited Cairo this week to negotiate on the Aswan dam and the division of the Nile waters. Reports from, Khartoum suggest his Ministers' already there might have been committing the Sudan to accepting Egyptian terms. : In Egypt, officials so far have I treated the news with caution and there is evidently no disposition in Cairo to regard the coup as favourable to Colonel Nasser.

Diplomatic correspondents think the Egyptian Prime Minister may have to tread a bit warily. Now there is a prospect of starting on the dam with Russian help he will have to reach some sort of agreement with the Sudan before he can proceed. London commentators think the situation will take some days to sort itself out and before the motives underlying General Abboud’s assumption of power can be discerned more clearly.