SUDANESE CONCERN

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22197, 6 December 1946, Page 6

SUDANESE CONCERN

EGYPTIAN TREATY EFFECT LONDON. Dec. 3. El Sayed, Sir Abdel Rahman El Madhi, leader of the Sudanese independence movement, who ’is at present in London has made very strong representations to the British Government upon the reported terms of .the new treaty agreement about the future of the Sudan

Since Sidkv Pasha the Egyptian Prime Minister, returned to Cairo and announced that the British Government had agreed to a ‘titular union” of the Sudan and Egypt under the Egyptian Crown, there has been a marked resurgence of the independence movement in the Sudan. El Sayed contends that any grant ol Egyptian sovereignty by Britain is strongly resented by the Sudanese. The Foreign Office, on the other hand, _is reported to have pointed out to him that Sidky’s statement in Cairo—plainly designed for Egyptian consumption—dwelt only upon the first part ot the agreement and did not mention the conditions attached to it by Britain, that the present joint Anglo-Egyplian administration in the Sudan sbould continue. The Prime Minister, Mr. C. R. Attlee, is reported to have assured El Saved that the pledge of the Foreign Secretary. Mr Ernest Bevin, given last March which guaranteed that no change would be made in the status of the Sudan without first consulting the Sudanese people, still stands.

The Times diplomatic correspondent states that throughout his negotiations with Sidkv Mr Bevin lias been most careful not to .jeopardise this promise