New Treaty With Irak

Northern Advocate, 12 January 1948, Page 3

New Treaty With Irak

LONDON, Sun. (11 a.m.)—The Foreign Office announced that the Foreign Secretary (Mr Bevin) and the Prime Minister of Irak (Saiyid Salih Jabr) initialled the draft of a new Anglo-Irak treaty of alliance to replace the 1930 treaty. Discussions have been extremely cordial.

The treaty will be signed next week and will be published as soon as pcsible afterward. The announcement is seen as a sign of improving relations between Britain and the Middle East countries, says Reuters diplomatic correspondent. Well-informed quarters believe that Britain under the new treaty waives the right to maintain troops in peacetime in Irak and to enjoy legal immunities at Habbaniyah and Shaibah airfields.

It is believed that Irak will in future control these airfields, although British aircraft are expected to use them until alternative facilities are developed. STRONG CRITICISM The acting Premier (Jamal Baban' announced that under the treaty the agreements on the Irak state railways and the port of Basra had been abolished and British bases at Habbaniyah and Shaibah handed over to Irak. The Nationalist Parliamentary Constitutional Front, in a statement, declared the old and new treaties basically identical, “especially regarding cooperation in defence, military guidance and the training of the Irak Army, which the nation opposes.” Most newspapers strongly criticised the treaty.