SUEZ CANAL DISPUTE

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27395, 7 July 1954, Page 12

SUEZ CANAL DISPUTE

(Rec 11 p.m.) CAIRO, July 6. Sir Ralph Stevenson, the British Ambassador to Egypt, may present new British proposals for settling the dispute over the future of the Suez Canal Zone when he meets Dr. Mahoud Fawzi, the Egyptian Foreign Minister this morning. Negotiations on the base were suspended last October. Britain and Egypt had then agreed on the return of British forces to the canal if Middle East countries were attacked, but there were differences on which Middle East countries would be stipulated. Egypt also rejected proposals that the 4000 British technicians remaining in the zone should wear uniforms. In London it is reported that Sir Winston Churchill and President Eisenhower agreed in the Washington talks pn a plan to evacuate the British garrison in less than two years. Under this plan British civilians would be allowed to maintain the base when the British leave—thus removing at least one of the main obstacles to a British and Egyptian agreement. It is also reported from London, however, that Conservative “rebels” on the canal base issue find the reported Washington agreement unacceptable. They claim that Britain must maintain forces in the canal, as it is a vital link in Western defence.