THE SUDAN.

Hokitika Guardian, 8 November 1924, Page 4

THE SUDAN.

BRITAIN'S ATTITUDE. j

CAIRO, August 28. ; As "tlio (allies will lime informed you events have happened in Egypt and the Sudan which have compelled the British Government to adopt strong measures, and take up a very firm attitude towards the Egyptian Government. There has lieeu a mutiny of a battalion at Atliara and l’ort Sudan, an outbreak at the Military School at Khartum, and in Egypt itself ominous signs that could not lie disregarded. Ever since the debates in the Egyptian Parliament earlier in the summer on the .subject of the Sudan, there have been indications that the Egyptians were determined to work up an agitation in the Sudan in support of their claim to that country. That, moreover, the movement is entirely factitious is clear from the little support which the agitators have secured in the country. In the first place, the battalion that mutinied at Athara and Port Sudan was entirely composed of Egyptians, and so can scarcely he said in stand for Sudan opinion. Secondly, the cadets of the Military School at Khartum, who broke out and demonstrated in favour of Egypt, are, it is true, till Sudanese, hut they are only seventy in number and aged between 1 -"i and 20, and so can hardly he

regarded as representing the people of the Sudan, who number six million. Einallv, the only other element to raise its voice in support of the movement has been the rabble in Khartum led by a well-known intriguer and malcontent. All these events took place in the area where there is an Arabicspeaking and Moslem majority, and the fact that this is all the leaders of this so-called movement for the liberation of the Sudan from. Mritish yoke have been able to produce in their own support is proof positive that there is no real sympathy in the Sudan with the campaign the Egyptians have been conducting. Indeed, south of Khartum. where the larger portion of the population dwells, there has been complete tranquillity, and not the slightest attention has been paid to what has been going oil in the north. . Tint it was the attitude adopted in Egypt that induced the British Government to take linn measures. No sooner was the news known that a violent campaign broke out in the Press against Great llritain, and direct incitement was otlered to the people to demonstrate and take other, strong measures. The Egyptian Gov- . eminent itself did nothing to restrain this. Indeed, the tone of its negolia- ( turns with the Residency were such as to

show that it was entirely in sympathy with the agitation, and, in fact, that it condoned what had been done in the Sudan. The llritish Government at length lost patience, and. ordering the Marlborough to Alexandria, instructed the Acting High Commissioner to deliver a strong Note to the Egyptian Government. In that Note it held the Egyptian Government and the Egyptian Press responsible for what had happened : it delivered a severe rebuke to the Cabinet, and. gave it clearly to understand that the adminstration of the Sudan is the sole concern of the GovernorGeneral, who. in virtue ul the ( ondo-

minitiin of 18911. to which Egypt was a

patty, has supreme military and civil authority in the country, and that

that administration had nothing to do witli Egypt; it intimated that his Majesty’s Government intended to give the Governor-General the I idlest support iu any measures he might consider necessarv to ctilorce; and it announced to the Egyptian Government, that it had decided to remove from the Sudan any Egyptian element, military or civil, whose presence might lie considered detrimental to the maintenance of good order. I'it; vl>T IA N M IS1! E Pll ES EXTATI <> N. The Egyptian Cabinet almost simultalieottslv issued a communique with regard to the Sudan incidents and the action it had taken "in detenee ol

Egvpt’s rights.” This document al-

most tool; the breath away of those who know tin' circumstances. It represented that only llritish troops hail heeii used in preserving order, and that whatever firing had heen done had heen carried out hy them. In view of the fact that the British communiques had made it clear not only that Arah troops had heen sent to Atliara in addition to British, hut that the firing had heen done hy the former at a time when no British troops were present, this constituted a deliberate official dementi of what the Residence had said, a dementi which was all the more flagrant since the Egyptian Cabinet had had the same information at its" disposal as the Residency, and it was fully aware of the effect its own statement would have on the already excited minds of the public. j

The High Commissioner could not, of course, let such a deliberate affront pass unnoticed, and at once made a strong protest at the inaccurate and misleading nature of the communii|iie. To this the Cabinet replied that it luul had no intention ol misleading public opinion, and that in order to prove its good faith was going to publish the documents on which its cominunii|ue had heen based. This note clearly insinuated that these documents would prove that the first communique had heen correct, and there is no doubt that both the original communique and the reply to the British protest were drafted hy the extremist section of the Cabinet, and were purposely intended to inflame public opinion in this country. Likewise, the reply to the British not repaidiup the administration of the Sudan was couched in tones that are, to say the least of them, truculent and impertinent, and the British Government has very properly called the attention of the Egyptian Cabinet to the facts of the situation and its own intention not only to carry out the policy it has laid down with repaid to the Sudan, hut to see that no one interferes in any manner with the execution thereof.

A REMARKABLE CHANCE. These admonishments and warnings seem to have had effect, for as it at a mot d’onlre the Press has changed its tone and is now preaching moderation and calm, while ail demonstrations have been called off. But eleventh hour contrition cannot undo the had impression which the Egyptian Cabinet has made on British and European minds. The events of the past It) days have destroyed whatever chances the Egyptians had of petting any consideration for their claims in the Sudan, while their crass stupidity has caused them to lose the sympathy they had in regard to their claims in their own country. The supine manner in which the ruling classes have allowed themselves to he led in such a crisis by the extremists is proof conclusive that the nation is as yet unfit to govern itself, and therefore undeserving of any of the further powers which it claims to have in its own territory.