Firm with Egypt

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 950, 17 April 1930, Page 11

Firm with Egypt

AGREEMENT ON MAIN POINTS

Troops on Suez Canal

PLAIN SPEAKING AT LATE SITTING

AGREEMENT has been reached on the main points of difference between Great Britain and Egypt, and a draft treaty is likely to be signed today. The agreement temporarily excludes the Sudan issue, hut settles the location of British troops in the Suez Canal

United /*. .I. —By Telegraph—Copyright Reed. 12.35 p.m. LONDON, Wednesday As a result of the Anglo-Egyptian parleys British troops wilt remain along the Suez Canal for a period which England and Egypt. will mutually decide. Mahas Pasha demanded that the League of Nations should have the right to say when their troops were competent to have sole control. Mr. Arthur Henderson referred the matter to Cabinet, which insisted upon a mutual Anglo-Egyptian agreement. Occupation by British troops for several years Is assured, though the actual duration has not been decided. Furthermore, Egypt’s demands to decide strategic points were refused. The British troops’ headquarters wili be Ismailia, with an airdrome at Aru Sir, and an aviation ground at Port Faud. The Sudan Issue has not been settled, but such progress was made that the position is much more hopeful. There is a possibility of a draft treaty being signed tomorrow. It is pointed out the Egyptians realise Britain’s difficulties in giving concessions beyond the Mahmoud draft agreement. From the fact that the Conference resumed at 10.30 a.m.

and was still sitting at 1.30 a.m., it may he inferred that plain speaking had some effect on the Egyptians, who face Cabinet’s firm decisions o£ yesterday. They are seemingly not prepared to allow the conference to break down. The diplomatic correspondent of the “Daily Telegraph” says the Wafdist leaders claim an equal share with Greater Britain in the future control of the Sudan. The British Government refuses to consider the withdrawal of the British garrison from the eastern bank of the Canal. A British official wireless message says:— “The Foreign Secretary, Mr. Arthur Henderson, with Nahas Pasha and the other British and Egyptian delegates, resumed at the Foreign Office this morning negotiations for an AngloEgyptian treaty based upon the treaty proposals put forward last August on behalf of the British Government. “The delegates are pushing on with the work in the hope of concluding negotiations before Easter and, although many difficult points have been encountered, it is understood very considerable progress has been made. “The Foreign Secretary is anxious to make a Parliamentary statement on the negotiations tomorrow before the House adjourns, but whether this w-ill be possible or whether it can consist of more than an interim statement is at the moment uncertain.”