Egypt Gets Nothing

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 967, 9 May 1930, Page 9

Egypt Gets Nothing

COLLAPSE OF NEGOTIATIONS Deadlock on Sudan Issue DELEGATES ARE FRIENDLY BUT FIRM MEGOTIATIONS between the Governments of Great Britain A* and Egypt for a treaty have collapsed and the Egyptian delegation is about to return home. The Sudan, in the control of which Egypt wanted a share, was the chief instrument in the breakdown, though other diplomatic questions remain unsettled. The collapse of the conference had a mixed reception in the House of Commons.

United P.A. —By Telegraph—Copyright Reed. 10.45 a.m. LONDON, Thurs The Anglo-Egyptian Conference has broken down, the Sudan problem having proved insurmountable. The negotiators were friendly at parting, and mutually agreed that the door had been left open for a resumption of negotiations when the atmos-* phere is more favourable. The Egyptian Prime Minister, Nahas Pasha, stated he was grieved at the failure. There was nothing he wanted more than to be on good terms with Britain. Makrani Bey, Egyptian Finance Minister, said it was very regrettable that negotiations had been broken off, adding: “We cannot sign a treaty signing away the Sudan.” When Mr. Arthur Henderson announced in the House of Commons that the Anglo-Egyptian Conference was a failure, there were Opposition cheers and Ministerial cries of “Shame!” and “Disgraceful!” Mr. Henderson added that Cabinet save no way to meet the Egyptian demands regarding the Sudan, and would shortly table a White Paper traversing the negotiations. Captain R. A. Eden (Con.) asked: Is the status quo maintained meantime on the five reserved points? Mr. Henderson: That must be the inevitable result of failure of the negotiations. CONTENTIOUS POINTS A British Official Wireless message says that in a further brief statement Mr. Henderson said: “In spite

of the most sincere and friendly efforts on both sides, the negotiations have failed, the Government not having seen its way to meet the demands of the Egyptian delegation in regard to the Sudan.” Four points were reserved by Great Britain in the declaration of 1922 for future settlement. They were, first the protection of Egypt from foreign aggression; secondly, the protection of British Imperial communications; thirdly, the protection of foreign residents and minorities in Egypt; and, fourthly, the Sudan. The recent negotiations arose out of a proposal for an Anglo-Egyptian treaty settling these outstanding points, which were made by Mr. Henderson last August after conversations in London with Mahmoud Pasha, then Prime Minister of Egypt. Mr. Henderson, in a covering Note, described the proposals as representing the extreme limit which he could recommend the British Government to accept. The present Egyptian Premier, Nahas Pasha, with his delegation, came to London at the end of March to conduct negotiations on the basis of these proposals. After his brief announcement in the House of Commons, the Foreign Secretary, who had postponed his intended departure this morning for Paris and Geneva, caught the afternoon boat train to the Continent. The Egyptian delegation members are expected to leave London tomorrow 1 . Although the discussions failed to produce an agreement, they were conducted throughout in an extremely amicable spirit. It Is understood that, so far as the questions relating to Egypt were concerned, an agreement had actually been reached, or was well within sight upon all points at issue.