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'J AH. SAVING TELEGRAM. ADVANCE COPY En Glair. By Confidential Bag, FROM CAIRO TO FOREIGN OFFICE. Mr. R.M.A. Hankey. No.190 Saving.' INDEXED 17.8.53. REPEATED Saving to:- Addis Ahata No. 21(S Alexandria . No. 21 rt Amman No. 38 s Athens No. 18 o Bagdad No. 44 ("•J Beirut No. 86 C! o Benghazi No. 46 AUQ Fayid No. 340 CJ Damascus No. 44 ^5 Jed da No. 47 o Jerusalem No. 25 Q Karachi No. 20 o' Khartoum No. 56 o Port Said No. 25 s Suez No. 20 s Tel Aviv No. 26 s Tripoli No. 36 s B.M.E.O. Beirut U/N s CONFIDENTIAL. Political Summary for the period 29th July - llth August, 1953. ADDRESSED to Foreign Office telegram No. 190 Saving of 17/8 REPEATED for information Saving to Addis Ah aha, Alexandria, ^mman, Athens, Bagdad, Beirut, Benghazi, Fayid, Damascus, Jed da, Jerusalem, Karachi, Khartoum, Port Said, Suez, Tel Aviv, Tripoli and B.M.E.O. Beirut. My telegram No. 182 Saving. GENERAL. Contacts "between the British and Egyptian Delegations for a new Canal Zone agreement have led to informal discussions covering most of the field. 2. A new series of shooting incidents and vehicle thefts in the Canal Zone followed on visits "by members of the C.R.C. to Ismailia and Pojrt Said, "but the situation has eased as the result of vigorous representations to the Egyptian Delegation in Cairo. 3* We have also had to make representations ahout Egyptian propaganda and interference in the Sudan. Major Salah Salem has again visitod Khartoum. 4. As regards internal affairs a number of alleged /Communists. - g - Communists have been arrested. Further sensational corruption trials discrediting the Wafd are announced. The Liberation Rally founded by the C.R.C. still lacks political support and it appears that attempts are now being made by the leaders to cooperate more close with the Moslem Brotherhood. INTERNAL ,»FF The C.Pw.G. and the Moslem Brotherhood. 5. The lack of any organised political support for the present regime continues. Except for General Neguib's personal popularity, the Liberation Rally excites little real enthusiasm, except perhaps when it attacks the British. General Neguib has spoken in Alexandria, Lt.-Col. Gamal Abdel Nasser and others have done the same in Port Said and Ismailia and elsewhere, but nothing seems to alter this general situation. This lack of political support is the background to the conciliatory policy which the C.R.G. are pursuing towards the Moslem Brotherhood, though the latter are still not committed to unqualified support. A new but rather limited agreement is now said to have been reached for cooperation between the two organisations in raising Egyptian living standards and in combatting illiteracy. A prominent member of the Brotherhood is apparently to become Liaison Officer between the two organisations and to act as religious adviser to the Liberation Rally. The Communist Problem. 6. At a preliminary hearing of the Communist cases brought before the specially constituted military tribunal on August 9, the Grand Mufti of Egypt, summoned by the prosecution, declared that Communism was incompatible with Islam, 7. The Egyptian police rounded up 35 persons suspected of Communist activities in Suez on July 28. A further 69 persons accused of subversive activities were arrested in Alexandria, Benha, Mansoura and Mit Ghamr on or about August 11 and some printing apparatus and large quantities of pamphlets were seized. Not only Communists but left-wing members of the Wafdist Youth were involved. 8. On July 29 the Minister of the Interior announced the release of 30 political prisoners. This left only 123 political detainees, he said, of whom throe were members of former political parties while the remainder were "agents of foreign powers11. Puad Serageddin, the former Wafdist Minister of tho Interior, was among those released. He is in poor health and, according to Lt.-Col. Abdel Nasser, is no longer any danger to the regime. 9. The arrests and also the releases show the regime to be vigilant, determined, and perhaps confident, but unless something is done to fill tho political vacuum which the C.R.C. have created by suppressing the Wafd and other political parties and by discrediting most former leaders, e.g. by strengthening the Liberation Rally, it seems almost inevitable that other subversive forms of opposition, probably of the extreme Left and Right will begin to be organised. Corruption Tribunals. 10. The cases before the Corruption Tribunal continued. /Mme. Naha s... Mmc. Nahas was fine:!. £E. 1,500, for getting public works in Cairo completed for her personal .Benefit. Osman Moharrem, former Minister of Public Works, was acquitted Taut still faces further charges. 11. In a new and sensational charge, Puad Serageddin, former ,<afdist Minister of tho Interior, and of Finance, (see paragraph 8 a"bove) has now been accused of manipulating the cotton market in his own interest. The Government is claiming £E. 22 million from him. ^mong those charged together with Serageddin are toe. Nahas and one of her "brothers, Abdel Latif Mahmoud, former Wafdist Minister of .Agriculture', Mohamed Hilmy, former State Delegate to the Cotton Exchange; Mohamed Farghaly and Aly Amin Yehia, leading Alexandria cotton merchants. One of the witnesses for the prosecution is Zaki Abdel Motaal, former Wafdist Finance Minister. ANGLO-EGYPTIAN RELATIONS. Treaty Negotiations. 12. Contact has now "boon resumed "between the two Delegations. The problem of British technicians in the Base no longer seems insoluble, and very confidential discussions which have covered most of the field, are tending to concentrate on tho conditions in which the Base will be reactivated for use in war, and the duration of the agreement. 13. In their public statements Egyptian Ministers have attacked Great Britain generally for hostility to "Sgypt but have said little to make these contacts more difficult. Major Salah Salem has, however, said that formal negotiations could only be resumed on full acceptance of Egypt's demands. Canal Zone incidents 14. The situation in the Canal Zone was reverting slowly to its usual uneasy normality. Unfortunately the visit of Lt.-Gol. rtbdel Nasser, Major Salah Salem and other C.R.C. officers to Port SUcL and Ismailia on August 1 and 2 was followed first by a ban organised by pickets of Liberation Rally youths against Ismailia shopkeepers selling to British troops, and later by a series of incidents involving deliberate shooting at British troops and thefts of military vehicles. Several incidents seemed to be duo to an armed gang or gangs operating with impunity near the main dock gate at Port Said, where a British platoon has had to be established. The incidents ceased only after strong representations had been made in Cairo pointing out the incompati- bility of such a situation with the continuance of treaty discussions. But although the Egyptian Government protested their innocence, no arrests appear to have been made, nor have any of the stolen venicles been returned. LAC Rigden has also "not yet been traced". THE SUDAN. 15. Egyptian attacks on Great Britain have tended to shift from the question of the Canal Zone, to other subjects, especially tho Sudan. General Neguib himself spoke on July 30 of Britain as the imperialist enemy who must be ousted from the Nile Valley by /cooperation,«„ Reference:- I 1 1 1 1 , Fo3>~7///c>a7oi .qijLft-/ . 1 w 1 I I I i i i i i 1 i i i i i i COPYRIGHT - HOT TO BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHICALLY WITHOUT PERHJ SSION ' ' ' ' ' ' II 1 L, cooperation "between Egypt ancl the Sudan. Major Salah Salem went further and said that the British would not carry out the Sudanisation claims of the Agreement unless forced to do so. A vociferous press campaign was encourage1". There have "been complaints from the Sudan of more direct Egyptian interference in the administration and also in internal political matters the re. 16. On .August 7 and again on August 8 I made strong representations to the Egyptian Government on Foreign Office instructions regarding these attacks, which were contrary to the Sudan Agreement. I pointed out that if they continued there could not possibly "be a "free and neutral atmosphere" for the elections as the Sudan Agreement prescribes, and that H.M.G. would moreover "be "bound to reply "by active counter-propaganda. The M.P.A. gave categorical assurances in reply that Egypt would adhere to the Agreement. 17. On August 8, Major Salah Salem, as Minister for Sudan Affairs, left suddenly for Khartoum where his exaggerated utterances have since produced acute disagreement with the Umma Party which favours independence. LIBYA.. 18» Attacks on the Anglo-Libyan Treaty have "been made "both "by members of the C.R.C. in public meetings and in the press. A protest meeting was held at the Young Men's Moslem Assotiation H.Q, at which a leading number of Moslem Brother- hood and the Vice-Rector of ^1 Azhar were present. Squadron Leader/Hue a liir Bulf-ium} a member of the G.R.C. has "been at pains to exmain publicly how Egypt had offered financial help to Llbyalin order to counter the British offer, "but without success< /JAH En Glair *' ..... * by Confidential Bag. FROM CAIRO TO FOREIGN OFFICE Mr. R.M.A. Hankey No. 1?2 (S) Dated: July ID, 1953- Repeated Saving to Addis Ababa Ko. 19 Alexandria No. lg (S) Amman No. 31 (S) Athens IS (S Bagdad 3$ (S Beirut 76 (S Benghazi 35 (S) Fayid 290 (S) Damascus 3'i Jedda 39 (S) Jerusalem 22 (S) Karachi 16 (S) Khartoum lj-9 (S) Port Said 17 (S) Suez 17 (S) Tel Aviv 23 (S) Tripoli 26 (S) B.M.E.O, Beirut (for Inf.