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dated 31st May 1952: Egypt's gesture

The Egyptian Prime Minister, Hilaly Pasha, scored a big victory by his bold, imaginative diplomacy in inviting Sir Abdel Rahman el Mahdi Pasha, the leader of the Umma, the Sudanese Independence Party, to come to Egypt for an exchange of views. Excerpts from the Editorial: "The Government in Cairo could no more be charged with listening only to the views of pro-Egyptian factions in Khartoum. Sir Abdel, in fact, has been in favour of a wider, all-party delegation going out from Sudan as that will help forward whatever compromise is possible. But Hilaly Pasha is obviously of the view that the prime necessity of the moment is direct conversations between the Egyptian Government and those who stand for independence for Sudan. Hilaly Pasha himself does not entertain hopes of any swift agreement on all the points at issue between Egypt and Sudan — those points that in turn make a settlement of the Anglo-Egyptian dispute so difficult. But he is giving a patient hearing to this first-hand exposition of Sudanese nationalism. And, as the independent Egyptian newspaper Al Ahram indicates, he will try to give `irrefutable proof' that Egypt has no imperialistic designs or territorial ambitions in Sudan. This will take a lot of proving as Sudanese public opinion favours any sort of subjection to Egypt no more than subjection to Britain. As far as Britain's attitude to Sudan is concerned, she had given tangible evidence of her intention to set the Sudanese well on the road to self-government. If, as Al Ahram puts it, Hilaly Pasha means to `expose Britain's methods to undermine the natural, strong bonds existing between the people of Egypt and Sudan', he has got to offer the Sudanese much more than mere rhetorical denunciations of `the third party'. He has to convince the Sudanese nationalist leaders that `the Union of the Nile Valley' does not mean any return of Egyptian domination over Sudan but, on the contrary, will assure the friendliest relations between Egypt and a fully autonomous Sudan. `The substance of independence' has to be guaranteed to the Sudanese before they can be brought to contemplate with equanimity any merger with Egypt.

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