HL Deb 28 January 1953 vol 180 cc26-7

2.42 p.m.

LORD VANSITTART

My Lords, I beg to ask the second Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

[The Question was as follows:

To ask whether Her Majesty's Government have noted General Neguib's assertion on January 23 that the Sudan is the Southern part of Egypt, and whether this is considered the proper spirit in which to negotiate the conditions of Sudanese self-determination.]

THE MARQUESS OF READING

My Lords, the information we have received from Egypt does not bear out the noble Lord's statement that General Neguib made so categorical an assertion. According to our information, what he did say, in the course of his account of past relations between Egypt and the Sudan, was that the first attempt of the British imperialists against our unity was to set Egyptians against the Sudanese. They organised a campaign of the peoples of the North and directed it against the peoples of the South. Such a statement as that set out in the noble Lord's Question would certainly be contrary to the spirit in which we are negotiating the conditions of Sudanese self-determination, which is founded upon the assumption that both Governments believe in the right of the Sudanese to self-determination and the effective use of it.

LORD VANSITTART

My Lords, the words that I used were a verbatim quotation from the B.B.C. and from some of the leading organs of our Press here. May I presume that the attention of the noble Marquess has been drawn to the publication in The Times of Monday and Tuesday and in the Daily Telegraph of to-day of expressions of the reliance on us of the Southern tribes?

THE MARQUESS OF READING

My Lords, we are perfectly aware of the attitude of the southern portion of the Sudan. We are anxious to see elections held in the Sudan at the earliest possible moment, but with proper safeguards for the interests of the South.

LORD VANSITTART

I presume that at this stage the noble Marquess would prefer to express no opinion on the antics, of the "dancing major."

THE MARQUESS OF READING

My Lords, I think it would be preferable, in the interests of all concerned in those proceedings, if no comment were made.