The View from Khartum
There may be little that the British Government can do at this moment to ease the tension in the Suez Canal Zone. But in the other region which is in dispute between Britain and Egypt—the Sudan—the initiative as well as the responsibility for law and order is in our hands, and reports from Khartum suggest that the present uncertainty is causing serious disquiet. It is not enough to affirm that we "regard the Condominium agreements of 1899 as remaining in force" ; in the eyes of the Sudanese, if not of international lawyers, the Egyptian Government's abroga- tion of these agreements has created a new situation which demands a new approach. The one thing that is absolutely clear is that we are committed to granting the Sudanese self-govern- ment. The time and the manner by which this is to be achieved are unknown, and there is probably no single act which would• do more to end the prevailing uncertainty than for the British Government to give a date for the next step towards effective self-government—presumably this would have to be a referen- dum. If matters are allowed to drift, the Egyptians will continue to be deceived by their own propaganda into believing that the Sudanese wish to unite with them, and there is also a danger that the British may assume that the present regime is so popular that criticism c&it need not be taken seriously. In point of fact, the last month has shown a striking unanimity among the politically-conscious Sudanese ; the demand for independence is almost universal, and the resentment against Egyptian attempts to impose limits to that independence is vocal even inside parties which nominally favour union with Egypt, such as the Ashigga and the National Front.
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