Sudan Settlement ?
British spokesmen have often urged that Egyptians and Sudanese should get together to settle their differences between themselves. For the past few weeks Cairo has been full of Sudanese delegations and the discussions have now ended with an agreement recognising the right of the Sudanese to sovereignty over their country until such time as self-deter- mination is exercised. It seems clear that General Neguib has had the sense to substitute for the barren slogan " unity of the Nile Valley " the more flexible " freedom and indepen- dence for the Nile Valley." There is nothing in this new slogan to which the Umma Party can object, and even the Wafd should not complain. The formula " The Sudanese will have the right freely to proclaim the Sudan as an independent country without any connection with either Britain or Egypt or in unity with Egypt " obviously allows for the possibility of some form of union between Egypt and the Sudan at a later date. The British Government will naturally want to know rather more about what has gone on in the Cairo talks before express- ing an opinion, particularly on the proposal for the inclusion of a representative of India or Pakistan on the commission to supervise the elections. But the possibility of useful co-oper- ation is obviously there. It is also possible that General Neguib has persuaded the pro-Union parties in the Sudan to end their boycott of the forthcoming elections. From the long- range point of view of Sudanese welfare the important thing is now to ensure that all parties are represented in the constituent assembly that the elections create, so that whatever form self- determination takes it should be the work of the whole nation.
