New Plans, Old Problem

Prime Minister Nahas Pasha, leader of the nationalist Wafd Party, last week backed up pledges made to the Egyptian people and officially announced, in a letter to British Ambassador Sir Miles Lampson, that as a sovereign nation Egypt would allow no "British interference in . . . internal affairs." He worked on plans for redistribution of available foodstocks, urged increased agricultural production with an eye toward self-sufficiency, prepared to crack down on hoarders and profiteers, as well as "intrigue and attempts to create disturbances."

The British Government in London watched anxiously. But the British breathed easier when Prime Minister Nahas Pasha appointed Sir Amin Osman Pasha as a liaison officer between the British and Egyptian Governments. Sir Amin had worked smoothly with the British in carrying compromise proposals to Haj Amin El-Husseini, fugitive Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, in the midst of the Arab-Jewish agitation over Palestine in 1939. The British were confident Sir Amin would bring reassurances such as TIME has received* that Egypt's young King Farouk was firmly pro-Ally.

* Sir: . . . I do not want to dwell on the abusive and ironic tone, the satire and the insinuations used in that unfortunate article (TIME, Feb. 16), but I hasten to point out to you that it will have a disastrous effect here and in Egypt. It gives a false impression to the American people about a friendly nation who love and admire the United States and think of it as a land of the free where the small fellow has an equal chance, and it insults a friendly people and hurts their pride. As to the first part of the article, it is not only fantastic, it is pure invention. . . . May I ask you where you got that pro-Axis stuff? . . . I want to repeat to you once more that the Egyptian people have struggled very hard and toiled for a long time before securing the freedoms and liberties they now enjoy, and I assure you that they will not trade these freedoms now or at any time to be ruled under the iron heel of the Axis.

Egypt and Great Britain have settled all their differences once and for all in the Treaty of Friendship and Alliance signed in 1936. . . .

We have lived up to every provision of that Treaty and we have given the British all the help and cooperation that they needed. . . .

If we are not actually engaged in the war, it is for the best interests of Great Britain and her Allies.

--Dr. Hussein Chawkey,

Consul General of Egypt.

TIME meant no slur on the Egyptian people, nor their king, sincerely hopes Egypt will be guided wisely through a trying period of history.--ED.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.