General Neguib's Outburst
Throughout the Anglo-Egyptian troubles of the past year nobody has appeared to understand better than General Neguib the value of a calm and responsible attitude. It was therefore regrettable, if not positively alarming, that he lent his name this week to a number of complaints that British officials in the Sudan were ill-treating Sudanese people, obstructing the setting up of the Governor-General's Commission, and attempt- ing to transfer British officials to the proposed Sudanese judicial service. All the charges seem to be based on garbled versions of recent events in the Sudan. One of them, concerning the nominations to the Governor-General's Commission, is a plain mis-statement of facts of which General Neguib, busy as he is, could hardly have been unaware. If wild accusations of this kind are to continue, the process of handl,/ over the &Klan to the Sudanese will become more difficult than it need be. And if General Neguib himself is moving towards that school of thought which argues not only that the British must get out of the Sudan and the Canal Zone, but that they must be thrust out with as much noise and fuss as possible, then there is bound to be more trouble for Egypt as well. It was one thing for the old corrupt politicians to foment an outcry against the British to cover up the blatant deficiencies of their own policies. It is another thing for General Neguib, whose endeavours to better the lot of the Egyptians have been deter- mined and sincere, to make speeches better calculated to inflame a mob than secure an orderly handing-over of power. It is very much to be hoped that there will be no more such speeches.
