The Argument in Cairo
It is difficult on the basis of the meagre information leaking out from Cairo discussions to tell whether the talks between General Neguib and Sir Ralph Stevenson are going mainly well or mainly ill. On the whole the former assumption seems prob- able. In spite of assured talk in the Egyptian papers about ultimatums and last words there is obviously great reluctance on both sides to let the negotiations break down when differ- ences have been narrowed down to one single issue—the power to be given to the Governor-General to protect the interests of the Southern Sudanese for an interim period of three years. Reports from special correspondents of British papers who have visited the Juba country in the past .week indicate both how genuine and deep-seated are the misgivings of these Nilotic tribes about their treatment by the Arabic and Moslem northerners and how completely spurious is the agreement concluded in the Southern Sudan last month by General Neguib's envoy Major Saleh Salem. This capering diplomatist, who thought to ingratiate himself by dancing in his drawers with a party of natives who found even that con- cession to sophisticated convention superfluous, seems to have distributed a certain amount of largesse and collected a certain number of signatures which looked just as well as any other signatures to anyone not familiar with South Sudanese politics and personalities. There is now a reaction on the part of Chiefs and others who do really count in the Southern Sudan sufficiently important to cause Khartoum to take notice of it. There are real difficulties in the situation, but not such as can- not be surmounted, given goodwill in both London and Cairo. The unity of the Sudan is a matter of common concern to both Egypt and Britain, even though if the interests of the Southern Sudan alone were involved there would be much to be said for putting that area temporarily under. a British Protectorate in close association with the Uganda Protectorate, which adjoins it to the South. A fair settlement is well worth working hard for, since agreement over the Sudan would at least diminish the difficulties likely to arise in the next phase of Anglo- Egyptian negotiations, over British troops in the Canal area.
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