Memorandum, State Department Summary of Telegrams

NLT (Naud 1 Aide 1280 OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE WASHINGTON DECLASSIFIED November 14, 1951 E.O. 12065, Sec. 3-402 State Dept. Guidelines, March 6, 1982 By DEB NLT, Date 4-6-05 TOP SECRET SUMMARY OF TELEGRAMS EGYPT Ambassador Caffery reports that Serageddin Pasha, a powerful cabinet member and Secretary General of the Wafd Party (the Government party), indicated to Caffery in con- versation that Egypt could accept the Middle East Command proposals on the condition that they did not go further than the British Ambassador's offer to the Egyptian Foreign Minister last summer, in which the former spoke only of having British "technicians" remain in Egypt. Noting that the MEC proposal spoke of "forces", Serageddin said that he could accept "technicians", realizing that the term was flexible, if he could tell the Egyptian public that the British forces would begin an immediate evacua- tion that would be completed within one year. Serageddin stressed that not too many "technicians" should also be stationed at the base. Caffery recalls, in his report, that whereas the Foreign Minister had insisted that even the "technicianst should be evacuated within eighteen months, Serageddin mentioned no time limit on their stay. Serageddin, however, raised another "condition", namely, that the aircraft in the Canal Zone must be labelled "Egyptian" even though they might be flown by British pilots. Meanwhile, Mr. Andreas, a member of the King's entourage, , has sent word to the British Ambassador in Cairo that he is extremely unhappy over the present state of Anglo-Egyptian differences and that if the British can do something about the Sudan the King would be disposed to negotiate on the MEC proposals. USSR We have informed Embassy Moscow for its informa- - tion only that the airplane referred to in the Soviet note of November 7th which albegedly violated Soviet territory in the neighborhood of Vladivostok was undoubtedly a UN plane which has been missing since November 6 when it was engaged on a daily shipping re- connaissance flight over the Japan Sea. Since the plane was under strict orders not to approach closer than twenty miles to the Soviet coast and the scheduled flight plan would not have taken it closer than T