PZ 5636/35 'Egypt: Annual Reports 1934 -1938' [‎26r] (58/342)

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oefoie negotiations about Lake Isana were undertaken His Majesty’s Government
and tne budan Government should review the Lgyptian-Sudan Agreement of
-viay lima, regarding the general scope of the Lake Tsana dam project and the
relevant technical and financial arrangements.
Participation of the h>udan in International Conventions and Conferences.
arranged at the end of 1937, this question was taken up with the
Ministry for horeign Affairs by means of a memorandum communicated to the
Under-beeretary of State for Foreign Affairs on the 14th January, reiterating
the proposals already made to Makram Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , and particularly the suggestion
that, at international conferences of a purely scientific and non-diplomatic
character, it would be convenient for the Sudan Government to be separately
represented by experts rather than by experts attached to the British and
Egyptian delegations. The Ministry for Foreign Affairs, inspired by
Bedawi Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , objected to practically all these proposals and particularly that
concerning representation of the Sudan at scientific conferences. There followed
lengthy correspondence between the Foreign Office, the embassy and the Sudan
Government. One of the chief points at issue was whether the Sudan Government
should accede to international conventions by means of the “ Colonial Clause,”
which usually appeared in treaties to allow for the subsequent extension of the
instrument to non-sovereign territories. After some hesitation, due to the natural
fear of giving the Egyptian Government an opportunity to interfere in the
administration of the Sudan, the Sudan authorities accepted the view that
accession as a “ territory under suzerainty” would not be derogatory to their
position, particularly if, for the purposes of correspondence leading up to or
arising out of a convention, they were treated in the same way as Burma and
Southern Rhodesia. No general reply was given to the Egyptian note, but, in a
note of the 26th July, the embassy reiterated and expanded their proposals for
Sudan representation at non-diplomatic conferences, making it clear that His
Majesty’s Government were only proposing that the Sudan should have a separate
delegation at conferences where colonial territories and territories under the
suzerainty of a participating Power had delegations separate from those of their
metropolitan countries. No reply had been received to this note at the end of the
year. The Sudan Government were, in fact, represented at various minor con
ferences by means of experts attached to the British and Egyptian delegations.
A more complicated problem was presented by the Postal Conferences, because
tbe Sudan Postal Administration had hitherto been closely connected with the
Egyptian Postal Administration, particularly in matters affecting the telegraphic
system. At the non-diplomatic postal conference, held in Cairo in the spring,
the Sudan Government were represented by two expert observers. The Sudan
Government have now decided to separate their Postal Administration entirely
from that of Egypt, but this decision has not yet been communicated to the
Egyptian Government.
Visits of Foreign Aircraft and Warships.
105. Late in 1937 the Egyptian Ministry for Foreign Affairs were invitea
in a note from the Embassy to consider the unification and simplification of the
procedure for dealing with flights of foreign military and civil aircraft over the
Sudan. It was suggested that applications for civil flights should be made by
foreign legations in Cairo to the Sudan Agent, who would communicate the
application to the Sudan Government and would inform the Egyptian Govern
ment and the embassy, who would thus be able to express their views. For
military flights applications should continue to be made to the Egyptian Govern
ment and to His Majesty’s Government or the embassy, and permission should
not be granted until consultation had taken place between the Egyptian and
British military authorities. On the 29th January the Ministry for Foreign
Affairs replied dissenting from the proposed procedure for civil flights mainly
because it would establish the practice of direct communication between foreign
missions in Cairo and the Sudan Agent, which they considered objectionable.
They suggested instead that applications should be made by foreign missions to
the Egyptian Ministry of Communications, who would transmit them to the
Sudan agent and to the embassy. The Ministry for Foreign Affairs agreed to
the proposed procedure for military flights. This note was followed by much