890.20/11–2349
Draft Defensive Security Pact Among the States of the Arab League, Prepared by the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs1
Pursuant to the principles and objectives of the Arab League Pact and the Charter of the United Nations, and
In accordance with the sincere desire of cementing and strengthening the ties existing among the States of the Arab League, and the true wishes of those States to maintain their independence and to preserve stability and tranquility in their countries with the maintenance of their common inheritance, and
[Page 1507]In compliance with the desire of the Arab State nations to unite together for common defense in order to maintain peace and security,
The States who are members of this Pact have come to the following Agreement:
Article I
The contracting states guarantee hereby that in order not to expose international peace and security to danger, all these states should settle their international disputes through peaceful ways in accordance with the Charters of the Arab League and the United Nations. These states also should not, in their international relations, compel themselves to use the force or threaten to use it in any way which is inconsistent with the principles of the Arab League and the United Nations.
Article II
To realize the objectives of this Pact in a most effective way, the contracting states should, in unity or separately, take effective continuous action through their special means and through cooperation among themselves to maintain and strengthen their forces as a single state and as a whole unity to stand against any military aggression.
Article III
The contracting states should, upon request from any of them, enter into consultation when the safety, the independence or the security of any one of them is in danger.2
Article IV
The contracting states agree that any military aggression against any one of them or against all of them is to be considered as directed against all of them. If such aggression has taken place each of them should, in accordance with its legal right to defend itself separately or as a whole group according to the text of Article 6 of the Arab League Pact and Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, help the state or states attacked. Each one of them must take immediately, separately or in cooperation with the contracting states, all necessary steps [Page 1508] including the use of armed force to establish order and peace. The Arab League and the Security Council should be notified immediately of every such military aggression, or any threat for using force and the steps which may be taken.
Article V
The contracting states should announce that their international effective commitments, either among themselves or among them and any other state are not in contradiction with the text of this Pact, and that all of them guarantee that they will not conclude any international agreement which in any way contravenes this Pact.
Article VI
The Arab League Council is in charge of all affairs relative to the execution of this Pact. The said Council has the right to appoint a special committee of the Chiefs of Staff of the contracting states and this committee will recommend the necessary defensive steps to be taken.
Article VII
Ten years after putting this Pact into effect, each one of the contracting states may have the right to withdraw from the Pact one year from the date of announcing its desire to withdraw, to the Secretary General of the Arab League. The Secretary General of the Arab League will convey such announcement to the other contracting states.
Article VIII
This Pact and its supplementary documents must be ratified by each of the contracting states in accordance with each one’s constitutional procedures. Such ratification will be kept with the Secretariat General of the Arab League. This Pact is considered effective 15 days after its ratification, or after delivery to the Secretary General of at least four ratification documents of four states.
- Furnished to Ambassador Childs on the initiative of King Ibn Saud; translated at the Embassy by Jidda in despatch 233, November 23.↩
- In a
memorandum of November 9 to Mr. Hare, Burton Y. Berry, Director
of the Office of African and Near Eastern Affairs, stated that
“Egypt, in an attempt to block recent moves towards Iraqi-Syrian
federation, proposed the drafting of a collective security pact
which provided for the armed participation of all Arab States in
the event of an attack upon any member. Agreement in principle
was reached, and such a pact is now being drafted for
consideration by the League Council at a subsequent meeting. It
is open to question whether the pact, even if signed and
ratified, will ever become more than a paper agreement.”
(890B.00/11–949). Mr. Berry’s memorandum also gave his view that
the meeting of the Arab League Council from October 22 to 29, at
which the proposed pact was introduced, “appears to have been an
attempt to prop up the tottering structure of the Arab League.”
For documentation on the proposed Iraqi-Syrian federation, see pp. 180 ff.
↩