Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952–1954, Western European Security, Volume V, Part 2

Conference files, lot 59 D 95, CF 158

Egyptian Formula Concerning the Suez Canal Base¹

secret

[Cairo, undated.]

Egypt and the United Kingdom hereby accept the following understandings with respect to certain of the points pertaining to their discussions:

I. Technical management over the base

A. An Egyptian officer shall assume command over the base.

B. A British officer shall be appointed to the staff of the Egyptian Base Commander as Technical Adviser. He shall be responsible to the Base Commander for the training of Egyptian personnel in the functions performed by the British technicians remaining in the Base. He shall also be in charge of British technicians.^*

C. Messages from the British war office pertaining to technical matters shall be sent directly to the Base Communications Center.

D. The Communications Center shall route action copies of such messages to the Technical Adviser and information copies to the Base Commander.

E. Disagreements between the Base Commander and the Technical Adviser over action that is taken by the Technical Adviser on messages from the British War Office shall be referred for settlement to diplomatic channels or other established procedures.

II. Movement of material to and from the base

A. The United Kingdom shall be accorded full rights to move any British material in or out of the base to any point and at any time at its discretion. There shall be no major increase above the level of supplies existing at the time this Agreement is signed without Egypt’s consent.

III. Number of technicians

A. The number of British technicians to remain after withdrawal of British troops shall be fixed at 4,000 which is the absolute minimum required for the efficient operation of the installations.

B. This number of technicians shall remain for the duration of the Agreement, that is for 3 years.

C. At the end of 3 years the parties shall review the desirability of retaining the same or other numbers of British technicians. Should they fail to reach agreement the technicians shall be withdrawn. In this case British inspectors attached to the staff of the United Kingdom Ambassador to Egypt shall be allowed to inspect Egyptian maintenance of British-owned supplies and installations remaining in the Base under the terms of this Agreement.

IV. Duration of agreement

A. This Agreement shall last for 3 years.

B. The need for the arrangements created under this Agreement from the point of view of both parties will depend upon fluctuating world conditions outside the control of either. Because of this factor the parties shall review the Agreement prior to its expiration to determine whether they wish it to continue in its present or altered form. If the parties are unable to agree on this question the Agreement shall terminate with the following exceptions:

C. The British Government shall withdraw or otherwise dispose of remaining British-owned stores and installations within a period to be agreed upon.

D. The understanding with respect to the future availability of the Base mentioned below shall not be affected by the termination of this Agreement.

V. Future availability of the base

A. The Base shall be made available immediately to Egypt’s allies and allies of Egypt’s allies in case of attack upon any Arab Nation. In case of a threat of attack on any Arab Nation there shall be immediate consultation between Egypt and the parties mentioned above. The provision regarding availability of the Base shall apply provided Egypt agrees that a threat of attack in fact exists.

B. This provision shall be made public at the time the Agreement is signed.

VI. Military and economic consultations

A. Upon the conclusion of an agreement between Egypt and the United Kingdom regarding the Suez Canal Base, Egypt shall invite military and economic experts from the United Kingdom, United States and from such other countries as she may wish, to confer regarding plans for defense of the area and regarding economic problems of mutual interest. The discussions shall include measures to strengthen Egypt militarily and economically.

1. The source text was attached to STB MIN 1 as Tab B, and was received together with Prime Minister Naguib’s letter to President Eisenhower (supra) on July 11. The formula was discussed by the British and United States Foreign Ministers at their meetings on July 11 and 14; for the minutes of these meetings, see pp. 1631 and 1675.
2. Technical adviser and technicians shall be in civilian clothes. [Footnote in the source text.]