Office of the Historian

611.74/11–1052: Telegram

No. 1024
The Ambassador in Egypt (Caffery) to the Department of State1

secret
Cairo, November 10, 1952—2 p.m.

1167. Fol is text of Egypt memo handed me today by rep of Gen Naguib:

  • “A. The Egypt Govt appreciate the reaffirming by the USG that its attitude towards the present regime remains as stated by the Secy of State on Sept 3.2
  • “B. The Egypt Govt reaffirms its desire for coop and will be glad to enter into discussions with the Govt of the US to determine the nature and the scope of such coop immed upon the termination of the withdrawal of Brit armed forces from Egypt territory.
  • “C. The Egypt Govt aims at building up the econ and the mil strength of the country in such a way and to such an extent as to make it an area of strength and a bulwark of peace and security. The Egypt Govt primarily believes in self-help to the extent which is possible according to the country’s econ and social conditions. There will remain, however, a gap which it will be urgently vital to fill through assistance from countries that are interested in seeing a strong and friendly Egypt. To express this point in a more concrete fashion, Annex I is herewith enclosed and Annex II (econ help) will fol soon.3

  • “D. The Egypt Govt earnestly hopes that an agreement will soon be reached as to the stages and the final date of the effective withdrawal of Brit armed forces from Egypt territory. Immed upon the conclusion of such an agreement the Egypt Govt will be prepared to give assurances that one of the ultimate objectives of its policy is participation with the US, UK and other free-world powers in planning for the common defense of the area within the framework of the charter of the UN.

    “The Egypt Govt wld equally be prepared to take over and maintain the canal zone base, with whatever technical assistance as will be agreed upon in the light of the immed requirements and of the time necessary for training Egypt personnel to supersede Brit technicians.

  • “E. Egypt will continue to look to its habitual sources of supply. The Egypt Govt wishes, nevertheless, to point out the fol facts: (1) That those sources of supply have so far persistently proved to be both inadequate and unreliable. (2) That the standardization of arms is of the greatest importance. (3) That whatever assistance the US wld extend to Egypt in this respect, will be very little in comparison to what the US does in relation to other friendly countries and will, at the same time, be invaluable as a contribution to the build-up of vital strength and goodwill in the area.
  • “F. The present Govt of Egypt has not failed to make one gesture after the other with a view to the amelioration of the atmosphere for a satisfactory solution of the outstanding problems. More gestures wld be made in response to any convincing ones from other friendly countries. It is superfluous to enlarge, in this connection, upon the fact that time is pressing and that a speedy solution of the outstanding problems is, therefore, indispensable.”
Caffery
  1. Repeated to London as telegram 394, to Paris for Reinhardt as 102, to Rome for Unger as 51, and unnumbered to Ankara and the Arab capitals.↩
  2. See footnote 2, Document 1005.↩
  3. Neither annex is printed. In telegram 1166 from Cairo, Nov. 10, not printed, Ambassador Caffery reported that Annex I dealt with the types of military equipment the Egyptians wanted to obtain from the United States. Annex II, he reported, had not yet been formulated, but it would deal with Egypt’s aspirations for economic aid. (611.74/11–1052)↩