Office of the Historian

641.74/9–553: Telegram

No. 1216
The Ambassador in Egypt (Caffery) to the Department of State1

secret
Cairo, September 5, 1953—4 p.m.

292. Noforn. Under my harassment Minister Foreign Affairs admitted to me today that Egyptians would be prepared eventually [to extend. agreements they are offering British for duration. As their absolute last word they might agree to allow British one year for evacuation with verbal understanding that Egypt would not object if evacuation took a little longer. The five year duration for the agreement would begin at the end of the one year period.

I said “why can’t you let the technicians stay for the whole period?” He replied “we probably could let them stay for all 6 years but the latter part of their stay would have to be by way of or in disguise of ‘inspectors’”.

Caffery
  1. Repeated to London as telegram 103 and unnumbered to Paris for Reinhardt, to Rome for Maffitt, to Moscow, Ankara, and to Tel Aviv.↩