On my arrival at the Drake Hotel in New York last evening I met the Egyptian Ambassador to the U.N., at his request, and had a half-hour talk with him. Mr. Holmes will be reporting on this separately. (Report attached).

Later, at 8.30, I went to Mr. Hammarskjöld's flat, at his request, where I found the Foreign Ministers of Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark, as well as their Ambassadors to the United Nations.

Mr. Hammarskjöld outlined to us the difficulties that had been encountered in regard to the composition of the United Nations force and the conditions under which it would be operating in Egypt. The Egyptian Government who a few days ago had been very co-operative, were now becoming very difficult both in regard to the composition of the force and the relation of its operations to Egyptian sovereignty.

So far as composition is concerned, the Egyptians were now attempting to exercise a veto and to disbar from the force contingents from any country that had a collective security arrangement with the British or the French. In addition, they had a special reason for excluding Canadians, which I explained to the Scandinavian representatives. If this Egyptian position were accepted, the Norwegians and Danes would have to be excluded from the Scandinavian force, as well as Pakistanis, Iranians, Canadians and, indeed, any members of NATO, SEATO, or the Baghdad Pact. The Egyptians at the present time would only accept from those who had offered contingents Colombians, Swedes, Finns and Yugoslavs. There seems to be some doubt about their attitude toward India, though it is hard to believe that they would not welcome them.

The Scandinavians reacted very violently to the exclusion of two of their members, just as I reacted equally violently to the exclusion of Canadians. Hammarskjöld said that he understood our position and was adopting a firm line with Cairo. He read us a telegram which he had sent to Nasser refusing in strong terms to accept the Egyptian contention. He thought that the weakest point of the Egyptian case was in respect of Norway and Denmark and he proposed, therefore, to "go to the mat" with the Egyptians on this point as the best way of forcing them to reverse their position on the others as well. He was quite determined not to give way to the Egyptians and felt that in the circumstances his best course of action was to fly to Cairo himself and see Nasser and Fawzi. This he proposed to do on Tuesday [13 November].

So far as the sovereignty aspect of the problem is concerned, the Egyptians are making difficulty here also, though this is not considered to be very serious.

We discussed at some length what the reasons might be for the changed Egyptian attitude toward the force. It seems obvious that the Russians have been encouraging them to take a strong stand, and equally obvious that the Russians are doing this for their own selfish purposes. They undoubtedly want the conflict to be continued and not settled by a U.N. intervention.

It is undoubtedly true however that the Egyptians would be suspicious of the U.N. force, even if the Russians were not there to fan their suspicions. They may think that with a U.N. force of varied composition strung along the Suez Canal, their control of that canal will be more difficult to resume. They may also think that with world opinion opposed to British and French policy and with promises of help from Russia, they can, through the United Nations, press the British and French for immediate withdrawal irrespective of the entry of a U.N. force, and if they do not get this that they may be able to drive the British and French out by force, with Russian help. It may be that Nasser and the more extreme people around him are willing to gamble with peace in this sense.

Mr. Hammarskjöld said that notwithstanding the Egyptian attitude they were pressing ahead with arrangements for getting the U.N. force into the area, but would send Colombians and Swedes and Finns in the first group. The others could, he thought, without too much difficulty, remain at the base in Naples until the situation cleared. He advised that we should send our own advance guard of Canadians immediately to Naples irrespective of the developments referred to above.

This morning I telephoned the Prime Minister, the Minister of National Defence, the Secretary of the Cabinet (Mr. Bryce), and Mr. Heeney, outlining the conversations I had last night, and emphasizing the necessity for keeping the whole matter completely secret at this stage. It would be very unfortunate if it leaked out as long as there is the hope and expectation of clearing matters up, as public reaction in Canada to the present Egyptian position regarding Canadian participation would be one of consternation and anger.

I also advised that notwithstanding Mr. Hammarskjöld's advice above, we should not pass the Order-in-Council at this time permitting troops to go forward. This would be an irrevocable step in so far as summoning Parliament is concerned, and could be postponed for a few days without any serious delay in preparing for Canadian participation. I suggested to Mr. Campney that arrangements might proceed as planned, but that the advance guard could be held back for a day or two, and that the Order-in-Council need not be passed until, say, Wednesday. Both the Prime Minister and Mr. Campney agreed with this position. If there are press enquiries as to why the Order-in-Council has not been passed, it was agreed that we should say merely that there had been some delay in clearing things with Cairo and that General Burns would not now be reaching New York until Wednesday [14 November] morning. We wished to have his report, therefore, before passing the Order-in-Council.

Before the opening of the Assembly this afternoon Mr. Hammarskjöld showed me the following communication which he had just sent to Fawzi Bey in Cairo on the composition of the U.N. Force:

"I thank you for your message of today, transmitted both in the course of your most welcome telephone call and through General Burns. I note that we are now agreed to start the operation and will send you separately details concerning the beginning of the air-lift.

"I share your trust that we all work for the same purpose of speedily ending the present crisis. I welcome the spirit of cooperation in which you on that basis have accepted Danish and Norwegian participation while suggesting a few additions which I for my part find that I should accept. On the other hand I note that you have left the question of Canadian participation open. I maintain my very firm views on the necessity of Canadian participation, but, as I declared over the telephone, I have to accept to discuss the position of Canada further with you when we meet in Cairo.

"Agreement thus exists on starting the operation on the basis of the participation of the following countries: Colombia, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, India, Indonesia and Yugoslavia. The question of additions to this list will be discussed when we meet."

He told me that he was gratified at the fact that the Danish and Norwegian difficulties were cleared up and he thought he could deal with the Canadian aspect of it when he reached Cairo. Subsequently, Mr. Heeney phoned me to give me an account of his discussions of this matter with the State Department, and I told him that I did not think that he need pursue the matter further at this time.

Mr. Campney then phoned to say that he was proposing to issue a press release about the immediate despatch of the airborne advance force and the movement to Halifax of The Queen's Own. He wondered whether the press release which he read me would be satisfactory. I told him that before anything were issued, I should check with the Secretary-General to make sure that an announcement of this kind would fit in with his own plans. I therefore went to see the Secretary General, who had left the podium. He was with Selwyn Lloyd, and while I was waiting, Mir Khan, the Pakistani delegate also arrived to see him in a state of white hot indignation at the news that the Indians were acceptable to the Egyptians as part of the United Nations force, while the Pakistanis were not. Mir Khan expressed himself in violent terms at this attitude and said that not only should the Pakistanis be welcomed, but that they should be at the Suez before the Indians as they had been the first to volunteer.

I then saw Mr. Hammarskjöld who gave me an account of recent developments with Egypt. There is another difficulty, namely, the insistence of the Egyptians that the U.N. force should leave Egypt whenever, in the opinion of the Egyptians, their work has been accomplished. Hammarskjöld, however, does not seem to take this too seriously as he has told the Egyptians that it is quite inadmissible. He will take a strong stand about the Canadian force and is reasonably optimistic. He was quite satisfied with the proposed statement from Mr. Campney. Indeed he said that our Minister could go further and say, if he so desired, that the Canadian plans as outlined were in accordance with and had the support of the Secretary General. This should help to meet any criticism in Canada that we are being too slow.

I then phoned Mr. Campney and gave him the green light on his statement, with Mr. Hammarskjöld's addition.

I saw three Canadian journalists who are attending the Assembly. They have no knowledge apparently of any real difficulty about Canadian participation, but I do not think we can keep the lid on this much longer.

[L.B. Pearson]

[PIÈCE JOINTE/ENCLOSURE]

Note du sous-secrétaire d'État adjoint aux Affaires extérieures

Memorandum by Assistant Under-Secretary of State for External Affairs

SITUATION IN THE MIDDLE EAST: CONVERSATION WITH
THE EGYPTIAN REPRESENTATIVE

The Egyptian Representative to the United Nations, Dr. Loutfi, called on Mr. Pearson at his own request at 7.30 p.m., Sunday, November 11. Dr. Loutfi said he had a somewhat delicate matter to raise. He had been talking on the telephone with Dr. Fawzi who had asked him to talk very confidentially with Mr. Pearson. He said that his Government had accepted the idea of the international force and they were very appreciative of the role which had been played by Mr. Pearson and by Canada in the present crisis. They were very anxious to have General Burns, a Canadian, in charge of the international force. There was a problem, however, about Canadian troops. He himself and Dr. Fawzi understood Canada's position very well but it would be difficult to explain. Canada was politically associated with the United Kingdom, and it was, for instance, a fact that the Canadian forces were technically, at least, under the command of the Queen of England. The Egyptians would want a neutral force. He mentioned later that they would not want Pakistanis because of the differences between Egypt and Pakistan. It was clear that Dr. Loutfi, who is a very polite man, was acutely embarrassed, and he did not at any time specifically say that they would not accept Canadians. He did not say whether he was reporting the views of his Government. He merely repeated several times that it was a matter over which Dr. Fawzi was concerned and which he had asked him to discuss with Mr. Pearson.

Mr. Pearson said that what Dr. Loutfi had said had put him in a very difficult - indeed an impossible position and he would find it very hard to report to his Prime Minister. Canada had taken an entirely independent and objective position on this matter in the United Nations. Because of our close and friendly association with the British, this was not an easy thing to do and it had been criticized by some Canadians. Having taken this independent position, it would be very hard for Canadians to be told that their troops were not considered independent. Canada had played a leading role in proposing the establishment of an international force. Canadians had taken up this idea with enthusiasm. Arrangements were already under way and an advance party would be leaving Canada within 48 hours. Having taken the lead, Canadians would want to play their part. Mr. Pearson recognized that there was a problem about Canadian uniforms and perhaps some risk that Canadians would be mistaken for English soldiers. However, arrangements were under way to provide all forces with United Nations badges and special white helmets. We had even been careful to exclude from the force any Canadians with noticeably English accents in order to avoid misunderstanding. Furthermore, Canadians were likely to be stationed near the Israeli frontier. They were not likely to be in Cairo or the larger cities and would have little contact with the Egyptian population. Surely it was on the Israeli borders that the Egyptians would like to have the force in order to prevent border incidents.

Dr. Loutfi did not make clear whether or not the principal problem was the danger of incidents arising from confusion between Canadian and British troops. At one point he indicated that that was what was troubling Dr. Fawzi, but at other times he seemed to imply that the objection to Canadians was for more general political reasons. He did not seem to think that the efforts to clarify the identity of the United Nations forces would have much effect. The Egyptian people were for the most part not well educated. They did not understand English and would not detect these differences. He was most emphatic that he would like to have General Burns and indicated that Canada should be satisfied if it held the top position.

Mr. Pearson emphasized again the extremely difficult position this would put Canada in and urged Dr. Loutfi to explain this situation to Dr. Fawzi. He was sure that Canada would not at all understand a situation in which the force was commanded by a Canadian but Canadian troops were not to participate. In fact it would not be possible, he thought, for General Burns to command the force if this were the case. It was most important that plans for the force be carried out urgently so that, in accordance with Egyptian wishes, the British and French would withdraw as soon as possible.

Dr. Loutfi seemed to recognize the urgency and made quite clear that they did not want to have to bring in the Soviet forces. He agreed to report what Mr. Pearson had said to Dr. Fawzi. He mentioned that Mr. Hammarskjöld would go to Cairo on Tuesday and that in Cairo he would better grasp the temper of the Egyptians. Mr. Pearson expressed the hope that Mr. Hammarskjöld would be able to explain the Canadian position to the Egyptian Government. Dr. Loutfi did not abandon his position in any respect but he did agree to report Mr. Pearson's views.

J.W. HOLMES