CAB129-78 — Page 141

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Page 141.

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Nasser was hagand.4 Won ebident Tito met him lastRagela oft 32ktn the line that Israel should be annihilated. Therefore perhaps he could go further than this. The true danger lay in Nasser fearing Egypt's role being lessened in the Arabic world if he should agree to a settlement. Therefore a settlement could only be reached if the situation in the Middle East was looked at as a whole. For this reason the Yugoslav Government had been reserved about the Baghdad Pact. They feared a clash between the Arab countries which would allow other forces to infiltrate in the Middle East. In Mr. Kardelj's view, the forthcoming conference in Baghdad could help to create greater unity among Arab countries without binding them directly to this or that pact. The Prime Minister said that he had thought that the pact would encourage the Arabs to think of other things besides Israel; this was true to some extent of Iraq. Her Majesty's Government were anxious to develop the economic side of the pact and had a plan for this. The Middle East was rich from oil revenues and living conditions were bad, and Her Majesty's Government hoped to help to improve the standard of living. He thought that Colonel Nasser was less annoyed about the Baghdad pact than he had beep.

The Prime Minister thanked Mr. Kardelj for appointing a Yugoslav representative to the Sudan Commission. He explained that Her Majesty's Government's sole interest was to see the Sudan prosperous and united. The difficulty would be the different conditions in the north and south of that country. Mr. Kardelj said that the Yugoslav representative would do what he could to produce peaceful solutions. Otherwise Yugoslavia had no interests in that part of the world except a general wish that people should as fa. as possible be free to decide their own future. The Prime Minister said that he thought the best solution would be for Egypt and the Sudan to be independent of each other, but with soe agreement about the Nile waters between them. The British Govern- ment would like to see an Agreement about the Nile waters. Mr. Kardelj agreed.

The Prime Minister thanked Mr. Kardelj about the Security Council elections and said that he regretted that Her Majesty's Government and the Yugoslav Government had so far been unsuccessful in securing Yugoslav elections. He felt to some extent responsible for Yugoslav candidature. Yugoslavia had Europe behind her and the Prime Minister felt that Europe had a claim to be represented on the Security Council. Mr. Kardelj said that that was the Yugoslav position too. They felt that as things were the Philippines could not get in and perhaps the solution would be to find some third candidate. The Prime Minister said that there was no one but Yugoslavia, so far as he knew, who would have the suffrages of Europe, and he hoped that Mr. Macmillan and Mr. Dulles (the United States Secretary of State) would settle this matter in Geneva. Mr. Kardelj said that he thought that it was possible to get the United States to agree about the withdrawal of the Philippines and to agree on a third candidate, possibly Greece. The Prime Minister said that Greece was a little difficult at the moment for the United Kingdom.

The Prime Minister asked Mr. Kardelj what his view was about happenings in the satellites. Mr. Kardelj said that he thought the changes in the Soviet Union had brought about changes in the satellites. But these had not always been easy because the satellite Governments had mostly been appointed by Beria, Abakumov and their associates. As in the Soviet Union many people annihilated by Stalin were being rehabilitated, so the Russians were trying to impose a similar policy in the satellites too. The resistance in the satellite countries was, however, stronger because the Governments were old ones. Consequently relations between the satellites and Yugoslavia were not so good as Yugoslavia's relations with the Soviet Union, but perhaps the Russians liked this situation. Nevertheless, the mere fact that the Russians had permitted such relaxations as existed must strengthen the desire of other European countries for similar relations with Yugoslavia to those enjoyed by the Soviet Union. Consequently the internal crisis of the satellites was likely to grow.

At this point Mr. Kardelj had to leave for an Audience with The Queen.

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