The policy that the two high contracting parties shall pursue in the Sudan within the framework of the unity of Egypt and the Sudan under the common Crown of Egypt shall have as its primary objectives the achievement of the welfare of the Sudanese, the development of their interests, and their effective preparation for self-government. Consequently, they shall exercise the right to choose the future system for the Sudan. Until the two high contracting parties reach a complete common agreement between them to achieve this latter objective, after consultation with the Sudanese, the agreement of 1899 shall remain in force, as well as Article 11 of the treaty of 1926 with its annex and paragraphs 4 to 16 of the annexed minutes of the aforementioned treaty, in exception to the provisions of Article 1 of the present treaty.

I was compelled to set a date for my departure from Cairo to meet the date set for me to meet the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in London on the day following my meeting with the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

In London, everything was prepared for the meeting with the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in London. I met the advisor who worked with the knowledge of the Sudanese government, monitoring the Arabic translation, representing Britain.

We stayed with Mr. Attlee for nearly two full hours, during which I spoke most of the time. The Prime Minister began by saying: "The Egyptians have been demanding sovereignty over the Sudan for seventy years. Where have you been all this time?" I told him: "We were absent. Do you not have the right of the absent? You are negotiating about us without informing us of what you are saying, and we are the ones with the primary right. Are you not speaking about our most personal matters? Did you not promise us not to change the status of our country without consulting us? Did we not believe you and cooperate with you? Did we not participate with you in the war and dedicate all our men and wealth to your victory? Did we not place our resources at your disposal during your time of hardship? And what did we receive after all this? We received the protocol that deprives us of the most precious thing a man lives for – our sovereignty, our dignity, and our independence. We are a known people who do not allow ourselves to be ignored. We fought you, we fought the Egyptians with you, and we fought the Turks. Do you not know us?"

He asked me to give my opinion on the agreement. I told him: "It is an unjust and unfair agreement that is not fitting for your government, which claims to aim at liberating peoples. I explained to him that we do not accept submission to an Egyptian crown, nor do we accept sovereignty over our country as a substitute."

Egyptian Sovereignty 74