THE AFRO-ASIAN SOLIDARITY CONFERENCE CAIRO, EGYPT 26 DECEMBER 1957 - 1 JANUARY 1958

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78-00915R000700140001-8
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 24
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 19, 1997
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: January 1, 1958
• Content Type: REPORT

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THE AFRO-ASIAN SOLIDARITY CONFERENCE
. CAIROD EGYPT
26 DECEMBER 1957 -1 JANUARY 1958
DO t1 REeUVE FROM FILE
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THE AFRO-ASIAN SOLIDARITY CONFERENCE
CAIRO. EGYPT - 26 DECEMBER 1957-1 JANUARY 1958
Part I - Origins of the Confereris"
In December 1957 the first general gathering sponsored
by the Asian Solidarity Committees since their inception in
March - April 1955 will take place in Cairo, Egypt. Like the
constituent gathering which took place in the week preceding
the Afro-Asian ("Bandung")'Conference of states in Indonesia,
this gathering to closely linked to the International Communist
attempt to ally itself with and infiltrate the uncommitted countries
of the world. This action at the nongovernmental level consti-
tutes a maneuver to exert pressure upon the governments of
these countries.
In spite of a number of attempts =made from late 1955 on
by the USSR and China to bring about a second Afro-Asian
conference of governments, no such conference has been held,
and the five Colombo countries (India, Pakistan, Burma, Ceylon
and Indonesia) which were given the responsibility at Bandung for
convening such a conference have, with the exception of Ceylon,
shown little enthusiasm for a second gathering.
It is, however, interesting to note that as early as the end
of September of 1955, Egyptian sources ?sought to encourage the
convening of the conference there, and President Naer himself
was involved in efforts to bring the conference to Cairo.
Central issues which contributed to'the failure to bring
about a second Bandung Conference included the insistence of
some of the Colombo powers- on the inclusion of Israel, the
thorny question of the propriety of Soviet participation, the
reluctance of states participating in the Baghdad and SEATO
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pacts to expose themselves to criticism at such a gathering,
satisfaction with the cooperative efforts and consultative opportuni-
ties available within the framework of the United Nations, and . r
concern that if the gathering were to take place in the.Near Fast?
in either Cairo or Damascus--it might be exploited primarily as
a forum for extremist Arab nationalism.
The first significant step toward the convening of the Solidarity
Conference in Cairo as an alternative at the "popular" level to
a second Bandung. Conference occurred in October 1956 in Tokyo,
when the ,Egyptian Ambassador Osman Obeid was the principal
speaker at a.meeting called by the Japan Asian Solidarity
Committee. The meeting was attended by a Soviet representative,
observers from a number of other Asian embassies, and by.,
Japanese representing virtually every major front group and activity
in which the Japanese Communist Party was then involved. At
least one member of the Central Standing Directorate of the ,rt
Japanese CP was present. Ambassador Obeid defended his govern-
tnent}s rsLpprochement with the USSR, the nationalization of the
Suez Canal, and the general anti-colonial orientation of its policy.
At the time of the Sues crisis (November-December 1956)
Egyptians with records of activity in 'the Peace Partisans and
in various Egyptian Communist groupings over the years ap-
pealed, necessarily with the approval of the Government of
Egypt, to the major international Communist fronts. Those
appealed to included the World Peace Council, the World Federa-
tion of Trade Unions, and the World Federation of Democratic
Youth, all of which promptly expressed their support of the
Egyptian people in their struggle against imperialism. From
this time forward, the Communist interest in using the Middle
East, and particularly Egypt, as a focus for Its unity-of-action
campaign based on Afro-Asian solidarity rapidly emerged.
CO IAL
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Subsequently. in November 1956, an Egyptian delegate,
E. Jalal, attended the All-India Peace Congress in Calcutta
and in his speech to the Congress, praised Afro-Asian Solidarity
on the Egyptian issue, and praised Communist China, which
he had recently visited. He is believed to be identical with
Muhammed Fuad Jalal, a member of the Egyptian National
Committee of the Afro-Asian Solidarity organization, a deputy
speaker of the Egyptian National Assembly, and a participant in
the Arab People's Conference sponsored by Middle East Peace
Partisans in September 1956.
In December 1956 Abd al-Rahman IShamissi. a prominent
Egyptian Communist newsman employed by Anwar Sadat on the
newspaper Al Gumhuriya, attended a meeting in Moscow sponsored
The next step toward the Conference occurred in February
1957, after the Suez crisis had subsided, 'At the conclusion of
the Asian Writers Conference held in India in December 1956--
another attempt at creating a regional Communist front which
proved a failure from the Communist poin't'-of view--a good will
mission from the Asian Solidarity Committee proceeded to
Cairo, arriving on 1 February; This delegation was composed
of individuals who had been in India to attend the Writers
Conference, and included Dr. Anup Singh,' a member of the Indian
Parliament, Yang Shuo, a novelist from Communist China,
Masaharu Hatanaka, a Japanese journalist, and Anatoli Sofronov,
a Soviet writer. The group was received by Naar and entertained
.by Muhammed Fuad Jalal and a number of organizations, among
them the Journalists Union. During this visit the group proposed
that an Afro-Asian Solidarity Conference be held in Cairo in
October 1957. and received the endorsement of President Naar
for the idea. Hatanaka in March 1957, during* the course of a
month's visit to the USSR after his departure from Egypt, stated
that the decision to expand the Asian Solidarity organization into
an Afro-Asian body was made in India in December 1956.
j
CON~AL
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Cc3N~
on the Preparatory Committee eventually set up in October 1957,
tang Ming-chou, was also present at this June WPC meeting
in Ceylon.
At the beginning of August. the Japanese sponsors of the
3rd World Conference for the Prohibition of the Atomic and
Hydrogen Bomb sent a telegram to Egypt urgently inviting an
Egyptian representative to participate in the gathering. Ihalid
Mukhi-al-Din managed to. secure President Nasr's permission
to make the trip, and flew to Tokyo, ' where, after discussions
with leaders of the Asian Solidarity Committees of Japan, India,
and Communist China, a joint statement was issued that An Afro-
Asian Countries Conference of people's representatives would
meet in Cairo in early October 1957. , This statement was made
within three days of Mukhi-al-Din's arrival, and four days prior to
the opening of the anti-Atomic and Hydrogen Bomb Conference.
The Chinese appeared to take the lead in favoring the Egyptian
participation in the matter, and invited Mukhi-al-Din to make a
three-week visit to China after the end of the Conference. The
wife of the Secretary General of the Communist Party of India.
was present as an Indian delegate and participated in discussions
with the Egyptian delegate. According to the statement, travel
and living expenses for the Conference were to be borne by the
Egyptian Peace Committee and/or the Government of Egypt.
The fact that it was necessary for the Japanese group to
send a telegram to Cairo in order to gain Egyptian participation
appears somewhat surprising in view of the fact that Hatanaka
had stated as far back as 18 March 1957 that President Naar had
promised to send an Egyptian delegate to the 3rd World Conference
on Prohibition of Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs.
The Preparatory Committee convenes (21-23 October 1957)
Finally, in early October, a preparatory committee was
invited to convene in Cairo. The original invitation was sent out
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CONF TIAL
on behalf of the Egyptian hosts by Yusuf-as-Sibai, and went to
Dr. Anup Singh as the secretary of the Asian Solidarity Com-
mittees, and directly to a number of other countries, princi-
pally in Africa, where Solidarity Committees did not eidst.
Twenty-one countries eventually were represented at the
preparatory committee meetings which were held on 21-23
October 1957. These included, as representatives of already
existing Solidarity Committees:
a. India - Dr. Anup Singh - Vice Chairman and Chairman
of the subcommittee to study the agenda; member of
the subcommittee for press affairs; Indian Member of
Parliament; secretary of the Afro-Asian Solidarity
Committee for India; participated in All-India
Conference Against Nuclear Weapons (an event
sponsored by the India Peace Committee).
b. Japan - Tokusaburo Dan - member of subcommittee for
press affairs; Japan Peace Council; World Peace
Council; Asian Solidarity Committee. Sunao Sonoda
a leading figure of the liberal Democratic Party and
former Parliamentary Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs.
c. China - Tang Ming-chou - World Peace Council member;
member of Chinese National Assembly.
d. USSR - P. Azimov - Rector of University of Turkmenistan
member of Soviet Committee for Afro-Asian Solidarity.
e. North Vietnam - Nguyen Duc Quy - member of North
Vietnam Solidarity Committee.
f. Mongolia - (not identified)
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CO NTIAL
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Burma - Yebaw My* Myint - General Secretary of
the Burmese Peace Council; member of Burma
Workers and Peasants Party; member of Burma
Trade Union Congress (CP-controlled).
The Chinese delegate arrived on 16 October, a week prior
to the opening of the regular meetings.
The other countries participating were represented by
individuals selected in a number of different ways--in a few
instances they were designated by their.governments to attend;
in others the representatives are fugitives from their own
countries. They comprised:
a, Indonesia - (not identified)
b. Iraq - Jabirumar - fugitive from justice, who sought
refuge in Syria in January 1957,
c. Jordan - Abdullah al-Rimawi - former Minister of
State; Ba'athist and Communist Party of Jordan
contact. Refugee in Syria.
Note: Another unconfirmed report stated that Shafiq
Irshaydat and Hahya Hamadi,of Jordan participated.
Lebanon - (not identified)
.e. Libya - All Rajib - Editor of defunct pro-Egyptian
Libyan newspaper Al Liwa.
f. Syria - All Buzo - Left-wing Populist deputy; ex-
minister; long associated with Syrian Communist
leaders; elected to parliament with Communist
support 1947; frequent visitor to USSR and Communist
China. Active participant in World Peace Council
-7-
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CON . 1Aj`
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CONC.NIIA
Camm4n .l t Objectives and Treatment of Principal Thcm'9
Like a ! utxity f i tivu effort of Interuati na? c rrI muhism~' t
ft er me provides oonortiani c Kr Li re k ad ~ of r Iqr k ,
~3:.. Kxertion of infue.ne*=
b. Ixst `alt xati.n
e -~ za rb.3. .~ of ?en;#ions fa
Under t c44r t b ar41ing. It is apparent th :t t:?c y C.on rm+xtt tt it~r ,
t'~? to in#'u a thcxi a gxrsrerrxmeutis a gro s reprt.1% 4 at tt tr er>'
viice toe , 6 _ .. .
s:. rise and adopt the 'a vi t, ~Cz mxrus.rtist an of
tt r p blest s ansi s+ ~srcea of tez stop*n Afx-i1`a au{a. As.ia1 with-,
fx rttt~sl,ar sic phasi ;on yri.a an+ tb Arc l~`rx -rid inge ra
a fe. Iaxe,~ in as Positive tern as po itle, bete
Lut~:czl o of cta vclf sup orti
ng. t tic nil l br ra*'oxx eve tents
par:in#xYari r to the Arab w1arld, 3s nor se, in conne coon wig the rzany d-. ats which
e cast thxoug outthe area.
the posttici iidvocateci b those
e eanentr~ repre ent at the co4fereiac,e, which in virtuai3y
sal instances repzesents the 'p~Iacy1lane adopted by-tile t'espec-
tfvC. Corntx%ustiat Parties at the national level.,
4 Easie r sc , i corm coon with t 'world =wide rxet
+aspuired peace` campaign,, the Soviet palx.cy or x aitozn c and`
brdrogen bombs and on iii earmarrx nt
o4u
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CONF IA L
Endorse adadasion of Communist Qua to the
United Nations.
6 Endorse economic development in Africa and Asia
along socialist lines, including as far as feasible the
encouragement of acceptance of expanded trade and aid
from Soviet bloc countries.
Infiltration:
Under the' second heading, the primary objective of the confer-
ence is to secure general acceptance of the principle of Soviet parti-
cipation in Afro-Asian act$vfties as an Asian state (or states, as was
the case at the Arab-Asian Lawyers' Conference in November 1957).
The probability also exists that the conference may provide for
the creation of a permanent council and/or secretariats in which
event the eetablishment of Communist control of key positions, such
as those responsible for press, international liaison, etc.. is a
definite probability, Multf -national Communist participation is
likely to be used, to conceal as far as possible the full extent of
such infiltration. Soviet and Chinese participation is also likely to
be kept to the minimum for the same reason,
Infiltration at the rational level is also an objective in the
context of this conference. New Solidarity ComnAttees are'being
created hastily at present in countries where they did not heretofore
-exist, and evidence already is available to show that local Peace
Partisan, Communist Party, and Soviet bloc friendship society
figures are taking the initiative or participating actively in the forma-
tion of these Committees.
In at least one instance a local Communist Party has already
designated a loyal Party member to attend the conference with the
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delegation, acting in a subordinate capacity. He has. however, been
given the additional task of observing the behavior and reactions of
the national delegates, presumably for the purpose of assisting the
Party in its subsequent efforts to bring specific participants into
closer and more dependable contact with the Party itself,
Under the third heading, the degree of success achieved by the
Communist participants in their attempts to influence the. delegations
will directly contribute to increases of tensions between the govern-
ments and groups represented and, primarily, the nations and
groups whose policies are censured or condemned.
This, however, is one of the more sensitive aspects of the
probable Connmunist action program; there is. already evidence, in a
statement made on U November 1957 by Anup Singh, quoting Nasr, to
indicate that this possibility is creating concern to some participants.
According to the report, Naar "does not desire that the Afro?Aitan
Conference in Cairo be taken as an opportunity to launch &-severe
attack on any state or to put forward any controversial subjects."
It is, however, difficult to see how this desire can be put into effect
so long as the partictpants_-including many of the Egyptians them-
Delves--persist in treating the, principal themes on the agenda in the
terms so far used, (See attachment 1)
In another sense, opposition group representatives at the con-
ference who manage to gain conference endorsement of their pet
projects and policies are certain to return home prepared to bring
increased pressure to bear on their governments, based on their
claim to "broad Afro-Asian support" for their ideas,
Probable Treatment of Principal Specific Topics:
The primary Soviet interest is treatment of the most likely
topics is well epitomised in a recent Moscow broadcast of a recorded
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Nfl L
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t * $Q'SL 9+i~`{ L +} i+ +~~.?.
tr:x o t"ae tls l attst~tx#.tS
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f:; .-du k
Bull o r "
: s xrr s wer _a3dsesged to tae "an Egypt, "' -?a4.L
tlx : as an gypftast ratI