Evening star., 1950-05-14

i'll Tangier. They've got the key
to get in with, and the right TO
use il.
Relay Point for Voice
Tangier. Furthermore. has GER
tain attractions, For the United
States it is a convenient relay
point for Voice of America broad
casts and the State Department is
building a big radio tranSmitter
here. For the SovietS Tangier
could be convenient spot from
which to observe, if nothing more.
the STRINGS of Arab nationaliSm
in North Africa.
/ Russian interest in this tiny
vital area goes back almost a
/ hundred years. II started with a
/ lighthouse. In 1865 10 powers.
including Russia and the United
States. agreed to operate jointly
/ the lighthouse on Cape Spartel at
the northwest corner Of the Afri-
can continent, Cape Spartel to-
day is part of the international
zone of Tangier and the light
house marks the Atlantic entrance
| of the Strait of Gibraltar,
! In 1906 Russia came on the
| Tangier scene again. The occa-
sion this time was the Conference
of AlgeciraS, called to decide what
to do about the Moroccan crisis
which had reached an explosive
stage. After Aleeciras there fol-
lowed long interval during which
Russia showed no interest in Q
series of notifications of the Tan
gier statute.
In the summer OF 1916. however.
Soviet Russia looked in on the
Tangier question again. somewhat
to the surprise of the Western
Allies who had begun TO assume
that the Russians didn't care
about Tangier anymore.
| When the war In Europe ended
Tangier was one Of the postwar
problems that needed to DO
Strengthened out. Back in June.
1910. Spain had coolly annexed
the city and the zone. There was
nobody TO stop Franco: France
was collapsing before the Nazi on
slaught, and Britain had a war
of survival on its hands. The
problem in 1945 was to relieve
Franco of his loot and return 1t to
international rule. Confronted by
an array of victorious Allies.
Franco wasn't going to make any
trouble about that. In fact, he
notified the Allies that he was i'm
patient to pull his troops out OF
Tangier and would they please
prepare to take over. ''.-
Russians Reappear
So France, Great Britain and
the United States hastily called q
conference in Paris in July. 1945.
to deal with the question. At this
point the Soviet Union announced
that it wished to participate in
the conference on an equal foot
ing with the three Western pow
erS. The others acquiesced-after
all. Russia was a Signatory OF the
Act Of Algeciras-and the Sched-
uled conference was postponed a
month to give the Russians time
to prepare for it.
They did. Soviet Russia came
out of the Paris Conference with
the right to have four representa-
tives in the administration Of
Tangier: One in the Committee
OF Control and three in the H.
ternational Legislative Assembly.
(The Committee of Control has
one representative from each Of
the following countries: Great
Britain. the United States, France.
Spain, Portugal, Italy. the Meth
erlands, Belgium. The Soviet
Union has not appointed Its
member
One of the hlghlights OF the
Paris Conference was an argu-
ment about Franco Spain. The
Soviet Union maintained that
Spain should be barred from par
ticipation in the international ad-
ministration of Tangier until
Franco rule was replaced by q
democratic regime. The Western
powers agreed in principle, but
pointed out that since Tangier
and the international zone are
completely surrounded on the land
side by Spanish territory. 1t
would be very inconvenient not TO
have Spain represented. Tan
gier. they pointed out, depended a
great deal on adjacent Spanish
Morocco for its food supplies.
They proposed that Spain be per-
| mitted to participate in a pro-
visional administration pending
change of rule in Spain. at which
time a new conference would be
called to work out permanent
regime for Tangier.
Spain Has a Voice
The Russians objected but were
overruled. The regime in force
! in Tangier today is still "provi-
sional" since Franco Is still the
dictator of Spain and Spain par
ticipates in the administration Of
the international city.
Soviet Russia so far has chosen
to stay away. For how long no
body knows. The thought that
the Russians may at any time
claim their places on the admin
istrative bodies Of Tangier is a
nightmare that haunts Western
officials here. They have noted,
with some uneaSiness, reports Of
trade relations between Spain.
the Soviet Union and various
satellite states Of Eastern Europe
and reports that Spain and the
Soviet Union have opened nego-
tiations for the return of Spanish
prisoners. In the war Spanish
volunteers fought alongside the
Germans on the Rueriap Frort in