ABSTRACT
Early American preoccupation in the Sudan was the concern for a smooth decolonization of the country by scrupulously managing the Anglo-Egyptian rivalry over the Sudan. The Americans felt that the British might overplay their hand in the Sudan and completely alienate Egypt, which might then retaliate against the West in one of three ways, as identified by US ambassador Jefferson Cafery: the abrupt termination of the British military presence in the Suez Canal zone, the expulsion of the 30,000 British nationals from Egypt, and the request for assistance from the Soviet Union. Since 1949, British authorities had repeatedly warned the United States that the Soviet Union was using its cohorts in Egypt and Ethiopia as staging grounds to penetrate the Sudan. As the strategic bridge between sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, the Sudan became the first line of defense against both regional neutralism and international communism.
