Abdel Khalek Sarwat Pasha | |
|---|---|
عبد الخالق ثروت باشا | |
 | |
| 15th Prime Minister of Egypt | |
| In office 26 April 1927 – 16 March 1928 | |
| Monarch | Fuad I |
| Preceded by | Adly Yakan Pasha |
| Succeeded by | Mostafa el-Nahhas |
| In office 1 March 1922 – 30 November 1922 | |
| Monarch | Fuad I |
| Preceded by | Adly Yakan Pasha |
| Succeeded by | Muhammad Tawfiq Nasim Pasha |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1873 |
| Died | 1928 (aged 54–55) |
| Political party | Liberal Constitutional Party |
| Profession | Politician |
Abdel Khalek Sarwat Pasha (Arabic: عبد الخالق ثروت باشا; 1873–1928) was an Egyptian political figure. Sarwat served as the Prime Minister of Egypt from 1 March 1922 until 30 November 1922, and again between 26 April 1927 and 16 March 1928. He was instrumental in bringing Great Britain to issue its Unilateral Declaration of Egyptian Independence in February 1922, which ended the British Protectorate of Egypt and recognized it to be an Independent Sovereign State. He was also Minister of Justice (1914–1919), Minister of Interior (16 March 1921 – 24 December 1921), Minister of Foreign Affairs (7 June 1926 – 18 April 1927) as well as the first Egyptian Attorney General (1908–1912).
Sarwat was born in Cairo in 1873. His father was Roznamji Egypt (Minister of Finance, in today's terms). He graduated with a License de droit from the Khedival School of Law in 1893 and spent the first 19 years of his career in the Ministry of Justice, following which he was appointed Minister of Justice (1914–1919). From 1918 and until his death, 10 years later, he became an important political figure in Egypt at a time when the country was struggling to obtain its full independence from Great Britain. He was close to a group of politicians who founded the Liberal Constitutional Party in October 1922, headed by Adly Yakan Pasha to whom Sarwat was very close. The party represented large land owners and the urban middle class. It had a gradualist approach to independence. The party was also joined by politicians who defected in 1921 from the Wafd, a movement formed in late 1918 to obtain the complete independence of Egypt from Great Britain and which was led by Saad Zaghloul Pasha, a popular charismatic leader who had the overwhelming support of the great majority of Egyptians.
In March 1919, soon after forming the Wafd, Saad was exiled to Malta by the British. This ignited the 1919 revolution. As a result, the British released Saad from exile, in April, and sent the Milner Mission to Egypt in December 1919 to study the situation. Saad and the Wafd were officially invited to London to negotiate (Saad-Milner negotiations). Adly joined the group. The negotiations (June – November 1920), broke down and highlighted a rift between Saad and Adly. This was a turning point for Saad. He became radicalized and relied mainly on popular support. Adly and Sarwat, both moderates, became the interlocutors of choice for the British in their future negotiations with Egypt.
Sarwat became minister of interior in a Adly Cabinet (March–December 1921) formed to follow-up on a British invitation to Egypt to enter official negotiations with Britain aiming at replacing the Protectorate with another relationship. Adly invited Saad to join him. Saad put unacceptable conditions to join and called for withdrawal of confidence in the Government. Several members of the Wafd, disagreeing with him, left the Wafd, confirming a split that was brewing. Sarwat was interim prime minister, while Adly was negotiating in London (Adly-Curzon negotiations, 1 July-5 December 1921), The negotiations failed and led to the resignation of Adly in December 1921. Sarwat put forward conditions which, upon their acceptance by Britain, he would be ready to form a cabinet. Despite Great Britain accepting these conditions, they were not enough for Saad and Adly. However, under pressure from Field Marshall Edmund Allenby, the British High Commissioner to Egypt, the British Government issued, on 28 February 1922, the Unilateral Declaration of Egyptian Independence, which declared Egypt an independent country ending the British protectorate, with reserved points making this a partial independence only. Sarwat became, on 1 March 1922, the first prime minister of the new Kingdom of Egypt and appointed himself Minister of Foreign Affair and Minister of the Interior. He formed a Committee to draft a Constitution which he proposed to King Fouad I, but the King pressured him to resign nine months later, as he was unwilling to promulgate a constitution, which would have diminished his powers.
The Constitution was promulgated later and the first election under it was a landslide victory for Saad's Wafd. Saad became prime minister in January 1924, but a crisis forced him to resign 10 months later and allowed the king to create a situation where, as of 18 March 1925, the country was ruled unconstitutionally. After 11 months of unconstitutional rule, the political parties convened a National Congress let by Saad, with Adly and Sarwat sitting beside him, which resulted in the return of constitution rule. Sarwat became Minister of Foreign Affair in a so-called coalition cabinet let by Adly (7 June 1926 – 18 April 1927). Following the resignation of Adly, Sarwat became prime Minister of a second coalition cabinet on 26 March 1927 and kept the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to himself. He diffused a major crisis between Egypt and Britain, the so-called Army crisis. He also entered into negotiations with Britain (Sarwat-Chamberlain negotiations) on the reserved points of the Declaration. While Sarwat was negotiating in London, Saad died in Egypt. His successor at the helm of the Wafd was a hardliner. The draft treaty brought back by Sarwat was rejected by both the Wafd and the Cabinet and he resigned on 16 March 1928. He died in Paris on 22 September 1928 at the age of 55.