MECOM

Izzy Esler __Background to the 1956 WAR__

=**MECOM**=

MECOM was a planned Middle Eastern Command against communism consisting of the United States, Britain, France and Turkey. This was part of western powers’ increasing presence in the Middle East in order to promote containment. On October 13, 1951, it was proposed that Egypt, as the strategic center of the Middle East, join in its formation. At the time, Egypt had just begun seriously asserting its independence from the British, particularly by nullifying the 1936 treaty which had protected British rights to return and occupy Egypt in times of emergency. The Egyptian government saw MECOM as a continuation of British colonialism which they were trying to be rid of, and rejected it.