Anthony Eden visits Cairo in February 1955, seeking again to persuade Nasser to join the Baghdad Pact.

Nasser again refuses.

Many Egyptians are skeptical of Britain's intentions and believe that membership in the pact will amount to trading one form of British domination for another.

In addition, however, Nasser is increasingly attracted to the Nonaligned Movement that eschews membership in either the Western or the Soviet camp.

Nasser is no particular friend of the Soviet Union, and the Communist Party remains outlawed in Egypt.

It is Western imperialism and colonialism, however, that Egypt has been struggling against.

Nasser also has become an admirer and friend of President Marshal Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia and Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru of India.

Tito has survived by aligning himself neither with the West nor with the Soviet Union.

Together, he and Nasser develop the concept of nonalignment, which entails avoiding both pro- and anti- Soviet pacts but ddoes not prevent them from purchasing arms or receiving aid from either bloc.

Nevertheless, the West, particularly the United States, expects Third World countries to support the West in return for both arms and aid, as Nasser is soon to learn.

A turning point for Nasser is the Conference of the Nonaligned Movement in Bandung, Indonesia in April 1955, where he finds himself the center of attention as a Third World leader, accepted as a colleague by Chinese premier Zhou Enlai, and greeted by crowds in the streets.

Egyptian participation in the conference, along with other former colonies such as India, symbolizes not only the new postcolonial world order but also Egypt's own independence.