AGAINST MUSSOLINI

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 55, Issue 271, 29 August 1935, Page 10

AGAINST MUSSOLINI

HOW ETHIOPIA WILL FIGHT “I am convinced that in the event of war the Italian army would he at a. disadvantage,” the Emperor of Abyssinia, declared recently, when he gave an audience to a special correspondent of the “Paris Soir.” Signor Mussolini, he said had reflected fully before' sending troops to Africa and had studied all the posr sible consequences that might enuse from war. “Nevertheless,” said the Emperor, “the Italian troops will encounter in the high mountains difficulties which they do not in the least foresee, and will not there bo able to make full use of their modern armaments. “The desert of Gaden is, moreover, absolutely without water fit to drink. “Italy’ already to compensate for important defections from her forces due to illness, has started to recruit Somalis and Eritreans, whose loyalty appears to me to he problematical if they are called on to fight against others of their own race.” Asked how his ajrmy would be organised, the Emperor said seven principal chiefs would each command an army corps. They would work in touch with one another, each entrusted with his own task.

“Our inferiority in armaments does not allow us to employ modern principles of war for all the regiments of each army_ corps, but these regiments will be assisted by numerous groups of scouts, hereditary warriors, who wlill 1 maintain njll. their natural mobility and freedom of action. “What worries me most,” wont on the Emperor, “is the lack of munitions. I deplore the unjust embargo of which I am the victim, and the sudden rupture of contracts with Belgian and Cfltechlslovakian firms and cine American firm.”

Asked whether he still hoped for a peaceful outcome, Haile Selassie declared his confidence in the League of Nations, “especially if France and Britain are on the side of right—that is to say my side.” He emphasised that no concession, territorial of economical, in favour ot Italy was possible, and concluded the interview bv declaring: “If hostilities break out i shall lie the first soldiet of my army and shall share the tortunes’of my people.”