THE ITALIAN TERMS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 60, Issue 223, 28 June 1940, Page 6

THE ITALIAN TERMS.

ACCEPTANCE BY FRANCE.

OFFICIAL BRITISH COMMENT. LONDON, June 26. Authoritative circles in London regard the terms dictated by Italy to France as deceptive. At first. glance it might be thought that they are not severe but it must be remembered that these are only the to cover the interim period before the treaty of peace itself is negotiated. Clearly, Italy’s object is to ensure the demilitarisation of all zones of interest to bet in the Mediterranean and this is expressly provided for in the terms now published. Occupation for the moment is limited to the. line occupied by the Italian troops when the agreement came into force, hut it must be supposed that the Italians intend, when the peace negotiations are undertaken, to occupy all the territories they covet^ To ensure that they will be ai le to do so they are now taking steps to render impossible any resistance in these territories. Thus, the demilitarisation includes the surrender of all weapons, installations, stocks of ammunition, and the demolition of fortifications and the corresponding stocks of ammunition. Further, all the land, sea and air forces of France itself are to be demobilised and disarmed within a period to be fixed, and in-addi-tion, Italy reserves the right to demand as a guarantee of the.. fulfilment of the armistice conditions, the complete or partial surrender of Weapons, tanks, armoured-cars and vehicles of all kinds and munitions belonging to those units which fought against the Italian troops. This last condition suggests perhaps that the Italian army, while naturally anxious to disarm completely its opponents, is not averse to swelling its own stocks. The terms concerning those portions of the French Fleet to be placed under Italian control are similar to the terms exacted by Germany. They provide that the French Fleet is to be concentrated at ports to be indicated, and demobilised and disarmed under the control of Italy and Germany, and, like Germany, Italy declares that she does not intend to use in the present war, units of the French Fleet placed under its control, and further, that on the conclusion of peace Italy does not intend to lay claim to the French Fleet-. No reliance can, of course, be placed on any German or Italian promise, arid Mr Churchill yesterday, in the House of Commons, asked what value we could attach to these assurance, adding that the situation was so uncertain and obscure that he would not attempt to pronounce or speculate upon it. Particular note, it is felt, should be •taken of the fact that Italy will now have full and uninterrupted right to use the ports and harbours of Jibuti and the Addis Ababa railway. The Italians, no doubt, hope by this article to keep their crumbling East African empire alive. Summing up, it is considered that the French have, 'by the acceptance of these specious terms —specious in the sense that they appear more lenient on the surface than of course in fact they are have delivered themselves hand and foot to the Italians, whose object it is in due course to annex all the metropolitan and colonial territory they can. For the moment their occupation is limited to the lines they occupy, which means a small amount of territory on the Mentone front, but this is merely a presage and guarantee of occupations and annexations to come.