AFRICAN POLICY

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 33, 9 February 1943, Page 3

AFRICAN POLICY

PEYROUTEN'S PLACE Improvement Claimed Since Appointment N.Z. Press Association. —Copyright Rec. 10.30 a.m. LONDON, Feb. 8. "M. Peyrouten's appointment as Governor of Algeria has been approved by both the United States Department of State and the British Foreign Office," said the American Minister to North Africa, Mr. Robert Murphy, speaking to journalists in Algiers. "General Eisenhower had the final power of disapproval, but neither he nor the British or American Foreign Office officials, who regarded the appointment as a purely internal French matter, registered the slightest objection. "No Allied pressure is being exerted to speed up a complete governmental union between General Giraud and General de Gaulle," Mr. Murphy added. "We believe in giving them time to work out their own solution. It is a French problem and we cannot force it." Mr. Murphy emphasised that General Giraud asked for M. Peyrouten's appointment on the ground that he was a capable administrator, knowing North Africa. "We have certainly not jammed M. Peyrouten's appointment down anyone's throat," he said. Mr. Macmillan, the British Minister, who was present, nodded in agreement, saying there had been a very healthy improvement in the North African political situation. Mr. Murphy revealed that the Germans had recently arrested the wives of General Giraud and General Bergeret. Peyrouten States His Case The Algiers correspondent of The Times says M. Peyrouten, who was deeply perturbed by the criticisms in the House of Commons and the British Press, recalled at an interview that following the armistice in 1940, when on a special mission to Tunis, he broadcast that although France was momentarily defeated, her Empire remained intact as a guarantee of future revenge. General Giraud's arrival, he said, had made possible the resumption of the war which since October, 1940, had been planned by • a group of Frenchmen who remained in France for that one purpose. "I do not wish," he stated, "to be anything more than an administrator in Algiers. I bring African experience and a sincere desire for the union of all Frenchmen, and, above all, a complete determination to carry on the war." M. Peyrouten, says the correspondent, proposes to seek the advice of non-political elected bodies of professional men. He proposes to summon, for example, a permanent war economy committee composed of former members of the Chambers of Commerce and Agriculture. _ This "Algerian Parliament" will discuss and vote the Algerian budget.