BEFORE HE CHANGED HIS MIND

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 185, 4 May 1936, Page 9

BEFORE HE CHANGED HIS MIND

Selassie Appeals to People “DETERMINED TO FIGHT TO LAST MAN” (Received May 3, 6.30 p.m.) Addis Ababa, May 2. While an Italian aeroplane circled overhead war-drums summoned the people of Addis Ababa to the Emperor’s hilltop palace to hear his appeal for a last effort to defend the capital. “I ask every man who is neither wounded nor sick to take arms and enough food for five days and proceed north and attack the Italians,” he shouted. The crowd surged forward, shouting “We will go.” The commander-in-chief of this hastily-levied army is Has Getatachu. It wgs to march out of Addis Ababa to-day to meet the Italians. The Emperor was still wearing a field-marshal’s uniform, but his face was drawn and haggard, his beard streaked with grey and both hands bandaged owing, it is alleged, to poison gas burns. “Abyssinia is not beaten and is not suing for peace,” Haile Selassie told foreign newspaper correspondents. “If I am compelled to evacuate Addis Ababa it will have no significance. I shall establish a new seat of govern ment and new general headquarters westward of the capital. The war is not over yet by a long way. My army Is still capable of fighting and I am more than ever determined to fight to the last man.” How Haile Selassie missed death by Inches at Magdala was related by his military adviser, General Kornivaloff. The rebel population, without warning, opened fire on the Emperor's suite, killing the chamberlain and valet, between whom the Emperor was standing.