WARRANT OFFICER BUNNER’S EXPERIENCES

Evening Star, Issue 22347, 25 May 1936, Page 9

WARRANT OFFICER BUNNER’S EXPERIENCES

FILMS AND DOCUMENTS RETAINED. LONDON, May 24. (Received May 25, at 11.45 a.m.) The Djibuti correspondent of ‘ The Times ’ says Bunner escaped at midnight on May 18. He scaled a 20ft wall while the guards were courting Ethiopian women. Bunner walked out of Diredawa barefooted, since it was impossible to climb the wall in boots, and tramped three clays through thorns along the railway line to Djibuti. He was two days without water. He bought sandshoes from a Somali, but found further progress impossible, so returned to Diredawa and collapsed in a vomiting fit in a native hut, whose owner reported tho presence of a sick foreigner to the authorities. Meanwhile Mr Chapman Andrews was insisting on inquiry. Bunner was finally allowed to depart with other members of the Red) Cross, but his films and documents remain in tho possession of the Italians, whose feeble attempt to pretend that Bunner tried to smuggle dollars broke down when an officer at the station admitted that it was a deliberate fake.

OFFICIAL BRUTALITY DENOUNCED AS AUSTRIAN CAPTAIN. LONDON, May 24. (Received May 25, at 12.30 p.m.) A copyright message from the Djibuti correspondent of ‘ Tho Times ’ says Warrant-officer L. J. Bunner tells a remarkable story of official brutality. He was passing his luggage through the Customs at Diredawa on May 15, preparatory to entraining, when ho was told that the police commandant doubted his identity. The Consul, Mr Chapman Andrews, interviewed tho Italian general on Banner's behalf, and Bunner returned to Harrar believing that all was well. He was arrested on entering a train on May 16, and was cross-examined for three hours through an interpreter by a staff colonel, a staff captain, and Intelligence Captain Lucetti in the presence of squads of police. A 10-year-old Abyssinian boy denounced him as Rudolf Brunner, an Austrian captain and chief of the Abyssinian Intelligence Service, as if such an organisation were conceivable. Bunner’s personal documents were examined. His passport had preceded him to Djibuti, but the Red Cross identification papers were given so little credence that a passport would . have hardly fared better. Lucetti, holding an imaginary pistol to his own head, declared that it was a matter of life and death, adding significantly, “ To-morrow.” The tribunal refused to call in Mr Chapman Andrews, declaring that he was only Consul to Selassie, and no longer enjoyed diplomatic status. The remainder of the hearing was carried on in Italian and was not interpreted. Bunner was refused a bed and blankets, and was marched to a prison—namely, a small incinerator. He slop on the floor, and was again interrogated on May 17. Tho correspondent of ‘ The Times ’ informed the British authorities at Djibuti.

MASSACRE AT HARRAR LONDON, May 24. (Received May 25, at 1.5 p.m.) The massacre by Italian Somalis at Harrar took a religious complexion. About 200 Amharic Christians were killed in the first six days after occupation of the city. The victims were asked; “Are you Islam?” and if they did not answer immediately with the Mohammedan declaration of faith they were shot down. Mfi GENERAL DEMOBILISATION ITALY’S COLONISING PLANS. ROME, May 24. (Received May 25, at 1 p.m.) The Deputy-Viceroy (General Graziaui) has surprised Italians living at home, who expected an early demobilisation of the soldiers who were not actually settled on the land in Abyssinia, by declaring that half a million troops ip East Africa will be maintained as a present establishment, thus damping dreams of speedy family reunions. General Graziani lias issued a manifesto to the authorities at Addis Ababa announcing that the territorial occupation of Abyssinia will be methodically developed. Home leave is limited to temporary furlough to enable troops to marry and take their wives back. It is believed that he will found military colonies. Many unemployed rural workers in the distressed areas of Italy seek free passages to Abyssinia 'with their families, but much preparatory work is necessary.