R.A.F. AND TRIBES

Evening Star, Issue 22684, 25 June 1937, Page 6

R.A.F. AND TRIBES

BLOODLESS RAIDS ON ARABS Incidents reported from the Aden Protectorate have again demonstrated the efficiency and mercy of the control exercised by the British R. A.F. over large regions of southern Arabia (states the ‘Daily Telegraph’). The Ahl Haidara Mansur, a troijhlesome section who for many years Tiad been disloyal to their overlord, the Fadhli Sultan, recently attacked a caravan outside Aden, The political authorities decided that the raid, affecting the integrity of the mam trade route, called for help to assert the power of the Fadhli Sultan. The sheikh of the Ahl Haidara Mansur was ordered to meet a political officer and the Sultan at an appointed place, but the command was ignored. An ultimatum was sent to him by messengers, and copies dropped on hia village from the air, ordering him to pay a' fine in cash and rifles, and to return three times the value of the looted property. No sign of an attempt to pay was received on the appointed day, and forty-eight-hour bombing warnings were dropped from the air, while a squadron in formation demonstrated overhead. Later that day the political officer received information that the offenders were making a genuine effort to produce the fine, and they were told that’ if they produced the rifles by noon next day they would be given an extension of time to raise the money. They failed to comply with the letter of this concession, but on the following evening* before bombing was due to begin, about 50 Mansuris brought in a part of the fine. Finally, after a groat deal of haggling, the Haidara Mansur handed over rifles, camels, and cash as the first instalment of the fine. ’ A Royal Engineer officer, who had been engaged in surveying the course of a proposed motor road from Mokalla to the Hadhrdamout Valley, was fired at by Bedouins. The driver and an Arab beside • him were wounded, and the car was damaged. After a parley and the payment of a bribe, the party was allowed to proceed. Aden headquarters promptly ordered the offending tribesmen to appear before their Sultan and a political officer. bv whom they were fined. The’culprits failed to pay. the usual bombing notice was ignored, and air action was taken. The operations had lasted four days when information reached headquarters that the fine wa* being collected. No one was hurt.