LEBANON TROUBLE

Greymouth Evening Star, 17 November 1943, Page 5

LEBANON TROUBLE

FRENCH DETERMINATION

FURTHER ARAB PROTESTS

LONDON, November 16. The French delegate in Lebanon (M. Helleu), at a Press conference in Beirut, said that the decision to arrest the Lebanese President and the Cabinet had been taken by .he French Committee in Algiers. He had warned General de Gaulle that there might be trouble, but General de Gaulle had instructed him to go ahead and make the arrests. M. Emile Edde. a Lebanese lawyer, has formed a provisional Government in Lebanon, composed ot seven directors of public services, five district administrators, and one each from the offices of the Adminisstrative Services and the Internal Security Forces. The French appointed M. Edde leader of the temporary Government after the arrest of the President and others last week. ~ , M. Edde, in a statement, said that the first task of the Government would be to ensure adequate food supplies. When the situation was normal again he would attempt to make the Government more representative of the country’s different political tendencies. In reply to the protest from the Egyptian Prime Minister (Nahas Pasha) against the French action in Lebanon, the French Committee of National Liberation said ■ that the question would best be solved by the French and Lebanese alone. “The matter is well understood by the real friends of Lebanon.” To this Nahas Pasha has replied: “The fact that the whole world condemns the French action affords the best distinction between the real friends of Lebanon and those who sacrifice truth and justice from selfish motives.” The French Committee of National Liberation is meeting in Algiers to-day. General Catroux is in Beirut with full powers to act. The Beirut radio has broadcast an appeal to the business community to reopen shops and to citizens. to restore normal life. Compensation was promised for damage done, during the disturbances. Reports from Beirut say that there were no further clashes there on Sunday and yesterday. The capital shows no signs of life. All shops and offices are closed and communications with outside suspended. Strong military patrols, with tanks, are patrolling the streets. The Ankara correspondent of the Exchange Telegraph Agency says that according to travellers from Syria and Lebanon, serious rioting with firing was still going on on Sunday in Beirut and Lebanese Tripoli. All shops in Aleppo were closed and traffic was at a standstill. The Ankara radio reports that King Ibn Saud, of Saudi Arabia, has joined King Farouk and the Government of Iraq in a protest to the French Committee against the events in Lebanon.

Saudi Arabia and Iraq have already both protested against the French action in Lebanon. The Saudi Arabia protest took the form of a telegram from King Ibn Saud to Mr. Churchill, in which King Ibn Saud appealed to the Prime Minister to use his influence with the French authorities to restore the situation. King Ibn Saud, said that the Free French action had created the worst possible impression on the Arab people. The Arab Legation in London expressed confidence that the British Government would support Lebanon’s just cause and aspirations. ANGLO-FRENCH DIFFERENCES "LONDON, Nov. 15. The situation in Lebanon is extremely grave, the news director oi' the British Ministry of Information in the Middle East, Mr O. Ryan, on his return to Cairo from Beirut. He reiterated the British Ministry of Information’s statement that Senegalese troops were used to arrest the President of Lebanon, thus countering the French denial cabled yesterday. Mr Casey, who returned from Beirut yesterday, estimated the casualties as the result of the Lebanon disturbances thus far to total 140, of which ten or twelve were fatal. Mr Casey saw General Catroux at Cairo this morning, and amplified and explained the British position in regard to Lebanon. Reuter’s Algiers correspondent says the British take a much gravel’ view of the Lebanon position than is evident on the French side. Mr MacMillan made further representations to the French Committee. It is understood that despite vehement French denials, reports through British channels indicate the disorder is continuing not only at Beirut, but several places throughout the country. A number of women and children were killed when a French tank fired on the crowds. It is stated in London that Mr MacMillan has been instructed to take up with the French Committee the question of an incident outside the British Legation at Beirut on Saturday morning, when the French troops fired on and caused casualties among a large crowd of Lebanese students waiting in the hope of seeing Sir E. Spears. It is pointed out that the troops apparently took action without orders from French officers. RETURNING TO NORMAL. RUGBY; November 16: A Cairo Press message announcing the arrival of General Catroux at Beirut adds: It is officially stated that conditions in Lebanon are returning to normal. Shops are reopening and no disturbances occur- . red yesterday. In London, the political situation in Lebanon is regarded as remaining critical, and urgent measures on the part of General Catroux appear to be essential to resolve the crisis caused by the arrest of the Lebanene President and Ministers. BRITISH DENIALS. LONDON. November 16. While the French spokesman, at Cairo stated that no incidents were reported from Lebanon to-day, Reuter’s Algiers correspondent quotes informed British' circles as saying there is no sign of calm in Lebanon, and despite French claims that order is restored, reports of disturbances persist. There is no indication. says Reuter, of any softening of the British attitude. The President of the Iraq Senate and other prominent persons cabled Mr. Wendell Willkie asking for the independence of Lebanon “in the interests of democracy, the Allies, and the aims of the United Nations.” The All-India Moslem League newspaper “Dawn.” commenting on the Lebanon question, says: “The outrageous conduct of the French’ intruders in. Lebanon is an' affront felt throughout the Islamic world, and Moslems in India are shocked at it. It is for Britain to see that the scandal stops.”