GREECE ACCUSES NEIGHBOURS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22184, 21 November 1946, Page 7

GREECE ACCUSES NEIGHBOURS

HELPING GUERRILLA BANDS BRITISH-U.S. OBSERVERS’ REPORT ATHENS MAY ASK U.N. FOR JOINT INQUIRY

(Bv Telegraph—Press Assn.—Cnnvrieht.i (11.30 a.m.) LONDON, November 20. ' The British Government has received a dossier from the Greek Government about intervention from Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Albania in the fighting on the Yugoslav—Greek border. British and American observers who investigated the fighting in the Mount Skra area, reported to the British military authorities that the first rebel raid was carefully planned but the scale of the attack in which the casualties were actually 12 Greek regulars and eight rebels killed, had been .exaggerated. The subsequent burning of houses in the surrounding villages had been systematic. The rebels had organised looting and also press gangs to recruit labour. A large part of the inhabitants of villages in the Skra area appeared to have been killed but there was not direct evidence of persons seeking the authorities. Reuter’s correspondent in Athens says, that the report is reserved on the question of Yugoslav participation, but it is understood that observers consider that no raid on such a scale could be organised without at least the connivance or acquiescence of the Yugoslav frontier guards.

Lull in Fierce Fighting Rebels, who are said to be from the Dogransko area, raided a village north-east of Mount Skra, killing a railway official and a gendarme and setting fire to grain-laden wagons. There has been a lull in I'.e Mount Skra area after some of f he fiercest fighting between the rebels and the troops. The Times correspondent in Athens says that after three days’ heavy fighting, Greek Army forces now fully control the Mount Skra area, but reports from other areas are causing much anxiety in Athens. In some Macedonian areas, the guerrillas are reported to have established so-called ‘‘free zones,” in which they publish their own newspapers, collect taxes and have their own courts for trying offences against guerrilla rule. In Anthrakia. a village where the Western Macedonia guerrillas have established their headquarters, a guerrilla court is reported to have passed a death sentence on 18 persons last week for anti-guerrilla activities. Advantage to Mountain Bands There is a widespread feeling, the correspondent says, that the approaching winter weather may hinder the guerrillas’ activities, but those who have lived in the mountains with the resistance forces during the occupation know that the winter is likely to hold more disadvantages for organised military forces than for mountain bands. It is officially announced that the Greek Government intends to place

before the United Nations immediately while the plenary session is being held evidence of alleged foreign interference in Greek guerrilla activity. The Associated Press correspondent, says the Greek Foreign Office announced' that a request for investigation of the border disorders by the United Nations will be made as soon as the Greek delegation to the United Nations advises Athens on the most suitable procedure. Walked Out of Parliament

Members of the Opposition, angered by the accusation by the Prime Minister, M. Tsaldaris. during a debate on Macedonia, that they were /‘antinational,” walked out of Parliament and the session was suspended. M. Tsaldaris had previously said that the situation, as represented to the House by an Opposition member, a National Unionist, M. Kenellopoulos, was that “practically the whole of Macedonia was already in Marshal Tito’s hands.

The Bulgarian Foreign Minister, M. Kulishev. replying to a question about the Greek allegation of frontier incidents, stated that no important incidents had been reported on the Bul-garian-Greek frontier. He declared that insignificant incidents had been caused by the Greeks and not the Bulgarians. One Bulgarian frontier soldier had been killed.

The Belgrade organ of the Yugoslav Party, Dorba, described the reports that Greek rebels had received weapons from Yugoslavia. Bulgaria and Albania as fantastic inventions.