FRENCH COUNT

Manawatu Standard, Volume LV, Issue 257, 27 September 1935, Page 2

FRENCH COUNT

ACCUSED OF ESPIONAGE. IN ABYSSINIAN OUTPOST. Count Maurice de Rocquefeuil du Bousqnet and his wife have been arrested at Pig-Jigga, North-east Abyssinia, suspected of espionage, according to a story sent to the Daily Mail on September 7 by Evelyn Waugh, the novelist, who is acting as its special : correspondent in Abyssinia, j The Count, according to Mr Waugh, settled at Jig-Jigga three years ago nominally as manager of an East African mineral company engaged in the exportation of mica. His manner of life excited suspicions, as lie had many servants, entertained guests of all races, and seldom went out, except to Mass on Sunday. An Abyssinian detective trained in Europe kept watch, and detained an aged Somali woman, who was leaving the Count’s house for Harrar, about

30 miles distant. When ho searched her, he found a film tube under her left armpit containing, it is alleged, a photograph of a lorry corps with five pages of particulars concerning the defences of Jig-Jigga. The document, it is alleged, was addressed to the Ital- ■ ian Consul at Harrar. The detective then conducted a raid on the house and discovered, according ■to the allegations, extensive correspondence with officers of Italian Somaliland. When the Count and Countess were arrested they were given an opportunity to communicate with the French Minister at Addis Ababa, but refused. Twelve natives, allegedly mission boys, whose names were discovered in the correspondence, resisted arrest and took to the bush. Half the Jig-Jigga garrison turned out to hunt for them. Traffic was held up on the Harrar road, and eventually the fugitives were captured and disarmed and brought to Jig-Jigga through jeering crowds. The opinion in native quarters is that they will be hanged. Much of the Count’s information is declared to be inaccurate, but it is alleged that he had spy systems all over the Ogaden and Somali districts. Many arrests of natives will probably result. The Count many years ago, it is stated, abandoned his houses in Paris and on the Riviera, and sought a fortune in South America. He went to Abyssinia nine years ago, and has not visited Europe for four years. Jig-jigga is a point of vital strategic importance on the caravan and lorry route to Harrar and the coast. Most of the inhabitants are Moslems, except tlie Abyssinian officials. It is, in fact, an outpost of the savage Ogaden i country. It is a fortified, squalid town, I with no European inhabitants except ! four Greeks and four Roman Catholic ■ priests. Count de Roccjuefeuil, it is stated, frequently applied to become a consular agent there, but the request was refused. HORRORS OF PRISON. After his arrest the Count was taken to Harrar by soldiers in two lorries and imprisoned in the house of the local governor. The French Consul at Harrar, according to Jater reports, | went to Harrar to intercede for the ; Count, who was being treated with scant consideration. After a meal of dry bread and fruit, the Count asked for beer, but was refused. It is said : that he will be removed to the com- | mon gaol. ' Harrar Gaol, according to Evelyn I Waugh, is notorious even in Abys-

! sinia for its appalling squalor. The ; ‘ prisoners are chained by tlie ankles ■ j and wrists to a wall of the courtyard l j by four foot chains. Their quarters are ■ j like kennels, and are never. cleaned. ■ | Typhoid is rampant, and six weeks’ t , imprisonment is said to be equivalent l ito a death sentence. The Italian Con- , sul at Harrar denies lie has evei - had ’ any political correspondence with tlie l Count. > 1 Following the Jig-Jigga arrests, a : : spy fever is said to have overcome i Harrar. Several Armenians and Syrians ; under suspicion have had to undergo :. long cross-examinations. Evelyn i | Waugh’s own interpreter was arrested • 1 on suspicion, and was only, released > after tlie British Consul had visited [ the gaol.