MUTINY AT KHARTOUM

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18880, 1 December 1924, Page 9

MUTINY AT KHARTOUM

SECTION OF BATTALION.

OVERPOWERED BY BRITISH. LOYAL TROOPS ASSIST. NO CAUSE FOR ALARM. FURTHER CAIRO ARRESTS. HIGH COMMISSIONER ILL. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. (Received 5.5 p.m.) A. and N.Z.-r-Reuter. LONDON. Nov. 28. The Cairo correspondent of the Daily Chronicle reports that there has been bitter fighting in the streets of Khartoum. Sudanese rebels were in action with machine-guns. British troops surrounded them and the rebels' losses were heavy. Another message states that two platoons of the Eleventh Sudanese Battalion at Khartoum mutinied. They attacked the military hospital and killed one British and two Syrian doctors. British troops fired on the. mutineers, who suffered severely. .The down train from Cairo, to connect with the Sudan steamer from Haifa, did not leave to-night. The Egyptian police effected 35 arrests, presumably as a precautionary measure dictated by the existing circumstances. Three of those arrested were suspected of conspiring agr.inst the lives of the High Commissioner for Egypt, Viscount Allenby, and the present Egyptian Ministers. 1 The police also arrested a students' leader at. Alexandria. Plotters Against Viscount Allenby. Others arrested included five deputies arid also Mohamed Amen (who was not tried in tho last conspiracy case owing to his illness), and an official of the Ministry of Agriculture. Tho remainder of those under arrest are described as revolutionary students. Rumour persists in connecting the arrests with a plot against Viscount Allenby end also the murder of the late Sirdar. It appears that three-of the new Ministers threatened to resign unless three of the persons arrested on Thursday were handed over to the Egyptian Government. Immediate acquiescence in this request by the British authorities averted a crisis. It was known that there had been certain restlessness among the troops of the Eleventh Battalion in August. , A large meeting of students of El Asher University passed off without incident. Rebels Number About 200. The latest news is to the effect that the military authorities at, Cairo are wirelessly communicating with Khartoum. Tha circumstances are obscure, but it is understood that the situation is well in hand and that the Egyptian troops 'at Khartoum are not giving trouble. The mutiny was confined to about 200 troops of the Eleventh Sudanese Battalion. The remainder of the battalion are helping to overpower them. •" "The .East Dorset Regiment arrived at . Tort Sudan to-night. No alarm need be felt regarding the situation in Khartoum. British cavalry and infantry paraded the streets 'of Cairo throughout this morning, and air reconnaissances were carried out. In the principal towns ah' is reported to be quiet Hopes in League of Nations. In view of the continuance of the j students' strike the Ministry of Education issued instructions that the schools should be conducted irrespective of numbers.

The ex-Miruster, Rushdi Pasha, favours the submission of the dispute to the League of Nations. He says he is surprised that the Government has so far taken no official step in this direction.

Alahram, one of the Persian delegates to the League, says he understands that Persia is ready to raise the question before the League on behalf of Egypt. A message from IV •> states that the Egyptian protest to f-.vaign Parliaments came up before the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Chambe, of Deputies, to yhich if, was automatically referred. The protest was read and then ordered to be placed in the archives. There was no discussion. 'Ihe document was therefore shelved. Four Reserved Points. Chief among the outstanding points in the Egyptian situation is that which relates to the British demands in regard to three high officials. In this connection it appears the Egyptian Government ■ttants to know the exact, meaning of the demand that it shall enforce the authority of these three officials.

It is stated that when the present crisis is over the general situation must be considered, but meanwhile the solution of the four reserved points which the British Cabinet was ready to discuss with Zaghlul v.hen he was in London must . not. lie prejudiced by any action by the Egyptian' Government.

iscoijnt. A lien by will not attend the St. Andrew s dinner owing to illness.