DE GAULLE FORCES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24594, 30 April 1941, Page 7

DE GAULLE FORCES

ATTACK ON SOMALILAND SUPPORTED BY BRITISH A REPORT FROM VICHY VICHY, Apl. 28. Official advice has been received from Djibuti that, a de Gaulle column, supported by British motorised forces, attacked French Somaliland from Daouanleh. on the Addis AbabaDjibuti railway. Earlier the Vichy Government an-, nounced that de Gaulle troops, supported by British mechanised - units, were massed along the southern border of French Somaliland. The Minister for Colonies has given the necessary instructions to the Governor of French Somaliland to prevent the colony going over to General de Gaulle. He added that Free French troops were concentrated at a point on the Djibuti-Addis Ababa railway, and that other forces had disembarked at Zeila. The Free French forces distributed pamphlets by aeroplane over all the military posts in the interior of French Somaliland calling on the troops to go to Daouanleh or Zeila with their arms. A Vichy news agency says that, although negotiation is possible with regard to the transport of food and the evacuation of the wounded along the Addis Ababa-Djibuti railway, there can be no question of French Somaliland negotiating with the dissident French. Vichy claims that British warships anchored off Djibuti are completely blockading the port. OPINION IN LONDON THE REPORT DISCOUNTED RUGBY, Apl 28. Headquarters of the Free French Forces in London states that it has no knowledge of the attacks which, according to rumours circulated by Vichy, are being made by the Free French, supported by British units -gainst the French colony of Djibuti. It suggests that this information should be viewed with the greatest reserve, as it has every appearance of being news of a spontaneous movement in the midst of the French garrison itself at Djibuti, which, together with the civil population, is known to have cherished for a long time a very favourable feeling towards the Free French. The statement recalls that following the armistice, Djibuti was one of the first French possessions to send out a call for continued resistance.