IN ITALIAN HANDS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 123, 26 May 1936, Page 7

IN ITALIAN HANDS

BRITISHER’S STORY OFFICIAL BRUTALITY FAKED CHARGE PRESENTED (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, Mav 24. lhe Foreign Office has received news ol the release cf Warrant-Officer L J Bunner, who was attached to the British ambulance unit in Abyssinia and was arrested by the Italians while lie was en route to Aden for treatment for rabies. He is now at Jibuti undergoing treatment for rabies. A Tinies correspondent at Jibuti, in a copyright message, says that Bunner told a remarkable story of official brutality. He was passing his luggage through the Customs at Diredawa on May 15 preparatory to entraining, when he was told that the police commandant doubted his identity. The Consul, Mr. Chapman Andrews, interviewed the i Italian general cn Bunner’s behalf and returned to Harrar believing that all was well. Bunner was arrested as he was entering the train on May 16, and was cross-examined for three hours through an interpreter by a staff colonel, a staff captain, and an intelligence officer, Captain Lucetti, in the presence of squads of police. A ten-year-old Abyssinian boy denounced him as Rudolf Bunner, an Austrian captain, and chief of the Abyssinian intelligence Service, as if such an organisation was conceivable. Bunner’s personal documents were examined. His passport had preceded him to Jibuti, but his Red Cross identification papers were given so little credence that his passport would hardly have fared better. Captain Lucetti, putting an imaginary pistol to his own head, declared it was a matter of life or death, adding significantly, “To-morrow.” The tribunal refused to calk in Mr. Chapman Andrews, declaring that he was only Consul to Haile Selassie and no longer enjoyed diplomatic status. 'The remainder of the hearing was carried on in Italian, and was not interpreted. Bunner was refused a bed or blankets, and was marched to his prison, a small incinerator, sleeping on the floor. He was again interrogated on May J 7, and The 'rimes correspondent informed the British authorities at Jibuti. Escape and Return. Bunner left the incinerator at midnight on May 18, and scaled a 28ft. wall while his guards were courting Ethiopian Vo men. Bunner walked out of Diredawa barefooted, since it was impossible to climb the wall in boots, and he tramped for three days through thorns along the railway line towards Jibuti. For two days he, was without water. He bought sandshoes from a Somali, but found further progress impossible, and returned to Diredawa, where he collapsed in a vomiting fit in a native hut, whose owner reported the presence of the sick foreigner to the authorities. Meanwhile, Mr. Chapman Andrews was insisting on an inquiry, and Bunner was finally allowed to depart witl other Red Cross workers, but his films and documents remain in the possession of the Italians, whose feeble attempt to pretend that Bunner tried to smuggle dollars broke down when an officer at the station admitted it was a deliberate fake. HAILE SELASSIE STAY IN ENGLAND DURATION UNKNOWN. [ British Official Wireless. ] RUGBY, May 2-1. No details arc available as to the duration of Haile Selassie’s residence in. England or as to the time of his arrival. The Emperor’s party comprise eight persons, and it is not known whether the Empress will accompany him. MISSING PACKAGE SEARCH CONTINUES [ British Official Wireless. ] RUGBY, May 24. It is now learned that what was described as a diplomatic bag which was missing on the journey between Addis Ababa and Djibuti was a non-confiden-tial postal packet sent from the Legation to His Majesty’s Consul at Djibouti. It appears to have gone astray on the journey and efforts to find it arc being continued. ITALIAN CONQUEST FUTURE OF FRENCH PORT Received May 25, 9.20 p.m. LONDON, Mav 25. The Paris correspondent of the Times says that Signor Mussolini’s assurance that the Italian occupation of Abyssinia will not affect their Djibouti railway, which shall continue to be used normally, has little value i t French eyes because it is not the railway but the future economic and political existence of Djibouti itself which is endangered. Even the most rabid anti-sanctionists are beginning to discover that Signor Mussolini’s Abyssinian adventure concerns France more closely than ever they were prepared to admit. The Italian victory threatens French colonial communications, which cannot be ignored, as Djibouti is an important link between France, Irdo-China and Madagascar. Moreover, its maintenance cost to France is nothing as it lives on Ethiopian trade. Tips any interference with it, either by Italian monopolisation or prohibition of commercial relations between Abyssinia and sanctionist countries must be disastrous.