The Wanganui Chronicle. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1945. TANGIER

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 89, Issue 214, 10 September 1945, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1945. TANGIER

r yAXGIER is apparently destined to continue to be a bone ol contention among- the nations. In the next attempt at settlement of this long-standing problem General Franco may not be given a place. This does not exclude another Spanish Government, of a different complexion from being accorded a seat at a conference table. Meanwhile General Franco is faced with the demand that Spanish troops shall be withdrawn from Tangier pending’ a settlement on some future occasion. True to his policy of accommodation these troops have been withdrawn. Tangier’s history is long, checkered and disappointing. It has been held by the Romans, the Vandals, the Byzantines, the Arabs, the English, the Spanish and the Portuguese! It, has been held by the Moors, raided by Raizuli, a local prince, bombarded by the French and coveted by the Germans.

The population to-day is mostly Moslem, with 11,000 Europeans. of whom 9000 arc Spaniards. The trade, however, is dominantly French, which makes General Charles de Gaulle very much concerned with the freedom of this port to-day. lie lias not been satisfied witli the Spanish seizure oi power at a time when his country was too heavily engaged elsewhere to permit of France interfering. Now the wheel has swung again: France has friends and Franco is alone in an unsympathetic world..

The unsatisfactory state of Tangier and the many interests which meet there made it. necessary in 1912 for an international committee to be set up to govern the town and see to the adminitration of the port, which could and should be a trading centre of great importance. France had declared itself the Protects:; Power of Morocco and the Sultan had accepted its protection. Tangier was excepted from this and Great Britain, France and Spain met to conclude a convention governing the city. By tin time the war of 1914 broke out. however, a settlement qf the convention had not been reached and Spain refused to sign, preferring to wait until the outcome of the war should be discernible. The subject thin went into abeyance until 1923, when an international fori 1 of Government was decided on. Spain agreeing. At th. conference of 1928 the French and Spanish Governments arrived at an agreement on the redistribution of their respective repre sentation in the International Administration, and Italy consented to recognise the Convention of 1923. a step she had hitherto refused to take. The Belgians, who had been previously given Ili< authority io organise the gendarmerie, were given instead a judge ship on the Mixed Court. Minor changes in other directions were made, but despite I lie revision no great movement followed in lhe administration of the zone.

When war broke out in 1939 the German and Italian population of Tangier underwent a marked change. Situated on the opposite side of the Strait to Gibraltar, it provided a position of advantage from which espionage and intelligence work could be conducted. When conditions for the United Nations became per. plcxing General Franco showed his “neutrality” by seizing the International Zone and placing it under the protection of a Spanish garrison. Early , this year General Uriarte left Tangier and in new military governor was appointed.in his place. As the military Governor had no legal status Powers which recognised the Inter national Convention disliked dealing with him. On his disappear ancc the Consulate-General became the operative body for tin Spanish Government. This modification of the occupation, how ever, did not satisfy France, despite the expulsion of all Germa, agents from the eitv.

The Powers interested in Tangier now include the Unite. States of America and Russia. The former lias large investment in file oilfields of Persia and Arabia, and exploration rights in Ethiopia, while Russia expects to have greater interest, in th. Mediterranean following a rearrangement concerning the transit of shipping through the Bosphorus. In this new set-up respectin’ the Mediterranean Spain’s position is likely to suffer a severe re verse. She was not invited to the conference whereat the domain for the withdrawal of her troops was formulated, nor is there am promise as to when the next conference is to lie called to setlb the new Convention. Spain's military position is now bad am’ her bargaining position is even worse. Whether a new Governmeir in Spain would fare better than the Franco regime is a matter foi conjecture at the moment: the chances are that it. would do so seeing that Franco’s hostility t(5 everyone save Hiller and Musso lini was too pronounced for his fate to be a matter for concern In any self-respecting organisation or State to-day. His passing from the scene would probably cause no regrets, save perhaps in Dublin, where there is a disposition to mourn the deaths of dictators.