South African Concern At Korean Problem

Wanganui Chronicle, 22 December 1950, Page 5

South African Concern At Korean Problem

LONDON, Dec. 21 (Rec. 11.45 pm). -—Summing up the reaction in South Africa to Korean developments, the “Daily Telegraph’s" special correspondent in Capetown says the Government is determined to do all it can to prevent the spread of the war beyond the Korean peninsula. ‘‘However much the Government and people may resent what they consider United Nations interference in questions of the Union’s attitude to her Ihdian population and her relations with South-West Africa, it is to the United Nations that South Africa is looking in the present crisis for a way that will avoid a world war,” he says.

After recalling that early in August the Union Government decided to send a fighter squadron to Korea and that squadron is already in action with United States and Australian airmen, the correspondent adds: “The Prime Minister, Dr. Malan, has made it clear that the present squadron is only a token force, that South Africa’s main military responsibility in the event of a world conflict would be in Africa. Hencce its inability to give military aid on a large scale in areas remote from the Union.” “At the same time the Government is placing the country more and more in a state of preparedness should the conflict spread. It has approved the establishment of an ordnance factory to serve as a nucleus for the production of diverse war requirements as well as the appointment of a director-general of war supplies. Newspapers daily carry advertisements appealing to young South African air force and other branches of the Union's defences. A big recruiting drive is going on for an active citizen force, equivalent to Britain’s territorials, while a rifle commando organisation, composed mostly of rural manpower, is being trained for internal security, leaving the active citizen force free for use in a combat area.

While political diversions on domestic issues remain as sharp and acrimonious as ever, there is broad general agreement between the two main parties that whatever the Union ean do towards stemming the Communist tide, wherever it may flow, should be done."