TURCO=ITALIAN WAR.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1403, 1 April 1912, Page 5

TURCO=ITALIAN WAR.

SENUSSI WSLL TAKE NO PART. By Tclegraph-l'rose Afisocinlioh-Cupyrisht. (Hoc. March 31, 5.5 p.m.) Cairo, March HO. The Sheikhs of the El Senussi, the fanatical Mohammedan s?ct in Central Africa, decline to organise a general movement against the Italians. It is stated that the Turks and Arabs in Tripoli have ample food, but are short of ammunition. .Air. C. W. Furlong in his interesting liiiolr, "The Uiitc-way tu the Sahara." writes of tlie Seinissi as the most powertnl and fanatical sect in Islam. Threequarters of n eenturv ago this fraternity was founded b.vn sheikh of that name who had for his object the purifying of Modernism anil the extermination of ' the infidel." Tripoli and Benghazi were at one time the centres of its field of operations, but now Wadai, in the Central Sudan, is its headquarters. "The Semissi, as fav as I know," lie continues, "wear nothing by which they may be distinguished, as do many of tho other Mαhommedan sects, and every member is sworn to secrecy. Its' influence is so powerful, yet so intangible, that it is a. cliflicult influence for the invading Christian' nations to deal with, as France has found to her cost. To the' Semissi lias boen attributed the cause, of some of tho most violent uprisings and oppositions against tho invasion of the French in the Sahara. Not only the Asgars, but the Kelowia are strong adherents of this sect, particularly those residing in Air and Ghat."