THE TRIPOLITAN WAR

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 204, 8 May 1912, Page 5

THE TRIPOLITAN WAR

GUERILLA WARFARE. By Cable—Press Association—Copyright. Received 8, 12.50 a.m. Constantinople, May 7. Heliographic reports state that the Italians gave Rhodes an hour to surrender. The Governor refused, and the Italians bombarded the town. Two thousand Turks on the hills are expected to conduct a guerilla w.-'.rfare. They are plentifully supplied with ammunition and provisions, and have abundance of spare rifles for arming the natives. ITALY'S FOE, THE SENUSSI. UNCONQUERABLE FANATICISM. London, March 23. What causes General Caneva, the chief commander of the Italian forces in Tripoli, the greatest perplexity and anxiety, and what seriously embarrasses his military operations (says a Constantinople correspondent) is the m3'sterious triDe of the Senussi. They are gathering now in thousands from their far-off centre on the basis of Kufra, in the Lybian Desert, from many another distant oasis of North Africa, from the Soudan, from Arabia, and from Egypt, to wage the Holy War against the detestable "Macaroni," polluting with their unholy bootclad feet the sacred territory of the Mahdis. And of all the innumerable Moslem sects and tribes, none can wage this Holy War with more passionate selfabnegation, with more terrible fanaticism and ferocity, than the Senussi. Many are the stories concerning this most extraordinary of Islamite brotherhoods. Some assert that they arc Freemasons with a constitution and rites very much resembling European Masonic fraternities. THE PASSWORD OF THE "ROSE." One thing seems to be perfectly certain. The Senussi symbolism of the I ''Rose," the secret password of the Mahdi's emissaries, has worked a veritable miracle. By means of it alone, the present Sheikh of the tribe, Sidi Ahmed ElMahdi, the grandson of the founder of the sect, was able, in a very short space of time, to gather, from distant parts, a ■formidable array of fanatical warriors, ready to face General Caneva's forces with all the crushing resolution of religious frenzy fighting for Allah and Islam. From an excellent source, I gather that the number of these warriors amounts to about 100.000 men at present. All of them are exceedingly well armed. Their ammunition is of a most modern type. Their leaders, or Sheikhs, possess about £2,000,000. It is the name of the "Rose" that keeps them together and infuses them with unswerving enthusiasm. It is the "Rose" that is influencing the whole of Tripoli. And it will be the "Rose," it is asserted by those who know, that will finally carry victory over the invading infidels. AMAZONS OF THE DESERT.

That remarkable Soudanese woman, herself a member of the Senussi sect, styled by the enthusiastic and grateful warriors "The Jeanne d'Arc of the Desert," with a lacerated left arm waving high in the air, and with fierce outcries of religious fanaticism, fired, the other day, the men of her tribe to an assault upon the strong entrenchments of the Italians. She accomplished the defeat of the numerically stronger enemy, in spite of the thunder of their cannon, only through the miracle, working mystery of the password of the "Rose." The political significance of the Senussi came into prominence when they began to light against the corrupt system of the old bureaucratic administration. This is one of the chief reasons why they were disliked by the former Sultan and could never obtain, during his regime, a firm footing in Constantinople if~"! f . Thuy are most enthusiastic champions in the cause of freedom and of enfranchisement from every form of despotism. The present Chief Sidi Ahmed El-Mahdi (Mahdi means "He who is led by Allah") is described as a very pious man, full of strength and courage. He has already fought, and very successfully, too, in many a difficult campaign . The fight in Tripoli will be hot and long, and the Italians will perhaps arrive at the melancholy conviction that between the proclamation of the annexation and the actual possession of Tripoli is a wide and insurmountable gulf.