FRENCH WEST AFRICA

Taranaki Daily News, 25 September 1940, Page 6

FRENCH WEST AFRICA

The position in French West Africa is still obscure. Apparently General de Gaulle visited Dakar, the chief port and naval station of the French possessions in West Africa, in the hope of rallying the inhabitants to the cause of free France. It is - known that he received support by the British navy and that there has been fighting. The result of the engagement has been the withdrawal of the force landed by General de Gaulle. It is considered at London that the resistance to General de Gaulle's mission is due to pressure by the Vichy Government of France, acting, of course, under orders from Berlin. One factor in the struggle at Dakar resembles so closely the shifty Nazi methods in dealing with international relationships as to make it clear that the Government of France is but a puppet administration controlled by a German master. * * * # A few days ago it was announced that six French warships had left Toulon, obviously by permission of Germany, and had been allowed by the British authorities to sail through the Straits of Gibraltar. There were various conjectures as to the destination of the warships, one of them being that they were bound for Indo-China to stiffen the sovereignty of France in her Far Eastern colony. It now appears probable that the transfer of the warships to Dakar was to strengthen the efforts of the Vichy Government to prevent French West Africa from following the example of French Equatorial Africa by joining the movement headed by General de Gaulle. Apparently the presence of the warships has had the effect desired at Berlin, and therefore at Vichy. The knowledge that the warships were stationed at Dakar may have occasioned the assistance accorded to General de Gaulle by the Royal Navy, for it can have no desire to add supervision of a powerful section of a hostile French fleet in the Atlantic to the onerous demands already being made upon tha navy's rourage, endurance and efficiency. The tragedy •. is that Frenchmen should be forced to fight against their own countrymen and their former ally whose desire is that France shall once more be freed from German tyranny. * # # * The port of Dakar is a weli fortified naval station. Under Nazi control it could and would prove an excellent station from which German 'and Italian submarines could harass British shipping. Dakar is also the terminus of several airline services of which two of the most important are north to Morocco and east to Sudan. ; They traverse the desert, are well organised and have simplified considerably the administration of the huge French colonies in northern and western Africa. If French West Africa can be cajoled or cowed into continuing to obey the rulings of the Vichy Government there is less likelihood of Morocco taking up arms on behalf of a free France. On the other hand control of the port of Dakar by an active ally would be of considerable assistance to Great Britain. Even if that cannot be achieved in the meantime it is clear from the few reports that have come to hand that Britain is determined to prevent German domination of the port, either by direct action or by putting pressure upon the unhappy Government of France. Britain's action at Dakar is said to be welcomed unofficially by high authorities in the United States. Nor is this surprisir.g. Since the aeroplane "eliminated distance" Dakar is nearer the coast of Brazil than any naval or air base controlled by the United States, a fact that was emphasised by President Roosevelt in his recent efforts to increase American defences. On both sides of the Atlantic therefore the struggle at the West African port will be watched with keenest interest. It may well open a new chapter in the conflict between .freedom and tyranny.