GROWING UNREST

Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 September 1940, Page 5

GROWING UNREST

IN FRENCH AFRICAN COLONIES SWING TO DE GAULLE. SITUATION IN SYRIA NEARING CLIMAX. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, September 22. A message from Vichy states that an official spokesman admitted that as a result of de Gaulle movements incidents were occurring practically throughout French Africa. The unrest was intense in Syria, Dahomey, and the French mandated territory of Togoiand, and it was expected that the two last-named West African colonies would join General de Gaulle. The Cairo correspondent of the “Daily Express” says that General broken army is becoming smaller daily as Syrian troops are refusing to' participate in the surrender and disappear into the desert, taking with them the equipment that Italy is trying to obtain. There is a strong movement to revive the ancient plan to link the Iraki and Syrian Arabs. Iraq called up a new army class last week and great diplomatic activity has been observed in Baghdad. The Cairo correspondent of the “Daily Mail” says that the situation in Syria appears to be nearing a*climax. Tempers in Syria and the adjoining French-controlled republic of Lebanon are boiling up as the ' Italian Disarmament Commission flits about the country carrying on strange backstairs negotiations with the French. The Italians are shunning publicity because of the open hostility . of all sects, and the members of the commission have employed a bodyguard of huge Senegalese since one member was assaulted. The Syrians are convinced that the Italians want first to seize the air bases and then take over the administration

of the country. The Syrians and Lebanese are turning to Iraq as a possible saviour, and Iraq has already formally protested to Vichy and requested the restoration of constitutional government. There is a growing inflationary trend in the note issue of the Syrian State Bank and prices are rising rapidly.