INSIDE ETHIOPIA

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 March 1941, Page 7

INSIDE ETHIOPIA

WORK OF BRITISH OFFICERS. ABYSSINIANS CLAIMING VICIOUS REVENGE ON ITALIANS. Somewhere in the Abyssinian mountains lies a scoop that makes the story-teller’s mouth water, states a writer in a South African paper. The Trojan Horse, the Scarlet Pimpernel, and Lawrence of Arabia were no more captivating than this remarkable talc of the British inside Ethiopia. Its disclosure now is a sign of the magnitude of the surreptitiously-fan-ned revolt. I don't think many people realise how fertile was the field upon which the daring band of British officers and N.C.O.'s had to work. In the Gojjam and Shoa areas guerillas have virtually been in control for years. Two years ago these bands, ranging from 500 tn 10,000, were said to possess between 500,000 and 600,000 rifles. Until lately one of the most serious guerilla incidents occurred in May, 1939, when native workers pressed into roadmaking gangs combined with soldiers and rebels and attacked Addas, some 40 miles south of Addis Ababa. The entire settlement of 42 men. women and children, including Italian officers, were killed and their houses burnt to the ground. Bitter warfare like this has been rampant ever since the Italian occupation. When the flare-up comes these British-trained Abyssinians will claim a vicious vengeance.