Nevada State Journal, Mon, May 04, 1936 ·Page 2
Haile Selassie protected by France at Djibouti
King of Kings and 20 Others Flee From Addis Ababa
DJIBOUTI, French Somaliland, May 8-(UP)-Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, who arrived here this afternoon with members of his family, will sail tomorrow morning on the British destroyer Diana for Aden, Arabia.
Late reports reaching here said all of Ethiopia not held by Italians except Diredawa was in chaos with powerful chiefs fighting for control.
Italian troops reportedly have smashed through Ras Nasibu’s army on the southern front to occupy Jijiga.
Emperor Halle Selassie was beaten by his own countrymen and not by the Italians, Edward Beattie, United Press staff correspondent at Addis Ababa until recently, says in the following dispatch. Beattie served at the Ethiopian capital longer than any other American correspondent.
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DJIBOUTI, French Somaliland, May 8.-(U.P)-Emperor Haile Selassie and members of the imperial family of Ethiopia, accompanied by leading generals and government officials, arrived here today.
They fled by train from Addis Ababa yesterday.
Pending decision as to their future movements they are guests at the palace of the governor of French Somaliland.
BRITISH DESTROYER ARRIVES
Although the British destroyer Diana has arrived here it is not believed the vessel will be boarded by the emperor.
The emperor, Empress Menen, Crown Prince Asfa Wosan, Prince Makonnen and Princess Tesahai arrived at 2:15 p.m. after abandoning their capital at Addis Ababa to a reign of terror.
Arriving with the Emperor were Ras Kassa, former commander of an Ethiopian northern army, Foreign Minister Herouy and his wife, Ras Desta Demtu, son-in-law of the emperor whose troops were defeated in southern Ethiopia, and others.
MILITARY HONORS
The imperial party included 21 men, women and children.
Djibouti was filled with French troops, whites and colonials, when the emperor and his suite arrived. Drastic precautions were taken against demonstrations.
At the railway station full military honors were accorded the fugitive King of Kings.
An Italian photographer attempted to photograph the imperial family. He was attacked and beaten by Eth-iopian bystanders but there were no repercussions to the incident.
TRIP, WITHOUT FOOD
Automobiles placed at their disposal by the French Somaliland government conveyed the fugitives to the palace. They said that during the trip from Addis Ababa they were without food.
From the railway station to the palace long lines of troops pushed back thousands of curious, struggling for a view of the Ethiopian refugees.
The emperor and those accompanying him were worn and haggard.
“They are in misery.” people lining the streets cried as the motor-cars carrying the imperial family sped past.
“SAD AND WEARY”
Upon arrival at the governor’ palace the emperor went into seclusion. He was seen only by French officials. His majesty expressed a desire to sleep.
When he left his train the emperor stood between his two sons. The empress, following the negus and the princes, was heavily veiled.
French officials who saw the empress at the governor’s palace said that “she was sad-faced and weary.”
She, in her white robes, was silent.
So was the emperor.
His majesty shook hands with the French governor and his chief military aides.
CROWN PRINCE SUBDUED
The empress scarcely noticed the throngs watching the arrival of the family representing one of the few remaining of the world’s absolute monarchies.
The fugitive emperor and his empress walked slowly between the guards provided by an alien power – France, whose language they speak.
French Senégalese troops stood at attention with fixed bayonets.
The crown prince, who has been accused of readiness to cast his lot with the Italians and become the puppet ruler of Ethiopia, was as mild as goose milk in the presence of his imperial parents.
ONLOOKERS WEEP
He stood with the imperial party in burning French Somaliland sunshine while women in the crowd, women of all nationalities, broke down and wept.
Onlookers, there as a matter of curiosity, also wept.
But the emperor was stoical. He drove off to a bed in the palace of a friendly nation, as though he were proceeding to an audience from his own throne.
British Concerned by Haile’s Fate; Continuation of Sanctions Demanded
LONDON, May 3.-(U.P.)-Great Britain today entered into urgent consultations with France to discuss the fate of the fugitive emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie.
The British are vitally interested also, in holding together the League of Nations sanctionist front against Italy.
Foreign Minister Pierre-Etienne Flandin of France has been asked to consider preparations for the May 11 League council meeting, with British Foreign Secretady Anthony Eden.
The latest message from Sir Sidney Barton, British minister to Ethiopia, said the situation in Addis Ababa “is somewhat quieter.” After hours of pillage, fire and murder, he said, the city is being evacuated by the natives.
One British casualty has been reported. Barton has been advised that the Diana has arrived at Djibouti to aid in maintaining communication between the beleaguered British legation at Addis Ababa and the foreign office in Whitehall. It will also maintain communication for the British consul at Djibouti.
It is understood that during consultations with the French, Eden intimated that in his opinion the question of interning the king of kings will not arise. Not only because of the emporer’s rank but because he is a virtual ally of the League of Nations powers.
Barton informed the government that before fleeing Addis Ababa the emperor handed over the reins of government to his ministers. Thus, experts regard his act as tantamount to de facto abdication. However, officials consider that Haile Selassie has not yet formally abdicated.
Competent British quarters emphasized that the future destiny of the Negus depends not only on the French government but on his own wishes.
Unofficial but well informed sources denied that the Anglo-Franco consultations, proceeding both in Paris and London, so far have envisaged a tri-power conference, including Italy, “to give up Ethiopia’s corpse.”
The Ethiopian legation received no word from Addis Ababa today, but a spokesman reiterated the belief that Emperor Haile Selassie, after escorting the royal family to French Somaliland, will return to Ethiopia to establish a government seat elsewhere and continue to direct his troops.
Haile Selassie Beaten by His Own Countrymen, Says United Press Man; Every Effort at Progress Defeated
By EDWARD BEATTIE
NEW YORK, May 3-(UP)-Haile Selassie I, who took his last chance for freedom as the Italian pincers closed and revolt swept in from the west, failed as ruler of Ethiopia because he was too good for his country.
He has no European education like the young men he has yearly sent abroad to absorb civilized ideas and technique. His entire education came from an old French priest in Harar, where his father, Ras Makonnen, was governor during his boyhood.
MASS IGNORANCE
He himself supplied the vision, industry and moral courage which he pitted for years as regent and since 1930 in his own right against a weight of barbarism, cruelty, mass ignorance and indifference prevalent in feudal Ethiopia.
He was balked everywhere. When he tried to educate technicians abroad he was forced to do so out of his own pocket, because priests and advisors blocked spending public money on “Farengi civilization.”
When he brought the first air plane to Ethiopia during the reign of the Empress Zaouditu, it was shipped back to Djibouti posthaste because the priests convinced the empress man was not made to fly and the plane must therefore be the devil’s work.
PHONE WIRE STOLEN
When he tried to lay telephone lines the wires were stolen by natives to stick in their noses or ears ornaments. Grafting ministers sold to their own advantage the rifles and machine guns which he attempted to lay in against the Italian invasion he knew was coming.
His whole reign was a repitition of the same thing. With the exception of a half dozen young pro-worked and whose enthusiasm was offset by their ineptitude, no one in Ethiopia cared whether civilization progressed or not and at least 50 per cent of the powerful chiefs openly opposed it.
Haile Selassie knew war probably meant the end of him and his attempted progress. Even if he had held the Italians off and eventually gained peace, he was through as dictator. He had remained the supreme power, like all Ethiopian rulers because he “had the big guns,” in this case guns that would really shoot.
When war threatened he distributed them among his chiefs, many of them openly hostile to his program and others sympathetic to the old dynasty which considered him a usurper. If peace had come, he would probably have faced revolt.
FORCED TO TAKE FIELD
He was forced to refuse all concessions when peace efforts were made because to make them would have meant revolution in the north. Totally unfitted for military command, he was forced to take the field when he would have been much more effective at Addis, organizing supply and directing both fronts from a central point.
He knew that guerilla warfare was Ethiopia’s only chance – that through it he might make the war so expensive and long-drawn that Italy would be content with part, rather than all, of Ethiopia.
French Legation In Addis Ababa Attacked by Mobs
PARIS, May 3.-(U.P.) The French legation at Addis Ababa was attacked by rioting throngs of maddened Ethiopians today.
Hundreds of Italian prisoners of war, entrusted by Emperor Haile Selassie to the custody of the French pending the imminent Italian occupation, roused the lust for blood of thousands of Ethiopians to fever pitch.
TWO ATTACKS REPULSED
M. Bodard, French minister to the deserted Ethiopian court, reported that twice the handful of defenders at his legation repulsed two violent attacks by armed mobs.
Two foreigners were wounded.
Earlier two Armenians under French protection were killed and several injured in a similar attack.
Bodard reported that pillagers burned the French railway warehouses in Addis Ababa with losses totalling millions of francs.
Bodard’s messages, crackling over his legation radio station, caused grave concern in Paris.
France at once appealed to Premier Benito Mussolini to protect, foreigners in Addis Ababa.
Mussolini informed the Paris, London and other governments that Marshal Pietro Badoglio, Italian commander-in-chief in East Africa, has been ordered to hasten his entry into Addis Ababa to assure the safety of foreigners.
Bodard reported the urgent necessity of Italian help against bands of Ethiopian looters and disorganized, undisciplined soldiers.
1200 IN COMPOUND
He said the French legation compound in the terror-stricken city was giving refuge to 1200 French, Czechoslovakian and Spanish refugees. Mobs, Bodard wirelessed, were determined to demolish the capital before the Italians arrived.
Delayed messages from Bodard reported that he visited the emperer before the imperial family fled to Djibouti. The Negus asked that France insure his security upon arrival at the French port. Bodard pledged that such security would be given.
OPEN LINE IN LEGATION
Subsequently the diplomatic corps in Addis Ababa asked the emperor not to attempt the defense of his capital so as to avoid a battle which would risk the lives of foreigners.
Prior to his departure, the emporer turned hundreds of Italian prisoners of war over to Bodard’s custody. He asked him to deliver the prisoners to Badoglio.
In his messages to Paris Bodard appealed for news of Badoglio’s whereabouts. He reported soldiers and bandits opened fire on his legation as soon as they learned Italian prisoners were in Bodard’s custody
PALACE LOOTED
Bodard reported that pillagers sacked the Imperial palace after the guard had mowed down many with machine gun fire. Others burned the downtown section of the capital
The young Ethiopian political party sent a warning to Bodard that he might expect further attacks on the French legation Sunday night.
When bullets started falling inside the French compound Saturday Bodard ordered a state of siege. He armed the refugees under his protection and stationed them to hold the walls of the compound at all cost.
ARMENIANS KILLED
Women and children were placed in deep caves for safety. The caves were dug months ago for just such an emergency as now prevails.
In a message timed Saturday midnight, Addis Ababa time, Bodard said that stray bullets killed two Armenians seeking refuge at the French legation. Several refugees were injured.
Literally thousands of bullets struck the legation walls.
Several French railroad officials were cut off from the legation compound and took refuge in the railway station. They were surrounded by mobs trying to burn the depot.