April, 1936
Associated Press Photo, N. Y.
Emperor Haile Selassie's tiny air force would appear pathetic indeed in contrast to this dis p la y of Ita lia n a ir strength. This massing of Italian planes at the Campo di Ferrara aero drome at Rome was planned in preparation for a visit by the king. Mussolini has brought this branch of his mili tary strength to a high point of development, and his own two sons are members of the force.
VULTURES Instead of DOVES
in
B y GEORGE DEWEY gLOMGREN* Chicago, Illinois
T he rains in Ethiopia have ceased. The highlands are drying as did Mount Ararat after the flood. But instead o f the dove with the olive leaf, flocks of vultures and hawks are seen flying across the once muddy areas. They have no olive leaves— instead, deadly gas bombs— gas bombs that sear the skin, blind the eyes, and wreck the lungs, leaving the victim conscious until death relieves him. This has gone down in the record as Mussolini’s first con tribution to the new civilization he hopes to establish in Ethiopia. How I t A ll H appened September, 1934, brought rumors of trouble between the Italian Somaliland and Ethiopia. Mussolini stated at that time: “ Italy will not attack Abyssinia; but the Italian government is prepared for war if the attack comes from file other side.” The unmarked frontier along Somaliland provided the cause for hostilities. Since 1929 it seems that Italian troops have occupied a line o f wells centering at Walwal. Italy declares these are in Somaliland; Ethiopia, that they are in the middle province o f Ogaden. The maps published by Italy up to 1925 bear out the Ethiopian con tention, for they locate Walwal about sixty miles west of the Somaliland border. Italy now has published a map which omits the boundary line entirely. On November 23, 1934, an Anglo-Abyssinian Com mission reached Walwal. Its purpose was the demarcation o f the routes o f nomad tribes grazing their herds over the border from British Somaliland in the north. An escort of Abyssinian troops accompanied the Commission. At Wal wal there were about two hundred and fifty Italian soldiers established in an Italian fort about one mile out. The Italians refused to let the Commission proceed on its way. O f course, the British and Abyssinian Commissioners objected, and their escorts succeeded in pushing the Italians back without any serious fighting. Then the Abyssinian escorts remained at Walwal in order to avoid any appear ance o f retreat. *Foreign news correspondent at the Italy-Ethiopia Peace Conference, Geneva.
The Italian Commander addressed a series o f notes to the Abyssinian officer at Walwal. The notes were in creasingly rude and threatening in tone. Feeling ran rather high, and constantly so. On December 5, hostilities broke out. Each side brings accusation against the other for beginning the hostilities. Mussolini demanded apologies from the Governor of Harrar, a salute to the Italian flag at Walwal, and $100,000 compensation for the dead and wounded. Naturally, the Ethiopian government would not meet these demands. First, it refused because it could not admit that the Ethiopians had been the aggressors; and second, to salute the Italian flag at Walwal would be to admit that the place was in Italian territory. Mussolini has continued his demands, all of the time making additional military prep arations. When the rainfall ceased and Emperor Haile Selassie saw the black specks in the air, which rapidly assumed the shape o f vultures, greedily looking for what the mud might contain after the deluge, he said to his bewildered people, “ It is better to die free than to live as slaves! Young and old, unite to face the invader! Your sovereign will be among you. He will not hesitate to shed his blood, if needs be, for Ethiopia and her independence. God will defend the just cause of our country!” W e wonder whether Mussolini realizes he is fighting other forces than the Ethiopians themselves. The sentiment of the world and the hosts o f heaven are against him ; but he persists in his purpose. Whatever may be the motives with which a government enters a war, war in itself is such a hellish and destructive force that it has a way o f pervert ing the ends for which it was undertaken. Time spent in prayer for suffering Ethiopia at this trying hour will be time well invested. Isaiah 6 4 :1 contains a prayer— an appeal to God to appear in His might—which is especially fitting at this time: “ Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence.”
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