Evening star., 1943-01-01
Under the Lid in Africa


Any undue complacency here re-
garding the situation in North Africa
should be effectually dispelled by
two current statements of an unim-
peachably authoritative character.
The first of these is the impromptu
press conference called by the new
French High Commissioner, General
Henri Honore Giraud. The second
is similar conference in Washing
ton given by Milton S. Eisenhower,
associate director of owl. When
pieced together, those statements
present a picture of conditions in
French North Africa that is far from
reassuring.
General Giraud sent out his hasty
call to newspaper and radio cor
respondents when sensational rumors
spread through Algiers regarding
a batch Of arrests of prominent
French officials by his order.
But the generals remarks were
equally sensational. He disclosed
that among the dozen men arrested
were some of my best friends" at
least two among them being persons
who aided the Allied landings in
North Africa. The arrests were
made in order to forestall further
assassinations," aimed at the gen.
eral himself, Robert Murphy our
own Minister, and others. Four of
the arrested persons were police Of
ficers who knew Darlan was going
to be murdered and did not warn
their superiors." The crime was
thus, not the isolated act of
fanatic, but the climax of a pre-
meditated plot, presumably with con-
siderable ramif1cations. As Giraud
put it.: II would like to believe the
murder was the work OF lunatic,
but such is not the case"
The most extraordinary part of
Giraud's statement is his attitude
toward the arrested officials. The
normal procedure would seem to be
their prompt indictment and trial
for murderous and reasonable con-
spiracy. Yet the High Commissioner
describes the arrests as preventive
measures" taken to forestall "a re-
currence of such tragic events as the
one week ago." and those arrested
are "only put in shelter" the aim
being to prevent rather than
punish Coming from a professional
soldier and strict disciplinarian like
Giraud, the logical inference from
such amazing leniency is that he
dare not proceed to extreme meas
ures, at least for the moment. That,
in turn, implies widespread disaffec-
ton in official circles, including the
colonial army, which Giraud de-
scribes as fighting against the Axis
in Tunisia without modern equip
ment. Speaking very seriously"
about that campaign, Giraud says
that his soldiers must not be led by
those who have plans other than
fighting a war What I want above
all is to avoid involving people who
fight we'll with those people who
excite passions"
This disturbing picture, so full of
reticences and implications is ampli-
fled and confirmed by Mr.. Eisen-
hover, brother of our commanding
general, who has just returned to
Washington from a special mission
to North Africa. He disclaimed much
knowledge about Darlan's assassina-
ton, which had been left entirely
to the local French authorities. But
he. went on to stress the destitution
of the population in North Africa,
drained of everything by the Axis,
and in such dire straits that he pre-
dicted serious trouble" by February
l unless large shipments of food,
clothing, and other necessaries ar
rived there at once. Disturbances
among the general population
might seriously hamper military
operations" This fits in with re-
cent dispatches that Axis agents are
very active in French North Africa
and that the Axis authorities in
their occupied part of Tunisia are
distributing food and clothing taken
| from French storehouses to the
Arab population.
All this shows the difficulties and
complexities of the Allied enter
prise in North Africa. While there
seems to be no cause for alarm, a
| big iah nhvinuslv lies ahead both on