:

NEW DELHI

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force,” shut down the progres-
sive newspaper Patria and the
government paper La Nacion.

Street fighting resumed in
Santo Domingo and reactionary
forces seized several buildings
after fierce battles.

State of armed truce
: has existed for several
4" in the Dominican Re-
“broke down last week
“i Right-wing extremist
8, backed by U.S. troops
® “inter-American peace

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EWLY-WEDS are no longer exempted from conscription, the
States draft board announced in Washington. More cannon
’ !Sneeded in Vietnam . . . Overstrain on pilots in the terribly
© COnditions of fog is one of the questions which will be “care-
ked into” when an inquiry is held into the Vanguard air
4t London Airport in which 36 people died.
| Yu * > *
GOSLAVIA is seeking to expand her trade link with the
lon Uropean Common Market, COMECON .. . British Trades
; Congress is to send a delegation of six to the Soviet Union
the spring or autumn of next, year . . . Roman Catholic
. Was fined $15 at Brighton, England, for smacking a 15-year-

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| 8Y ROGER MILLISS
' DJIBOUTI

ee Avenue Albert-Ber-
rumble across. the
€nelik, their helmeted
Nders leaning nonchalant-
Mure the turrets in the best
Alte Corps tradition.
eg ggtem come three com-
Legionnaires, immacu-
passed in khaki tunics
keg (tS; with the famous
lity @PS, Chanting a rousing
‘teh ie as they slow-
4. -tOSs the square.

V
Mg C8dmiral is visiting the
\ Rath a show is demand-
. Derg Morning European
Sang Watch from their Sim-
ca Ve €vrolets and others,
Cafes Tenched in the foot-
' 8, gaze out impertur-
e they sip their pernod
Noir. A few handfuls of
Teact with rather less
Me WUBhing and chattering
‘ty; . “Mselves.

Ue
My sy diibouti, capital of the
je las hy of French Somali-
ata Telic in’ Africa of the
pic Nd French Empire, a
“Whack 4nd not-too-pleasant
tay, (© the fast vanish-
Sup nen the white man
Preme with a host of

: A 30 light tanks swing

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et UNITED NATIONS, 44 African and Asian nations tabled a

in the Trusteeship Committee calling on Britain to use
Necessary to bring Rhodesia to independence under African
By rule .. . In Brazil, President Branco dissolved all existing
sil parties and assumed dictatorial powers ... Texas Ku Klux
48 called a rally to back the Johnson administration’s policy
_ “ating in the Vietnam war.

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VEST GERMANS downed a record 1,074 million gallons of

" the first eight months of this year. .

r ietnamese have been picked up in the streets of Saigon
Months, accused of trying to dodge military service.

. . More than 8,000

Dominican Republic ©

Former President Juan Bosch,

who returned to the Dominican -

Republic last month from exile
in Puerto Rico, urged the “inter-
American peace force” to sup-
port the provisional govern-
ment’s demand that the army
ehiefs be ousted.

Santo Domingo is pock-mark-
ed with ugly ruins as a result
of the fighting last spring. Al-
though the barricades of sand-
bags have been removed in most
parts of the city, the zone con-
trolled by the Americans is still
a maze of barbed-wide entangle-
ments.

Under the protection of for-
eign troops, the reactionary

forces continue to arrest and -

persecute democratic elements,
especially the Constitutionalists.
They provoke exchange of fire,
shoot down peaceful demonstra-
tors.

Profiteering, careerism and
corruption were rife in the old
army. The Constitutionalists put
reform of the armed forces on
a healthier footing as a condi-
tion for realistic reunion. They
also demand the dismissal of the
officers most objectionable to
the people.

Another basic problem is res-
toration of normal economic
life. Of a population of 3,300,000,
about 400,000 are totally un-
employed. Sugar constitutes the
basis of the economy; the United
States buys most of it at a low
price in return for goods which
it sells to the Dominican Repub-
lic at very high prices.

omaliland—last of a mighty

native servants and houseboys
at his beck and call.

Some 80,000 people inhabit
this barren segment of the Red
Sea coast, carved out by France
during the division of Africa by
the great European powers in
the 1880's. Half of them are con-
centrated in Djibouti itself.

The few thousands Europeans
in Djibouti — mostly French
businessmen, Officials and gen-
darmes, in addition to the sol-
diers — have done their best to
make the town a home away
from home for themselves.

For the housewife, modern.

grocery stores offer a full range
of imported European food at in-
flated prices. But there’s never
an African among the custom-
ers, and only those fortunate
few who have picked up rela-
tively good jobs can be found
in the bistros, with none at all
in the exclusive bars and night-
clubs like the Cha Cha Cha and
the Palmerie and Zinc, where
you can enjoy your Johnny
Walker or Gordon’s Gin or Na-
poleon Brandy in pseudo-Pari-
sian dark lights and soft music.

“No segregation — you only
need money,” we were told. But
the astronomical Djibouti france

A view of one of the streets of Djakarta.

Indonesian Army
persecutes Left

President Sukarno’s appeal
for a halt to the persecution of
Communists in Indonesia is

_being ignored by the Rightwing

military forces which have seiz-
ed control of Djakarta and nfost
of the country.

Sukarno’s declaration that he
wants to maintain friendly re-
lations with China is also being
disregarded by the army gene-
rals.

An army-inspired demonstra-
tion last week demanded a break
in diplomatic relations with
China and complete suppression
of the Communist Party, which

is charged with following the .

Peking line.

In China, the Oct. 22 issue of
Peking Review devoted several
pages to a denunciation of In-
donesian army authorities. It
quoted a statement of the poli-
tical bureau of the Indonesian

7

seems one of the many things
the ordinary Somali goes with-
out. ‘

Only just off the Boulevard de
Gaulle is the other world of Ben-
der Djejid, the ‘‘native town’—
row after row of shanties put to-
gether from boxes and kerosene
tins. The household goats share
the one or two rooms of the
huts. In the market nearby, rag-
ged Somalis—a tall, handsome
and incredibly supple people—
sell dried skins and delicate
wood carvings.

There is practically no way
for the Somalis to improve their
living standards. After 80 years
of French rule there is no indus-
try, and there are only 4,300
school pupils. No attempt has
been made at any sort of deve-
lopment. Djibouti’s wealth
comes from bunkering and
supplying passing ships, and the
transport of goods by rail to
Ethiopia.

Little cultivation is possible
under existing conditions on the
arid soil, the grazing of goats
and cattle being the principal
form of agriculture. In Djibouti
itself, those who are not em-
ployed in the port or shops have
nothing. In the French quarter,

<

Communist Party which sup-
ported President Sukarno’s in-
structions on the settlement of
the question of the ~-Sept. 30
movement.

Sukarno had said: “No char-
ges should be made against one
another,” nor. should any at-
tempt be made “to deepen the
hatred of one side towards the
other. . . . A calm atmosphere
is needed.”

Should Sukarno fail to find a
political solution to the situa-
tion, the country is likely to go
through a prolonged period of
civil strife. Sukarno is immen-
sely popular with the people;
the army clique is not. Moslems
who have been stirred up by
the army generals to attack the
Communists and other progres-
sives are faced with the same
economic problems as the pea-
sants and workers they are per-
secuting. .

Empire

youngsters of eight and ten
wander around forlornly trying
to shine shoes. Beggars with
every imaginable type of defor-
mity ply through the cafes Jook-
ing for handouts.

One world for the French, and
another for those whose country
they have taken. But trouble’s
in the air: with the independent
Somali Republic next door, the
people of French Somaliland are
joining in the great march of-
Africa toward freedom.

“There are too many infiltra-
tors; you know—Communists,”
a shipping agent complained to
us in the local yacht club while
brightly colored fibreglass
speedboats bobbed up and down
at their moorings in the shallow
green sea. “But we can deal with
them.”

The 80,000 Somalis want their
freedom. And history is on their
side: there are some 35 indepen-
dent nations already in Africa
and imperialism’s days are num-
bered. Sooner or later—most
likely very soon—the historical
anachronism of French Somali-
land will be swept off the stage,
and it will take more than gen-
darmes, tanks and the hired
thugs of the Foreign Legion to
prevent it.

November 12, 1965—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 5