Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - March 27, 1975, Winnipeg, Manitoba 14 Winnipeg free press thursday March 27, 1975 rumours of Oil push neighbors to Brink of War Jibo upper Volta a rumours of Oil and a Muddy trickle of even More valuable water have pushed two of the poorest countries on Earth to the Point of shooting at each other in a dispute Over a Sandy no Man s land uninhabitable most of the year. Angrily arrayed against each other in a drought desolated Corner of West Africa just below the Sahara Are Mali and upper Volta which Between them have Berely enough Mili tary hardware to open a War museum Mali s military might numbers men seven aging Mig fighters of which one recently crashed and Only two others have Ever been seen off the ground and 10 soviet and chinese m-34 tanks usually out of fuel. Upper Volta which levied no extra tax when thousands of its people were dying in these Ven year drought has called for one month s salary As a patriotic contribution to expand its Force but still has Only enough funds to train 50 recruits for three months at a time. It has a few Dilapi dated trucks mounted with Bren guns no tanks one Heli copter which lately crashed while spraying against River blindness and five Small cargo planes two of which Are up for Sale. Both have a population of 4.5 million. At Issue is a 100-mile wind ing stretch of the Beli River 12 Miles North of this Dusty Garrison town which even in the Rainy season holds scarcely enough water to cover the local Hippo Tamus Herd but which for centuries has been the watering Point for the tuareg and other nomadic desert Peoples. Mali dug in with its troops along a wide front and occupy ing four villages says its Border should run six to 10 Miles South of the River not As the present maps show about the same distance above it. Just before Christmas the water dispute twice flared into shooting and upper Volta which since Independence in 1960 has been so dedicated to development it never requested arms from anyone buried its first casualty Ever of hostile action. An uneasy truce marked by occasional arrests of spies and confiscating vehicles at the Border prevails while an arbitration commission chaired by Togo and including Guinea niger and Senegal attempts a solution. Meanwhile Mali shows no signs of withdrawing its troops. The dispute dated to colonial Days when the governor of Sudan asked the French to re locate upper Volta further South to keep tax evaders from scooting across the River. Created As late As 1919, upper Volla once disappeared completely in its Brief history Dur ing another colonial reshuffle. The Long Moi Wenng dispute moved toward open hostilities in september at a hint from upper Volta that unless the Boundary was settled soon the right of malian herdsmen to use the River might end at any moment. Angered at this thread to their watering holes traditionally inviolate through Mau sent in troops. Students clamouring for War demonstrated in Ouagadougou the sleepy upper Volta capital where even now life is so Dull that nearly the whole town turns out in the Middle of the night to watch a Jet land at the Airport. To h e people have barely enough to live How can they afford to kill each asked a native priest distributing coins to the lepers begging in the Shade of Ouagadougou s roman Catholic Cathedral. Time is not on our Side. This must be settled before the August said maj. Alou Drogo the paratrooper who commands the North sector which recently was reinforced with two battalions or half the entire army. He reported the malian have built two pow Erful bases on their Side of the River in the last two years. Although remaining out of the disputed area while arbitration continues upper Volta is frantically and so far unsuccessfully seeking arms around the world. The new military held Here at Jibo is evidence of its new mood. West african diplomats ask Why the decades old Boundary dispute now should erupt so violently. Rumours Are Rifle on both sides of the River that the americans or the French have struck Oil or that the chinese and russians have located Large manganese deposits. Still As the frayed upholstery and the almost devoured curtains in the major s Frontier Headquarters attest the largest and most powerful army any where around belongs to the to c u s t s that survived seven years of drought in the Sahel arabic for Edge of the and now Are hungrier than Ever ministers urged to resign London Reuter opposition members of Parlia ment have called on seven British Cabinet ministers to re sign following their decision to against the govern in e n t s majority recommendation to stay in the common Market. Eighty four conservative motion wednesday night which maps and two liberals signed a highlights the problems faced son in his decision to suspend collective Cabinet responsibility Over the common Market Issue. Wilson s decision a rare de parture from parliamentary practice allows Cabinet ministers to argue publicly against continued membership in the common Market. The motion called on Cabinet include Industry Secretary Tony Benn employment Secretary Michael foot end Trade Secre tary Peter take the path that constitutional Propri Ety courage and Honor re the ministers have been joined by almost 130 parliamentary colleagues from the labor party in their bid to per Suade the British Public to vote no to continued membership of the common Market in a National referendum in june. Man loses Battle Over dogs new York a an elderly Man has lost a court Battle to keep 34 dogs in his one room Manhattan studio apartment. Frank Brewer 72, had charged that the society for the prevention of cruelty to animals violated his rights by taking the pets from his ll-by-13 foot West Side apart ment. Police had asked the Asp a to collect the dogs following complaints from neighbors. Manhattan supreme court Justice Nathaniel h e 1 m a n dismissed Brewer s suit tuesday. He ruled that the dogs were not receiving the proper food or exercise in the apartment. 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