Our thanks to Jerry Pry for providing this document.
| EXTRACT ********** Special from the Chicago Daily News Foreign Service By GEORGE WELLER |
BLACK MARKET RING BROKEN AT U.S. POST IN ERITRIA |
| BAGHDAD, IRAQ(June 5, 1951)___ The criminal investigation
department of the United States army has up-rooted the last of the small
ring of black marketeers and thieves in the American post at Asmara,
Eritria. The post is one of the most isolated in the world, located in the high country above the Red Sea, a colony lost by Italy and soon to be presented to Ethiopia. There is a valuable air- field, commanding the trans-African approach to the Arabian oil fields. The army runs a combined radio relay station and monitoring post. Good deportment and morale are important here, not only in themselves, but because the Soviet embassy in Addis Ababa recently enlarged in personnel, is doing its utmost to tear down American influence in this important area. The officers in charge until recently were unable to explain the steady disappearance of valuable equipment, including radio apparatus,jeeps and various upkeep machinery. When steamrollers began to disappear, Washington became suspicious. The ensuing investigation resulted in the removal of the colonel in command and several officers, followed by lacing of the altered officer personnel with several army detectives. The cleanup has been extended to the mild night life of Asmara, where the "House of Mirrors" a bawdy house has been closed by the British military authorities who will soon tender Eritrea to the Ethiopians. |