I am attaching two historical declassified secret documents from the Council of Foreign Ministers — the body established after WWII to make major political decisions — that reveal the earliest stages of Haile Selassie’s effort to absorb
#Eritrea. The first document is an internal memorandum sent to the U.S. Secretary of State on 10 April 1946, outlining discussions between the State Department and Aklilu Habtewold (
#Ethiopia’s Vice Foreign Minister). The second is the Peace Treaty with
#Italy, specifically the section dealing with the disposition of
#Italy’s former colonies 30th April 1946 in Paris.
As a result of the January 1946 meeting between Aklilu Habtewold and Assistant Secretary of State Dunn — together with Haile Selassie’s earlier and highly influential meeting with President Franklin D. Roosevelt in February 1945 in Egypt — the decision on Eritrea’s independence was postponed. Another striking detail is that Haile Selassie blatantly misled the Council of Foreign Ministers by claiming that Italian
#Somaliland had always been part of
#Ethiopia, invoking supposed historical ties, geographic “naturalness,” ancient
#Ethiopian–
#Somali interactions, imperial expansion narratives, and strategic ambitions for Indian Ocean access.
[First Document]
April 11, 1946, from
#London, Assistant Secretary of State Dunn reported on his conversation with Ethiopian Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Ato Aklilou Abte Wold in London on January 25, 1946. Vice Minister Aklilou wished to ascertain when it might be possible for the Ethiopians to present their case to the Council of Foreign Ministers. He brought up particularly the Ethiopian Government’s interest in the future disposition of Eritrea and its request for the incorporation of that territory into Ethiopia. Dunn assured Aklilou that full consideration would be given to any requests that the Ethiopian Government might wish to make.
The second document is very important, since it is the first time the Council of Foreign Ministers discussed officially in Paris on the 30th April 1946 the disposition of Italian Colonies
(1)Italy shall renounce her Sovereignty over all her colonies.
(2)
#Libya, which comprises, Cyrenaica and Tripolitania, shall be created as an independent State. Consultations shall take place with the representatives of the inhabitants for the establishment of a constitution and consideration of the necessary steps to assist the new State in establishing her administration. Provision should be made for a special régime to safeguard minorities.
(3)Red Sea Colonies.
(a)Eritrea. It having been brought to the notice of the Foreign Ministers that Ethiopia is making claim to Eritrea, it is suggested that the Ethiopian Government should be heard before a final decision on the future of Eritrea is taken.
(b)Italian Somaliland. There should be a study by the Deputies as to the possibility of the creation of a new territory to be known as United
#Somalia, consisting of British Somaliland, Italian Somaliland, the Ogaden, the Reserved Areas, the last two now being under the sovereignty of Ethiopia, in order to provide an economic and ethnic unit in the interests of the people. Should there be agreement on this proposal, the United Kingdom should be given the trusteeship for United Somalia, (i) on the grounds that the area was liberated by British Commonwealth Forces, and (ii) since the United Kingdom would be voluntarily placing the protectorate of British Somaliland under the trusteeship system in the interests of the wider area. If, after investigation agreement was not reached on this scheme, the British offer would be withdrawn.
Paris, 29 April 1946.