TheAnglo-Ethiopian Agreement was a joint effort betweenEthiopia and theUnited Kingdom at reestablishing Ethiopian independentstatehood following theousting of Italian troops by combinedBritish andEthiopian forces in 1941 during theSecond World War.
There was a priorAnglo-Ethiopian Agreement signed in 1897. This convention involvedMenelik II and it largely dealt with the boundary betweenHararghe (Ethiopia) andBritish Somaliland.
After the return of Ethiopian emperorHaile Selassie to the throne, an interim Anglo-Ethiopian agreement was signed 31 January 1942 between the two governments; Major General SirPhilip Euen Mitchell, Chief Political Officer of the East African British Forces High Command signed on behalf of the United Kingdom.[1] Britain sent civil advisers to assist Selassie with administrative duties and also provide him with military advisors to maintain internal security and to improve and modernize the Ethiopian army. The terms of this agreement confirmed Ethiopia's status as a sovereign state, although theOgaden region, the border regions withFrench Somaliland (known as the "Reserved Areas" orHaud ), theAddis Ababa-Djibouti railroad, and theHaud, would remain temporarily under British control. The British also assumed control over currency and foreign exchange as well as imports and exports.[2] Whilst it reconfirmed aspects of the Tripartite Agreement of 1906 and the Klobukowski Agreement of 1908, it also took steps to reverse, for example, the immunity the 1908 agreement afforded to all foreigners from Ethiopian laws, albeit whilst stipulating that the trial of any case brought against a foreigner be presided over by a British judge.[3] Lastly, the agreement contained a clause which permitted the Ethiopians to end the agreement by giving three-months' notice.
The Ethiopians soon found the implementation of this agreement intolerable, although they found it a slight improvement over the prior relationship, in which Ethiopia was treated as an occupied enemy nation. Haile Selassie described one aspect of the prior relationship, "they took all the military equipment captured in Our country... openly and boldly saying that it should not be left for the service of blacks."[4] Another point of contention was British control of Ethiopia's banking and finance, which required allletters of credit to be opened inAden and required all exports to be cleared through that port, yielding an official profit margin of 9-11%; in addition, all dollars earned by exports to theUnited States were required to be automatically converted to thepound sterling.[5] The Emperor and his ministers soon began to direct their efforts to three specific points: a new treaty to replace this one; a new currency to replace theEast African Shilling which had been imposed on Ethiopia as part of the agreement; and a source for military aid which would ensure Ethiopia would no longer depend on the British.[6]
A British-trained police force eventually replaced the former police who were in the service of localprovincial governors. There were two revolts during this time: theWoyane rebellion in easternTigray Province, which was suppressed with the assistance ofBritish air support; and the other in the Ogaden which was put down by two battalions of Ethiopian forces.[2]
British Military Administration in Ogaden and Haud | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1941–1955 | |||||||||
 Flag | |||||||||
| Status |
| ||||||||
| Capital | Kebri Dahar | ||||||||
| Common languages | Somali | ||||||||
| Historical era | World War II • Cold War | ||||||||
| March 1941 | |||||||||
• Ogaden relinquished | 23 September 1948 | ||||||||
• Haud relinquished | 28 February 1955 | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of | Ethiopia | ||||||||
The British Military Administration in Ogaden, or simplyBritish Ogaden, was the period of British Military Administration from 1941 until 1955. The British came to controlOgaden, and later onlyHaud, in the aftermath of the East African Campaign in 1941.[7] The British intention was to unite British Ogaden withtheir colony in Somaliland and theformer Italian colony of Somaliland, creating a single polity. This policy was in particular voiced by BritishForeign SecretaryErnest Bevin. However, during the British administration period Haile Selassie had made several territorial demands, and while his demands for the annexation of formerItalian Somaliland might have been a bargaining tactic, he was serious about the return of Ethiopian territories in the Ogaden and the annexation ofEritrea. These requests were ignored by the British, who favoured a separate Eritrean entity, and aGreater Somalia. However, after continued Ethiopian deliberations and pressure from theUnited States, this policy was abandoned.[8][9][10]
The process of reversing the effects of World War II on Ethiopia did not completely end until 1955, when Ethiopia was restored to its internationally recognised borders of 1935, from before the Italian invasion. The British ceded Ogaden to Ethiopia in 1948, with the remaining British control over Haud being relinquished in 1955.[11] After the decision to cede Ogaden to Ethiopia became public there were numerous calls, as well as violent insurgencies, intended to reverse this decision. The movement to gain self-determination from Addis Ababa has continued into the 21st century.[12]
Despite Ethiopian distaste for the agreement, both the Emperor and his innermost group of ministers were reluctant to actually submit the notice required to end the agreement. A set of proposals for a new agreement submitted to the British at the beginning of 1944 was summarily rejected. As John Spencer, an American advisor to Ethiopia in international law during this period, explains, "They feared retaliation in the form of a re-occupation of the province ofTigré, south of Eritrea, and ofSidamo andGemu Gofa bordering onKenya, and just possibly other areas in the west such as the provinces ofWollega andIllubabor. These fears were the subject of endless discussions with me."[13] In the end, Ethiopian officials overcame their trepidation and had the three-month notice of termination delivered to the British chargé d'affaires 25 May 1944 along with a request for the prompt negotiations of a new agreement. By this time, the United States had not only re-establishedits diplomatic mission in Ethiopia, but declared the country eligible forLend-Lease, providing a vital boost to Ethiopian officials in their negotiation with the United Kingdom.[14]
The initial British response was silence. Only after the Ethiopian government reminded them of the expiry of the agreement 16 August and that they were looking forward to receiving possession of the railway and administration of theHaud and Reserved Area, did the British respond. Initially the British attempted to delay the termination of the agreement, claiming it could not accommodate the Ethiopian demands, and settled for a two-month extension for the date to hand the properties over. A negotiating team led by theEarl de la Warr arrived 26 September, and over the following months both sides argued until 19 December 1944, when a new Anglo-Ethiopian agreement was signed and Britain agreed to relinquish several advantages they had enjoyed in Ethiopia.[15] Specifically Britain would remove hergarrisons, except from the Ogaden; open Ethiopia's airfields (heretofore restricted to British traffic) to all Allied aircraft; and give up direct control of the Ethiopian section of theAddis Ababa-Djibouti railroad.[16] The new agreement also revoked British precedence over other foreign representatives.[17] However, perhaps more important was the usage of the word "ally" in the agreement. Not only did this remove any further basis for considering Ethiopia "enemy territory"—as General Mitchell had claimed—but it also prevented the possibility Ethiopia from being denied a seat at thefuture peace conference, which happened in 1947.[11]
