Sylvia Pankhurst: Citizen of the World

Her Struggle against Colonial Aggression in Ethiopia

Emperor Haile Selassie, Sylvia E. Pankhurst

And the Ethiopian Independence By Berihun Assfaw (Toronto, Canada)

PART ONE

“You will share my joy at re-entering my capital. Your unceasing efforts and support in the just cause of Ethiopia will never be forgotten by myself or my people”. (Cable from Emperor Haile Selassie to Sylvia Pankhurst, 17

May 1941).

“Comrade Sylvia Pankhurst represents the interests of hundreds upon hundreds of millions of people that are oppressed by the British and other

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capitalists. This is why she is subjected to a white terror….has been deprived of liberty etc. Vladimir Lenin, 1920.

“I would like to be remembered as a citizen of the world”. Sylvia Pankhurst

notes on “How I would be remembered.6

The quotations are from the book, Sylvia Pankhurst A Crusading Life 1882-1960, By Shirley Harrison, pages 249, 195,267

Sylvia Pankhurst struggled not only for the British women, but also, for women in the rest of the world, including Ethiopia. It was because of the struggle of Pankhurst and others like her that hundreds of thousands of women throughout the world have now reached leadership positions in every level of society.

A model of the statue of Pankhurst

to be erected in London, England in front

of the Parliament Buildings.

Because of this the women of Britain are in the process of erecting a statue for Sylvia Pankhurst, who died and was buried in Addis Ababa. The British have already made a film. Even if we Ethiopians are unable to erect a statue and make a film for Sylvia Pankhurst we should be aware of all she did for Ethiopia during the Italian occupation of our country. Sylvia Pankhurst did more for Ethiopian independence than anybody except the “AREBEGNOCH”. It is for this reason that I present this short historical narrative of the great English-Ethiopian Lady.

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Pankhurst fought for the independence of Ethiopia, against Signor Mussolini, in the political and diplomatic fronts in Britain, Europe, Africa, and North America. The “ARBEGNOCH” (PATRIOTS), including my father, fought and shed their blood for Ethiopia. All the members of my family, my uncles, and their wives were ARBEGNOCH. While my father, at the age of twenty-three years was wounded, his father-in-law (my grand father) died fighting Marshall Peitro Badolgio at the battle of “Debebeguna” in northern Ethiopia. The battle of Debebeguna is well known in the history of the Ethio-Italian War.

The memorial statue for Pankhurst is overdue. I applaud and congratulate the British women who didn’t forget Sylvia’s struggle for them. If Sylvia hadn’t sacrificed herself for women’s right to vote and the equality of women and men, hundreds of British women would never have been elected in both houses of parliament in Britain. Lady Margaret Thatcher, who is now the member of the House of Lords, wouldn’t have been elected Prime Minister of Britain. Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin’s government erected a memorial statue for her mother, Emmenlini Pankhurst, in 1930. Sylvia Pankhurst, who did a lot for the political and social rights of the British women and the working poor, was ignored. One need not be Einstein to understand the rationale of why she was ignored; it is because she was from the left of the political spectrum. It is a tragedy that perhaps 99% of Ethiopians don’t know who Sylvia Pankhurst was. This is of course, the fault of the ancient government, who didn’t do enough to introduce Pankhurst to the Ethiopian people in the proper way.

Haile Selassie’s government should have told the Ethiopian people what Sylvia Pankhurst did in the independence struggle against Italy. The Emperor glorified himself as the only man who fought and won the independence of Ethiopia. Not the patriots who fought in the mountains and valleys of Ethiopia and shed their blood, not Sylvia Pankhurst and her friends who fought against Mussolini and fascism in political and

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diplomatic fields, but only Haile Selassie. In the time of Haile Selassie, the Ethiopian people knew the name of Haile Selassie better than that of God himself. Haile Selassie erected statues of himself and named hundreds of hospitals, schools, colleges, avenues, streets, squares, airports and a university, after himself all over Ethiopia. But very few were named for the patriots or others like Sylvia Pankhurst. I know that a small road was named after Sylvia Pankhurst by Haile Selassie’s government, but it was not enough. Haile Selassie named a very prominent avenue after Winston Churchill, who was a political adversary to Sylvia Pankhurst and an admirer of Bento Mussolini up to 1940. He also named a lot of prominent avenues and streets for British generals, like Cunningham, Platt, and others, who gave a hard time to the new Ethiopian government in 1941.

I have seen this historical figure that did a lot for Ethiopia from 1936-1956, in Addis Ababa. I am also fortunate to have attended her funeral accompanying my father, who himself was accompanying Emperor Haile Selassie. At that time, like other Ethiopians, I didn’t know who she was or what she did for Ethiopian independence, let alone what she did for women’s votes and the political and social rights of the British women and the working poor. Pankhurst fought tooth and nail not only for the political and social rights of the British women, but for the whole of humanity.

She did not fight only for the independence of Ethiopia, but also against fascism and British colonialism. She campaigned not only for Ethiopian freedom from fascism, but for freedom from all colonial rule worldwide.

Contrary to the claims of many foreign historians it was Sylvia and the Ethiopian patriots, not Haile Selassie, who fought against Mussolini for the independence of Ethiopia. But of course, Ethiopians believe it was Haile Selassie alone who brought independence to Ethiopia. It was taught in schools, it was written in books, and the media confirmed it.

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The truth was and is that Haile Selassie, like all the previous emperors, was a man who loved himself more than Ethiopia and didn’t want to sacrifice his life for Ethiopia. Some high officials who worked closely with him have been saying that he would do anything to save his own life. This was proven when he sacrificed his ministers to the “Derg”, in order to save himself, in 1974 during the Ethiopian Revolution. History would never forgive him for his betrayal of Ethiopia in its darkest hour of her history.

Seventeen years before Benito Mussolini conquered Ethiopia, twenty-one years before he declared war on Britain and France, it was Sylvia Pankhurst who warned of the danger of Mussolini’s fascism in Britain. Italy instigated and started the Wel Wel incident as a pretext to conquer Ethiopia on April 1935. Understanding that the Italian aggression at Wel Wel was to provoke a general war, Sylvia wrote a very strong letter to her MP (Member of Parliament) Winston Churchill-who indecently was an admirer of Mussolini-urging the imposition of sanctions on Italy. Since Churchill’s response was not satisfactory, Sylvia accused him and everyone else in the House of Commons of cowardly dealing with Mussolini and Hitler.

She first mentioned the danger of Italian fascism in her newspaper “Dreadnought” on 25 November, and again on 13 December 1919, after her attendance at the Socialist International Conference, in Bologna, Italy, in the same year. This was almost four years before Mussolini’s march to Rome to take the dictatorial power from King Emmanuel II. History tells us that at that time prominent personalities and politicians, like Mr. Winston Churchill and Mr. George Bernard Show, were supporters and admirers of Benito Mussolini’s dictatorship.

Sylvia’s warning became a reality when Ethiopia, Mussolini’s first victim, was invaded in 1936, and his ideological students, the German Nazis, under the leadership of Herr Adolf Hitler, sent one thousand planes to Britain and bombed the British cities. British cities were severely shattered and burned; 14,000 civilians were killed in London alone. One home in every

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five was damaged or destroyed, factories shattered, and transportation, gas, electric and water systems destroyed. (See, the battle of Britain, 1940, Encyclopedia of World History, Sixth Edition). It was a bitter lesson for Britain and France, who tried to appease Mussolini by leaving him Ethiopia, in order to get him on their side, against Hitler.

Pankhurst founded and published the first issue of “New Times and Ethiopia News” on May 5, 1936 on her fifty-fourth birthday, the same day the Italian fascists, under the command of Peitro Badolgio, marched into Addis Ababa. The weekly paper reached 40, 000 copies at the end of the year. The aims of the paper were to campaign for British aid to Ethiopia and to step up and maintain the economic sanctions imposed on Italy by the League of Nations. As well the paper attempted to create propaganda against the fascist yoke, and to give up-to-date information to the British public about Ethiopia.

In her paper Sylvia informed the British public, members of parliament, members of the British government, prominent persons, friends of Ethiopia, and the British Media, of the Italians’ inhumane and barbaric attack on the Ethiopian people and the Patriots, using internationally forbidden poisonous gas. The first issue of her paper declared “The cause of Ethiopia cannot be divided from the cause of international justice”.

Because of her campaign against fascism, Sylvia was getting abusive letters and death threats from Sir Oswald Mosley’s fascist followers in Britain, Italy and Germany. Since the death intimidations were serious Scotland Yard was forced to protect her. The German Chancellor Herr Hitler had also ordered his security officers, the Gestapo, to arrest Sylvia Pankhurst when the German armed forces occupied Britain.

Because of Woizero Sylvia’s strong support for Ethiopia, Mussolini, who himself was a journalist, had attacked her in more than one article which were always italicized in the Italian press. In addition, the Italian

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Government asked the Foreign Office to ban The New Times and Ethiopia News which were growing from day to day and were becoming very popular everywhere they were sent.

To inform and encourage the patriots in Ethiopia, Sylvia Pankhurst issued a special Amharic newspaper that was smuggled into the still only nominally occupied country. The writer of the Amharic edition was one of the Ethiopian refugees, Ato Amannuel Abreha, who later became a minister in Haile Selassie’s government.

Through Ras Andaregachew Messai, the Emperor’s son in law, and other agents in Djibouti, Kenya, and Sudan, she received up-to-date information about the battles of the patriots and the inhumane works of the Italians. Ato Lorenso Tazaz, who was Ethiopia’s Representative to the League of Nations, and had been on a mission to the ARBEGNOCH (Patriots) clandestinely, was the greatest help for the propaganda of the paper. He was also a close associate, along with Dr. Workenh Eshate (Dr. Martin) and Efrim Towoldmedhin, to Pankhurst.

On Ethiopian matters, Sylvia wrote innumerable letters and urged others to write to the national press, as well as to Members of Parliament, cabinet ministers, and foreign statesmen. This included writing to President and Mrs. Roosevelt whose country, like the USSR, never recognized the Italian conquest of Ethiopia.

In London she helped Dr. Workenh Eshate (Dr. Martin), the distinguished medical doctor who served 28 years for the British government in Burma, when he founded the Abyssinian Association (now the Anglo-Ethiopian Society). This helped the Ethiopian refugees in Britain, Palestine, Sudan, Kenya, and other places, financially, morally, and emotionally. Dr. Workenh Eshate was Ethiopian Minister in London when he and Sylvia met at the beginning of Mussolini’s invasion of Ethiopia. Distinguished international persons, professors, politicians, members of parliament,

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religious people and anti-fascist Italians from different parts of the world, had written articles in Sylvia’s paper, New Times, and Ethiopia News, against Mussolini’s aggression. Dr. Workenh Eshate (Dr. Martin) had written numerous articles and taught the British public about the Ethiopian history and culture. Sylvia hung his portrait on the wall of her study in West Den Office. When he was writing to her he used to say “You are very precious my darling”.

In West Africa, Nigeria, Ghana and other African countries, the branch offices of the Abyssinian Associations were founded in order to help in the struggle for Ethiopian independence. In the New Times and Ethiopia News, Sylvia and her companion Silvio Corio, were writing long and penetrating articles about the inhumane colonization of Africa, with the motto “Africa For Africans”. This was of course, unpopular amongst the British government and the conservatives in general. Through the Abyssinian Association, the African sisters and brothers helped Sylvia’s efforts for the Ethiopian struggle in whatever way they could. They not only helped politically and morally, but also financially including assisting with the founding of Princess Tsehai Memorial Hospital in Addis Abba.

After Italian troops entered Addis Ababa, Sylvia went to Geneva and lobbied on behalf of Ethiopia. She appealed to the delegates of the League of Nations not to give Ethiopia to the fascist wolves. She lobbied the delegates to prevent Italy from getting oil and close the Suez Canal so that Italian military supply couldn’t pass through. If Mussolini had been prevented from having oil his military machines wouldn’t have moved outside of Italy. If Britain and France had closed the Suez Canal the 500,000 Italian troops wouldn’t have gone to Ethiopia in such a short span of time. Mussolini would have been forced to go around Africa, to Massowa, which he could have not afforded to do.

When Emperor Haile Selassie arrived in London morally and physically defeated, it was Sylvia who mobilized the big British crowd and greeted

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him at the station. For Sylvia, ever the champion of the underdog, the Emperor became her personal responsibility. She told him that “She was not helping him because he was an Emperor, but because his cause was just”. The most important thing for her was the future of the people he represented and consequently the future of Africa and that part of the world under colonization.

The British Government and the King wanted Haile Selassie to be in London acting not as a head of state, but as a refugee. Their concern was not Ethiopia or Haile Selassie but Mussolini. They didn’t want to anger Mussolini by allowing Haile Sellasie to act as a head of state. In fact his presence in Britain was an embarrassment and they forced him to leave London and stay in the small town of Bath.

In order to keeps the Ethiopian independence burning, Sylvia wrote numerous articles in her paper as well as in other national papers like The Manchester Guardian, The Times, The Daily Mail and The Chronicle. Sylvia’s newspaper, by keeping the British public well informed and up-to-date, succeeded in pressuring the British politicians. She was also in fierce battle with the British papers the Daily Mail, the Observer, and the Morning Post, which were supporting the fascist invasion of Ethiopia.

Pankhurst, like most of Ethiopians and European Military experts, was not happy when the Emperor fled to Europe leaving his country leaderless. She thought he would have stayed in the country and battled the Italians.

There was a time when Emperor Haile Selassie was morally and financially bankrupt. At that terrible time in his life it was Sylvia Pankhurst, and the friends of Ethiopia that she organized, who supported him. After the British recognition of the Italian conquest of Ethiopia in 1938, the hope of the Emperor came to an end. At that juncture the financially and morally broken Emperor tried to negotiate with Mussolini through different persons

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making Sylvia Pankhurst unhappy. She was totally against it. Deep in her heart she most likely considered it as a betrayal of Ethiopia.

Sylvia Pankhurst condemned the policy of the British government when Mr. Nevill Chamberlain recognized the King of Italy as Emperor of Ethiopia. Because of this knife in the back work of the British, Sylvia and her friends doubled their campaign against the British government.

Because of her principled stand against colonialism and fascism, Sylvia was insulted and she was hit by a stone at an anti-fascists rally on Oct.4, 1936. It was Sylvia that was threatened by the fascists in Britain because of her campaign against the inhumane massacre of the Ethiopian people, by Marshall Peitro Badolgio and General Rudolf Graziani, Mussolini’s commanders in Ethiopia.

Finally, it was Sylvia’s strong campaign that pressured the British government, under Winston Churchill, to recognize the independence of Ethiopia, and accept her as an equal partner against Hitler and Mussolini in 1941. She almost forced the British government to play the Ethiopian National Anthem along with other Allied Nations’ Anthems on BBC.

It was because of Sylvia and her friends’ campaign that Mr. Winston Churchill, whom she had known as a political adversary since the turn of the century, was forced to send Emperor Haile Selassie to Sudan and later to Ethiopia, as one of the leaders of allied forces, to fight the remaining Italian forces that were isolated in few towns and cities.

In 1905, when Winston Churchill was campaigning to be a Liberal MP, there was a confrontation between him and the young Sylvia Pankhurst. He physically pushed her from where she was questioning him about his support of “women’s right to votes?” Because the public forced him to answer her question he gave a negative answer about women's votes in Britain. She held a low opinion of him throughout her life, most especially

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his support of Mussolini and fascism, against Ethiopia, was contemptible to her. The only time they agreed politically was when he came to the opinion that fascism was a danger to the world, and later became anti—Hitler-Mussolini Axis. Of course, he was about 20 years late in recognizing the dangers of fascism.

From 80% to 90% of Italian solders were already defeated by the Patriots, who fought for five and six years against Mussolini’s troops, and shed their blood. The one hundred British solders that came to Ethiopia in 1941 with Haile Selassie under the command of Col. Orde Wingate, found morally and physically defeated Italians. The defeat of the Italians in East Africa boosted the morale and propaganda of the Allied Forces, especially that of the British in Europe. After the return of Haile Selassie to his country it was Sylvia who flew to Ethiopia and Eritrea in 1944 and visited the countries which were controlled by the British Military Authorities. She was shocked to her core. She hadn’t thought the British would be so blatant in their treatment of Ethiopia and Eritrea not as independent peoples as the British government promised, but as colonial peoples. In Eritrea she found the British Military Authorities working with Italian fascists, hand-in-hand. The Eritreans were living in the localities for natives, and were not allowed to go to the white area. The fascists’ color bar was intact.

In Eritrea, Pankhurst visited every institution, school, hospital, factory, government department and important town. She talked with the local people and the British Government Officials. Wherever she went, the Eritrean people complained about the British Military’s Administration’s grave injustices under Brigadier Stephen Longrig.

At the time of Sylvia Pankhurst’s visit, Italian fascists were still in office in Eritrea. They controlled the courts and imposed heavy sentences for trifling offences by the Eritreans. Italian fascists, who were in high office under the British during the time of Sylvia’s stay in Eritrea, were very important fascists sent from Rome, like Major Papa, a trusted fascist who

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was Chief of the Police, Commendatore Antonio Buongiorno President of the Court of Asmara, Commendatore Emanuele Montsefusco Attorney General, Dr. Tucci Public Prosecutor and Judge Dorozza, Dr. Luigi Guerra and Dr. Tonarelli the judges of the high court of Eritrea.

Maresciallo Baldini, a fascist officer known to perform cruel deeds under the Italian regime, was Chief of the Market area Police Station under the British. The Fascist Color Bar was intact under the British rule. Discrimination against the Eritrean population continued when Sylvia Pankhurst visited Eritrea. Over the front doors of Cafés, cinemas, restaurants and hotels appeared the words “Vietato per Nativi” (Prohibited for Natives”). Italian taxi-drivers were not allowed to accept Eritrean customers under the British regulations.

Mrs. Sylvia Pankhurst had been informed about the unfairness of the British trading licenses and the granting of land. The Eritrean Elders complained to Sylvia when the British granted import and exporter licenses to foreign-residents which were refused to Eritreans. The Eritreans also complained to Sylvia that the British Authorities granted land to the Italians, but refused it to Eritreans.

The distinguished Eritreans, that represent the entire Eritrean population, also complained that taxation under the British was excessive and at a level which the people could not afford. Pankhurst had noticed also the British government’s imposition of severe regulation to prevent uncensored written and printed matter between Ethiopia and Eritrea. Lorry drivers carrying letters from Ethiopia to Eritrea were getting heavy fines. Letters from Ethiopia to Eritrea had to be sent through postal channels and pass British censorship.

Because the Eritreans wanted to be united with Ethiopia the Chief Military Administrator, Brigadier Stephen Longrig, prohibited the Eritrean population from meeting more than three persons at a time. This was to

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suffocate the voice of the people, in order to deny them freedom of speech. The regulation of the British governor of Eritrea didn’t have successes in preventing Eritreans from meeting and talking about their future. They continued meeting in small groups in various houses to discuss the future of their country.

Politically, the British Authorities had divided the Eritrea’s populace by ethnicity, religion, region, language and locality, in order to divide and rule. The promises which were given to Emperor Haile Selassie, Eritreans, Sylvia Pankhurst, the Friends of Ethiopia, and the British Public were reversed.

Because of the divide and rule method and instigation of conflict by the British, the Eritrean people started fighting each other. The people who wanted to be united with Ethiopia were suppressed, beaten, imprisoned, and some of them killed.

In Asmara, Sylvia talked with Eritrean political and social leaders under the leadership of Ato (later Dejazmach) Tedla Baheru and others. She was informed about the political views of the Eritrean populace-the majority wanted to be re-united with Ethiopia. She visited the native localities and talked with people. Wherever she went, she found out that the majority of the Eritrean populace wanted unity, but the British authorities acted as obstacles, using the anti-unity, and pro-British persons like Ato Woldeab Wolde Mariam, the British’s Ras, Ras Tessema and his son Dejazmch Abraham Tessema.

The British also dismissed a large proportion of Eritrean police and replaced them with Sudanese soldiers. The Eritrean police officers were dismissed because of their love of Ethiopia and of their pro-Ethiopian political stand. The Sudanese solders acted brutally against the Eritreans and the Greeks who were detained in Eritrea. The British detained the Greeks, who were anti- monarchists, and the Palestine Jews, in Eritrea.

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Pankhursttalked with the distinguished Eritrean Elders, studied their views, saw the socio-political activities of the people, observed the divide and rule way of the British, and took the matter to the British Officials. She told them what they did in Eritrea was unfair, unjust, undemocratic and contrary to the promise that the British government gave to Ethiopia and Eritrea. She told them “when she returned to London, she would bring the matter to the attention of the British public, and government”.

After she returned to London, the great English lady with the big heart, who worked day and night for the Ethiopian independence, wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Attlee, Foreign Secretary Bevin, Mr. A. Greenwood and Mr. Noel Baker. She explained to them what the British Military Authorities were doing in Ethiopia and Eritrea under the name of Britain. She reminded them of the pledge they gave to her and the friends of Ethiopia when they were on the opposition. Since the turn of the century when she was young, working with her mother and sister for “Women’s Political and Social Suffrage”, Sylvia Pankhurst had been called anti-British.

The British Officers in Asmara and Addis Ababa, who were the worst colonialists, were very critical of her. They continued to accuse her of being anti-British and, because of her struggle for universal suffrage and being a Pankhurst, she was refused jobs after she finished the art college.

Back home in London, because she wrote in her own and other national papers about the British policies in Ethiopia and Eritrea, the information minister of the British government labeled her as another “Gobbles”-a comparison to the propaganda minister of Hitler.

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PART TWO

It is unfortunate that Ato Zewede Retta, the Emperor’s Ambassador to Italy, didn’t reveal the great contributions of Wozero Sylvia in the struggle for the return of Eritrea to Ethiopia in his 542 pages Amharic book, “Ye Eritrea Guday” (The Case of Eritrea). In fact, Sylvia Pankhurst was the first to lift up the return of Eritrea, including Italian Somaliland, to Ethiopia in 1942. Not Emperor Haile Selassie or his long time Prime Minister Stehaffi Tezaz Akililu Habte Wolde. Pankhurst studied the historical connections of Eritrea to Ethiopia, from Blaten Geta Lorenzo Tazaz, and Blaten Geta Efrem Twolde Medhin, both seniors to Tsehaffi Aklilu. Pankhurst lobbied in the first London

based Big Powers Conference, and later in the Paris Peace Conference in 1946, not to give back the Italian colonies to the new government of Italy, but to Ethiopia.

Haile Selassie and his Prime

Minister Akililu Habte Wolde.

It was because of Sylva’s unceasing propaganda that the new labor government of Prime Minister Clement Atlee changed its pro-Italian stand and opened the door for the reunion of Ethiopia and Eritrea. That is why she wrote 8 books about Ethiopia, 3 of them on the return of the former Italian colony to Ethiopia; “Ethiopia and Eritrea (The last Phase of the

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Reunion Struggle 1941-1952)”, “Eritrea on the eve: the past and future of Italy’s ‘first born’ colony, Ethiopia’s ancient sea province”, and “Why are we destroying the Ethiopian Ports?” These books were written before Ato Zewede Retta finished high school. Zewede’s book, “Ye Eritrea Guday” lacks objectivity and is emotionally one-sided, overvaluing his relative the Emperor Haile Selassie.

It seems that Ato Zewde Retta didn’t read enough, “The New Times and Ethiopia News” from 1936-1956, in which Pankhurst and her companion Silvio Corio, wrote hundreds of articles about Ethiopia and the return of Eritrea to Ethiopia. Ato Zewede’s book “Ye Eritrea Guday” represents Ato Akililu’s work at the United Nations in a theatrical way with different unnecessary photographs of him.

First and foremost, Ato Zewede didn’t explain why Ato Akililu Habte Wold replaced the heroic and astute politician Blaten Geta Loronzo Tazaz, who was the right hand man of the Emperor in exile and who wrote the Emperor’s speech at the League of Nations.

Those foreign educated Ethiopians would have done better than Ato Akililu’s representation of Eritrea, from 1946-1950, especially those Eritreans who were members of the delegation. One of the members of his delegation, Belaten Geta Efrem Twolde Medhin, was an English teacher and later minister abroad when the young Akililu was a student in Paris, and after that secretary in the Ethiopian Legation also in Paris. Blaten Geta Efrem was also one of the members of the Ethiopian delegation to the League of Nations that was led by the Emperor.

He was deputy representative to Blaten Geta Lorenzo Tazaz to the League of Nations, and official English translator of the Emperor during the Italian occupation of Ethiopia. Above all he was an Eritrean who knew the political conditions and the history of Eritrea under the Italian colonial yoke. He was a man with extensive experience, who spoke Tigrinya,

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Amharic, French, English, and Italian. It is doubtful whether Ato Akililu, understood the history and socio-political situations of Ethiopia and Eritrea at that time. It would have had credibility if the Eritrean cause had been presented and debated by the Eritreans themselves.

What would Ato Akililu had done if there was no cause of Eritrea from 1946-1950? Let alone at that time, even afterwards, the foreign minister was the Emperor himself. There were only four embassies in Addis Ababa, that of Britain, America, France, and the former Soviet Union (Russia). The ambassadors of these countries did not know the gate of the Ethiopian foreign ministry. If they needed to discuss an issue they headed straight to the Emperor himself. To them the gate of the palace was open; the emperor’s respect of them was so high, that the French ambassador criticized him.

Pankhurst protesting Italy's fascist

occupation of Ethiopia (taken in London

on October 4, 1936).

The Ethiopian embassies abroad were only in America, Britain, France, and the former Soviet Union (Russia). The Ethiopian ambassadors’ communications were also directly with the Emperor not with the foreign minister. The ministry of foreign affairs office at that time was very small and its annual budget was about 200,000 Birr.

There were nothing more for Ato Akililu Habte Wold to do other than go to New York and stay for months every year.

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In the true meaning of the word, he was neither foreign minister nor prime minister. He himself told the Ethiopian people “he was only prime minister by name; the real prime minister was Princess Teigna Work”. The last prime minister of Haile Selassie was a French man in black skin. He had a low opinion about the Ethiopian people and culture. In his fifteen years as Prime Minister he never visited the provinces. He refused to appear in Parliament when the Parliamentarians summoned him. The Ethiopian people and Akililu Habte Wold did not know each other. He did not serve the Ethiopian people during the darkest hour, the Italian occupation, like Lorenzo Tazaz and others. When Ethiopia needed his service and intellect, Ato Akililu was living in Paris and Lisbon. He simply appeared in Addis Ababa after Haile Selassie returned from exile, and was appointed a minister.

Ato Zewde’s book needs a dictionary to translate all of the unnecessary foreign words used in his book. Ato Zewde perhaps hoped that using foreign words would be a sign of advancement but in fact it is shameful and a sign only of backwardness. Ato Zewde Retta has put the French culture over the Ethiopian. He thinks that the love of the French culture, by Ato Akililu Habte Wold, was something to be proud of. As far as I am concerned, an Ethiopian Prime Minister who was not proud of his country’s culture and history should not be called wholly an Ethiopian. People who worked closely with Ato Akililu at that time, the late Bitweded Zewede, Ato Haddis Alemayehu and those who are still living, Ato Amannuel Abrham, Ato Menase Lemma, and his private secretary Ato Emeru Zelleke, did not confirm the authenticity of the book. The reliable source the great principled author Ato Haddis Alemayehu commented on the book saying “Is it Akililu we knew or another Akililu?”

In addition, Ato Zewde didn’t attach the original correspondences between the Emperor and Tsehaffi Tezaz Wolde Giworgis on one side, and Ato Akililu on the other side. Why not? Since all the documents that he got

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from the late prime minister and other sources belonged to the Ethiopian people, Ato Zewde should give them to the National Library or Addis Ababa University, so that every researcher can read them. They are public property. The 94 year-old Professor John Spencer, who was a friend and political adviser to Ato Akililu, told us about Eritrea in his book “Ethiopia at Bay”. Professor Spencer described what Ato Zewde described but in a scholastic and objective way. Professor Spencer was the one who played a central roll in “Eritrea Guday”. Unlike Ato Zewde, Professor Spencer did not give a lot of credit to Ato Akililu. We know that one of Ato Akililu’s dilemmas was his pro-French stand in world politics which created a problem in the English-speaking world. The Anglo-Saxons did not see his lack of the English language in a favorable way. That is why there was collision with the British representative at the United Nations.

In his book, Ato Zewde shows his nostalgia of Haile Selassie's government. If Ato Zewede thinks that Ato Akililu was the one who played the greatest role in bringing Eritrea to Ethiopia he is mistaken. Nobody else should get the credit for the former unity between Ethiopia and Eritrea but the Eritrean people.

Even though Haile Selassie’s government had partial success in the return of Eritrea the problems for separation germinated within the same period. Instead of giving the responsibility of governance of Eritrea to the Eritreans who paid the greatest sacrifices under the British, Haile Selassie appointed his incompetent cronies and Amharinized the Eritrean administration. He started to govern Eritrea like Gondar, Gojam and others without understanding the difference of the way of life and mentality that had been created by 51 years of separation.

The old Ras Kassa Hailu, whom the Emperor’s educated supporters had accused of being a reactionary conservative because he was not for westernization of Ethiopia, understood the difference between Ethiopia and Eritrea, and pointed out his doubt about its sustainability. Ras Kassa

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advised the Emperor, Including Ato Akililu, not to rush to unity. He said “when we are economically developed they would come by themselves”. Because of his belief in Ethiopia’s culture and history, he rejected the British military’s general uniform, while the Emperor, his two sons, three Rases, one Dejazmach, and one Wagshoom, dressed in Marshall and general uniforms, without being trained as military officers. Even though Ras Kassa was commander in chief of the northern front and fought with Marshall Badoglio and lived with the Emperor for five years in Britain he was not attracted to the British military uniforms. When one thinks about the Emperor and his family, one wonders why they were trying to be British. The leaders of India, Burma, Pakistan and others whose countries have been ruled for hundreds of years by the British did not copy their dress and way of life as did the Ethiopian Emperor and his family. Instead they copied things that were useful for the well being of their countries.

Had Haile Selassie’s government left the responsibility of Eritrea to the Eritreans instead of sending people with no knowledge of the Eritrean country he may have succeeded in uniting the two. This makes Haile Selassie’s government responsible at least partially, if not totally, responsible for what happened in 1991. “Ye Eritrea Guday” needs a very thorough knowledgeable critical review. Now back to Sylvia Pankhurst.

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PART THREE

Pankhurst arrived in Addis Ababa on Nov. 16, 1944. When she flew to Ethiopia in 1944 the Second World War was not over and yet she did not worry about her own physical well-being. At the airport she was greeted by the government of the day, headed by Tsehafi Tezaz Wolde Giorges, Minister of Pen and Interior and the second most powerful ruler of Ethiopia. With him were Ato Makonnen Habte Wold the Minister of Industry and Commerce, Tsehafi Tezaz Teffera Work, who was the Private Secretary of the Emperor, Ato Ammanuel Abrha the Vice Minister of Education, Woizero Ketsela Belachew the Secretary General of The Ethiopian Women’s Association, Blata Belatchew Yadete who was President of the Senate, Blata Wold Kiros the President of the Ethiopian Patriotic Association, Ato Gebre Maskel Haptemariam (Dejazmach) the President of the Eritrean Association and Ato Sereqberhan Gebre Egezi who was Ambassador of the Eritrean Association which was working for return to Ethiopia of Eritrea.

These officials, most of them refugees in England or Sudan, knew Sylvia Pankhurst. They knew what she did for the Ethiopian independence and how she helped the Emperor when he was in England. They also knew how she organized the British Public in order to help the Ethiopian refugees, how she fought and lobbied the British Officials on behalf of Ethiopia, and how she struggled for women’s votes and the social and political rights of the British women. They knew how famous and well-known Sylvia Pankhurst and her family were in Britain and throughout the world.

After she was lodged in one of the palaces, one young officer, Major Assfa Lemma, was assigned to be her guide. In the same day without having a

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rest she started visiting the different parts of the city. Her guide Major Assfa later became one of Haile Selassie’s ministers.

The next day she went to meet the Emperor and the Empress. She found them not in a small house in miserable conditions but in a palace, in a big room, on a big throne. It must have been the first time that the leftist and socialist Sylvia Pankhurst entered the palace of the ruling king. She was, of course, at the Kremlin Palace and met Lenin, in 1920.

She was born and grew up in the time of Queen Victoria and her son Edward VII. Including Queen Victoria she had passed through six kings and queens. She had never been a friend of theirs. In fact, she had agitated for the overthrow of the monarchy since the turn of the century. Even though along with her mother, sister and other leftist women she had struggled for the political and social liberation of women, she had never been invited to the annual garden party in Buckingham Palace. It is perplexing when one reads history sometimes. Queen Victoria, who ruled women and men of the British Empire for more than sixty years, was against the equality of the genders. She believed in superiority of men over women.

In Haile Selassie’s cause, because of her anti-fascist stand and Mussolini’s brutal aggression against Ethiopia, she saw the Ethiopian monarchy as one of the symbols in the struggle against fascism. The Emperor and other Ethiopians, especially princess Tsehai, had impressed her. Thanks to Woizero Sylvia, Princess Tsehai was a well-known person and symbol of Ethiopia in Britain during the Italian occupation of Ethiopia. The Emperor gave a reception in honor of Pankhurstand decorated her with medals that were only given for the “ARBEGNOCH” (Patriots). King George VI and the British government were not happy about her decoration by Haile Selassie.

Like she did in Asmara, Pankhurstsaw schools and hospitals and visited every ministry and talked with the ministers. In Addis Ababa she was

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shocked by the condition of the government of Haile Selassie-which was controlled by the British-and the treatment of the indigenous Ethiopians, as “enemy occupied territory”. She asked how things were going with the British Authorities who were controlling everything. She was informed that the British were dismantling and shipping to Kenya things that would have been beneficial for Ethiopia’s own development. The British quickly became unpopular in Ethiopia. There was a very famous fight between the young Ethiopian officers and the British officers at King George Bar, in the center of Addis Ababa.

The British officers had imposed a color bar in a country that has never been ruled by outside forces. The owner of King George Bar was a Greek who wanted to make his bar open only to the British and other Europeans. The Ethiopians had been humiliated by the way the British treated them and they were offended by their arrogant and racist manners. The Emperor who approved of and went along with anything the British did was not bothered by this unacceptable behavior. One day two young Ethiopian officers, who later became revolutionary leaders, went to King George Bar deliberately to show to the British that Ethiopia is an independent country and not a colony. While the young Ethiopian officers were drinking, the British officers told them “it was not their place”. After a hot argument that was worsened by drinks the boxing started and it became a very bloody physical fight. The political and the social outcome of this fight were worse. British authorities went directly to the Emperor who never questioned the word of a European demoted the two officers and had them imprisoned. These two young officers, Brigadier General Mengestu Neway and Lt. General Aman-Michael Andome later went on to respectively lead the failed coup of 1960 and replace Emperor Haile Selassie as Head of State.

This was the political and social situation in Ethiopia Pankhurst went to Ethiopia in 1944. Because of their arrogance and racism everything the

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British had done to help Ethiopia in 1941 became worthless to the Ethiopians. The Patriots (Arebegnoch), who had fought for six years for independence from the Italians, were complaining to the Emperor about the British. Most of them felt that the British had replaced the Italians as a new colonial power.

Pankhurst also learned first had how terrible conditions were for the people of Ethiopia. This was what she wrote after she visited the only hospital in Ethiopia, Menelik II hospital in Addis Ababa which had been under the British since the return of the Emperor but was vacated and transferred to the Ethiopian government before Pankhurst went to Addis Ababa. At the time there were 250 patients in the hospital under the directorship of Dr. Dassios, a Greek doctor.

Pankhurst wrote the following: “Dr. Dassios took it over, he found it filthy and neglected, with sunken floors, plaster breaking from the wall, motor machinery, etc., out of order, many of the parts missing; no tools wherewith to execute repairs. The paint worn off beds and furniture, blankets and linen old and rugged, and gravely insufficient eating utensils totally inadequate in number. The storerooms for sanitary, medical, and pharmaceutical materials were totally empty; even branches and cloths for cleaning were absent.

There was no laundry, a very essential requirement. The soiled linen had to be washed in the “Kebena River”, where the poor people of the neighborhood do their washing. The water supply was pumped into the hospital only every other day. The sewerage pipes broken, resulting in obnoxious smells and dangerous liability to infection.

The wards where 250 patients were sleeping were wholly devoid of electric light bulbs. The linen store was empty no sheets, no blankets, no pillows, no mattresses. Patients were covered with old blankets, without bed

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sheets.” (Ethiopian Health Services by The Editor, New Times and Ethiopia News, October 14, 1944).

Encouraged by Pankhurst and others, Princess Tsehai was the first Ethiopian to go to the modern nursing school in London. After graduating the Princess worked in one of London’s children’s hospitals, and became very famous in that city.

After the death of Princess Tsehai in 1942, remembering the princess’ dream to found a modern hospital in Addis Ababa, and encouraged by her companion Signor Silvio Corio- an Italian socialist who strongly opposed fascism, also the father of Pankhurst’s son Dr. Richard Pankhurst- Pankhurst set up a committee chaired by Lord Davis, to build a modern hospital under Princess Tsehai’s name. Pankhurst became the honorary secretary of the committee and the treasurer was Lord Hordon the Private Physician of King Gorge VI. Contributions were made to aid with constructing the hospital by the Queen, members of the House of Commons, members of the House of Lords, cabinet ministers, doctors and nurses who worked with the Ethiopian princess, business people, and common people from every aspect of life.

After Sylvia arrived in Addis Ababa and met the Emperor the Ethiopian government, under the honorary chairmanship of the Emperor, established a committee in Ethiopia to fundraise for the hospital. The contribution was of course symbolic. Pankhurst was chosen as honorary secretary of Addis Ababa’s committee and the Emperor’s son, Ras Imeru Haile Selassie, was made executive president. The hospital was built mostly by the British contribution. Since, the Ethiopians were short of cash their contribution of money was symbolic. The land was of course was the gift of the Emperor, which was not originally his property, but of Ras Tessema Nadew's. He inherited the land by forcing the daughter of Ras Tessema, Woizero Assegedech. The small hundred pound contribution of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, was written about in both “The New Times and

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Ethiopian News”. After the hospital was finished in 1951, Sylvia returned back to Addis Ababa, for the opening ceremony and two wings were named after her and Major General Orde Wingate.

In Addis Ababa Sylvia Pankhurst was also shocked to see a lot of disabled beggars causing her to found the first welfare association, which later became Haile Selassie Welfare Association.

In 1956, Sylvia Pankhurst left her birth country the United Kingdom, the country in which she fought more than half century for women votes, for universal suffrage and for political and social rights of the working masses. The greatest humanist, anti-racist, and anti-colonialist, Sylvia Pankhurst chose as her burial place economically the poorest, but historically and culturally the richest country, Ethiopia. Like any revolutionaries of the past and present Sylvia, her mother, and her siblings sacrificed their entire lives in pursuit of the greater good-in this case for the social and political rights of the British women. Because of this they were laughed at, imprisoned, starved, and beaten.

From 1906-1922 Sylvia was sent to Prison fifteen times because she campaigned for equality of the genders and because she was against all forms of racism and colonialism. It is good to see that the British people did not forget the sacrifices of the Pankhursts. The British they erected a statue for Sylvia’s mother, and for her sister there is a plaque at the Parliamentary Buildings. A film was made about Sylvia’s struggle and they are going to erect a statue in front of the British Parliament very soon.

Pankhurst died in Addis Ababa on Sept. 27, 1960 at the age of seventy-eight. It was “Masqal”, one of the principal holidays of Ethiopia’s year which celebrates the discovery of the True Cross by Saint Helena. She was buried in the ground of the “ Kidest Selassie Deber- or The Trinity Church”, that was set aside for the “ AREBEGNOCH” or the Patriots, who struggled for the Ethiopian independence from fascism, and the unity of Ethiopia and

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Eritrea. She had paid greater sacrifices than anybody except those she had joined in their burial place, the Arebegnoch.

Pankhurst was. Woizero Sylvia, who was born to one of the foremost socialist father, Dr. Richard Pankhurst, and molded by him, and who grew up in an ambiance in which socialism was the political philosophy of the educated class, and who had doubted religion throughout her life, was given an Ethiopians Orthodox Church name “Walate Krestos” (daughter of Christ).

Her funeral was attended by the Emperor, the Crown Prince, the Prime Minister, cabinet ministers, the entire general staff, and many diplomats including the British ambassador. The Arebegnoch- the Ethiopian Patriotic Association members -led by the President of the association were also present. The President of the Ethiopian Patriotic Association laid a bundle of flowers at her burial ground. The Emperor’s son-in-law, and minister of the Interior, Ras Andaregachew Mesai, who knew Sylvia’s struggle and worked with her in the propaganda war against Italy, read Pankhurst’s life history and spoke of her struggle for Ethiopia’s independence. In retrospect, the Emperor should have told the life and work of this great woman who did a lot more for the liberation of our country than the Emperor himself.

Pankhurst preferred Ethiopian soil over that of her birth country, Britain. She was joined to the country not only through her struggle but also by blood. Her only son is married to an Ethiopian and has two children. Both are outstanding scholars of Ethiopian history and culture. Professor Richard Pankhurst has written hundreds of books, pamphlets, and articles on Ethiopia over the last 60 years. Not only did Sylvia Pankhurst struggle for Ethiopia but she left for us also Professor Richard Pankhurst, his wife, and their children.

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Pankhurst published 22 books and wrote and edited thousands of articles on politics, history, art, culture, and on social and political problems.

She also edited the following newspapers and journals: The Women’s Dreadnought (1914-17), The Workers’ Dreadnought (1917-24), Germinal (1923), Humanity (1932), New Times and Ethiopian News (1936-1956) and the Ethiopian Observer (1956-60).

If we go to the history of the Ethiopian-British relations, the Emperor was more pro-British than any of his predecessors. He loved whatever the British did and had trusted them personally or politically. But we have never been sure whether the British had the same feelings towards him.

The Emperor and his family lived in Britain for five years. In these years neither King Edward VIII, who vacated the British throne for the sake of the woman he loved, nor his successor King George VI invited him to tea at Buckingham Palace.

The Governments of Prime Ministers Stanley Baldwin, Nevill Chamberlain, and Winston Churchill, were not pleased with his stay in Britain. In fact, they were embarrassed of him. When the Emperor and his courtiers went to the Palace of Westminster (Parliament) for a visit, Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, who was taking tea on the balcony, disappeared through the back door of the restaurant so as to avoid meeting the Emperor. For them, and the ruling class, the Emperor was just one of the many tribal chiefs in Africa.

The British government or the monarchy did not help him when he was in financial difficulty. He was supported by rich philanthropists, through the “Abyssinian Association” which was organized by the Ethiopian minister in London, Dr. Workenh Eshate (Dr. Martin), and Sylvia Pankhurst. There was no evidence that the British monarchy, whose culture he copied and loved,

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respected Haile Selassie. The British officers continually told Ethiopians not to try to emulate the British but to be proud of what they are.

The Ethiopians starting from the Emperor did not like this. They felt that the British did not want to be dressed like them. Ras Beru, a relative and a close associate of the Emperor, begged for a British officer’s headwear from the British Military Authorities, and wore it when he entered Ethiopia in 1941.

After he returned back from exile, the protocol of the Emperor’s Palace became British. The ancient Ethiopian styles were downgraded as second and third classes. British military and civil clothes were considered a sign of civilization. From the Emperor down to his ministers and military officers all attempted to appear British. The only thing they could not accomplish was to change their skin. Different kinds of medals were made in order to be like the British ruling classes. The Emperor used to wear about 160 different kinds of medals on different occasions. The Emperor with his marshal uniform and medals all over his chest looked like the British king when he opened the British Parliament annually. He created the titles of prince, princess, and dukedoms, which had never been used in Ethiopian history. All military titles from marshal to colonel were also copied from the British. The Emperor even gave the British title “Lordship” to one of his cronies.

History teaches us that the difference between the Pope of Rome and King Henry VIII was due to marriage. Henry VIII, who was changing wives like shirts, did not want the Pope of Rome to be a hurdle to his way of life. Henry had murdered two of his wives, among them the mother of Queen Elizabeth I, accusing them of adultery. Since Henry VIII rebelled against the Pope and separated the Church of England from Rome, the kings and queens have been the nominal head of the Anglican Church. In Ethiopian history, the heads of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and the Emperors have been almost on equal levels; the head of the church in charge of

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religious affairs and the Emperor of political affairs. But after Haile Selassie returned from exile he copied the British and appointed himself head of the Ethiopian Church, without understanding why it happened in Britain. He became not a titular head of the church as the British counterpart, but a dictatorial head of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. He nominated and approved the appointment of the Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.

When Queen Elizabeth II, visited Ethiopia in 1964 The Emperor of Ethiopia tried his best to make the receiving of the Queen resemble what the British did for him in 1954. He bought horses from Australia, built a European style hall in his palace, bought new military uniforms from Germany for his bodyguards, prepared military parade. He even copied the Buckingham Palace’s changing of the guards. Although millions of taxpayer’s dollars were spent on the preparations, upon her arrival the Queen did not show any interest in any of these things. In fact, she was much more interested in experiencing the “Ethiopian” side of things.

She was less interested in the military parade than in the Ethiopian traditional sport “GUGES”. She did not want to have the official dinner in the new modern hall but in the old Emperor Menelik’s Hall. Of course, the Queen was right to reject what the Ethiopian Emperor prepared for her because she had not traveled to Ethiopia to see the duplication of the British culture, but rather to witness Ethiopia’s own culture firsthand.

It would have been preferable for the political well being of Ethiopia if the Emperor had copied the British Parliamentary Political system and a constitutional crown rather than focusing solely on mannerisms and dress. As the world knows, the Emperor was not only an absolute dictator, but he thought himself to be equal to God. He had to be asked to give permission for the most trivial things, like the transfer of insignificant official or for an increase of small salaries.

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The older he got the more distanced he became from the people. His government, which lasted for 52 years, is responsible for the political, social, and economical upheaval in which Ethiopia currently finds herself.

It is unfortunate that the Emperor did not use his popularity for the good of the country. He had all the chances to give the Ethiopian people a sustainable political system that would bind all the ethnic groups together. He had all the chances inside and outside Ethiopia to develop the backward economy of his country. He had all the chances to create democracy for his people. But, he loved himself and lived only for himself and left a confused, so-called educated class that is neither White nor Ethiopian, an educated class that copied the Emperor’s self-loving. Emperor Haile Selassie, after ruling the country as a god, left about 99% of the Ethiopian populace as they lived for three thousand years. That was why, when he was overthrown, the Ethiopian people were happy to see him go. It is sad that after he ruled the country like a god, the 84 year old monarch died in a dreadful way.

The Ethiopian Emperor, who ruled Ethiopia during a time when the rest of the world reached the highest growth in economic, social, and political development, left his country worse than any time in its history. He deliberately left Ethiopia without a government institution that had the respect and trust of the people and left the country for Mengestu Haile Mariam and his thugs. Because of his 52 years of misrule the misery of Ethiopia continues. No light is seen at the end of the tunnel.

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Sources:

1. Sylvia Pankhurst, A Crusading Life 1882-1960, by Shirley Harrison

2. Sylvia Pankhurst, Sexual Politics And Political Activism, by Barbara Winslow

3. The Women’s Suffrage Movement in Britain 1866-1928, by Sophia A. Van Winger den

4. Votes For Women, Edited, by Jane Purvis And Sandra S. Holton

5. Who Is Who in the British History, Edited by Juliet Gardener

6. The Ascent of Women, A History of the Suffragette Movement…by M. Phillips

7. Emmeline Pankhurst, A Biography, by J. Purvis

8. Sylvia Pankhurst, A Life in Radical Politics, by Mary Davis

9. Emmeline Pankhurst, by Paula Bartlsey

10. Sylvia Pankhurst, Artist and Crusader, An intimate portrait, by Richard Pankhurst

11. Ethiopia At Bay, A Personal Account of Haile Selassie Years, by John H. Spencer

12. Haile Selassie’s War, by Anthony Moclker

13. Ethiopian War, by Angelo Del Boca

14. Ethiopia- A New Political History, by Richard Greenfield

15. Soviets Russia, As I Saw It, by E. Sylvia Pankhurst (1922)

16. Education In Ethiopia by Sylvia E. Pankhurst (1946)

17. Ethiopia- A Cultural History, by E. Sylvia Pankhurst (1955)

18. Ethiopia And Eritrea (The last Phase of the Reunion Struggle 1941-1952, by E. Sylvia Pankhurst- Editor “ New Times And Ethiopian News”, And Richard K. P. Pankhurst

19. British Policy in Eritrea And Northern Ethiopia, by E. Sylvia Pankhurst (1945)

20. “ New Times and Ethiopia News” 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1946

21. The Ethiopian Observer ( 1956- 1960), edited by Sylvia Pankhurst

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22. The International Who’s Who, 1936-1960, London-Europe Publications LTD

23. Who Was Who Volume V, 1951-1960

24. Encyclopedia of World History, Sixth Edition

25. The Fighting Pankhursts-A study in Tenacity, by David Mitchell

26. Ye Eritrea Guday, by Zewde Retta

27. Hiwote Ena YeEthiopia Ermega, ( Amharic) by Emperor Haile Selassie

28. Tezeta ( Amharic), by Haddis Alemayehu

29. The Tragedy of Abyssinia, by Emperor Haile Selassie, 1937.

30. The Voice of Ethiopia, New of Ethiopia, N.Y. N.Y., Sept. 14, 1940, by Dr. Melaku E.Beyan

31. Colonel Legesse Wold Hanna, the former Minister, and Ambassador

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