WAR CLOUDS

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 9, 10 July 1935, Page 12

WAR CLOUDS

OVER ABYSSINIA

AMBITIONS AND OLD SCORES

ITALY'S AFEICAN ADI

(Written for "The Post" by W. S. Rollings.) Signor Mussolini has made clear to the world the intentions of Italy regarding Abyssinia. There can be no doubt that he and Italy are fully persuaded that military intervention is justified. Further, that Italian control of Abyssinia would really benefit all classes in that ancient Empire. Italy has national grievances; but Mussolini claims that on moral and humanitarian grounds Italy also would be justified in taking the extreme step of war. ITALIAN CONTACTS. Italy's contacts with Abyssinia have been closer than those of any other European Power. Sixty years ago she acquired a port and a strip of territory on the Red Sea coast. Both England and Egypt resultlessly protested. In 1885 Massowa was occupied. Deep water exists at this port between coral reefs, and Italy's ambition is to make it the chief port of the Red Sea and an African Venice. Geographically, it should be the natural port for seaborne trade to and from Abyssinia. By conquest Italy pushed back into Abyssinian territory and occupied Asmara, now the capital of Eritrea. Asmara, though only seventy miles from the coast is 7000 ft above the sea level. It is connected with Masowa by a railway, and a good mountain road. The district is typically Abyssinian, consisting of a vast fertile plateau, having an excellent climate, with abundant summer rains. The ambition of Italy was undoubtedly to gain a protectorate over Abyssinia, and that has been the key to her policy. There is no law of succession to the Abyssinian throne. The death of an Emperor is therefore the signal for political upheaval and strife between contending claimants for the crown. On the death of the Emperor John in 1889 civil war broke out between rival claimants. Menelik, a prince of Shoa, and who claimed direct descent from Menelik I, son of the Queen of Sheba, was a client of Italy. It was due to Italian intervention that he defeated his rival, and the same year was crowned Emperor, "King of the Kings of Ethiopia, Conquering Lion of Judah, and the Elect of God." THE TREATY OF UCIALI. Following Menelik's enthronement a treaty was concluded between Italy and Abyssinia, known by the above title. It defined the Italo-Abyssinian frontier, and granted Italy specified trade concessions. But it contained a clause which proved at that time fatal to Italian aspirations:—"His Majesty the King of Kings of Ethiopia may employ his Majesty the King of Italy in all matters whereon he may have, to treat with other Powers or Governments." So the clause read in Amharic, in the official Abyssinian document. But in the Italian draft the clause was made mandatory: "His Majesty the King of Kings of Ethiopia, agreed to employ," etc. Menelik, on discovering what he—rightly or wrongly—regarded as an act of double-dealing, made an emphatic protest, and refused to acknowledge the validity of the Italian clause of the treaty, which virtually made Abyssinia an Italian protectorate. Count Antonelli was thereupon sent from Italy as a special envoy to try and settle matters. In the crucial interview the Empress Taitu, a worthy mate of her leonine husband, was present. It was she who gave to Italy Menelik's ultimatum: "We too have our own dignity to safeguard. .. . Ethiopia will never accept any protectorate." The Count then invited her Majesty to make a new proposal. Whereupon, it is saM, she wrote with, her own hand the text of a new treaty "Article I, Article XVII (the offensive clause) of the Treaty of Uciali is abrogated. Article'll, his Majesty the Emperor of Ethiopia engages himself to his Majesty the King of Italy never to cede his territory to any European Power, nor conclude any treaty, nor accept any protectorate." Menelik formally renounced the treaty in 1893. As a consequence war broke out between Italy and Abyssinia in 1895. This ended in the Italian disaster of Adowa in 1896. A recent cable reports Mussolini as saying that there 4000 Italians fought madly against 100,000 Abyssinians. But careful historians, some of whom were pro-Italian, tell a different story. The Italian forces are set down as 14,500 men. in a bloody battle these were routed by Menelik's troops with 4000 slain, 2000 taken prisoners, and the capture of all Italian artillery. This decisive; engagement rendered the Italian occupation of the Afcnara and district precarious; and a humiliating Treaty of Peace between Italy and Abyssinia was signed at A.ddis Ababa the same year. In this the Treaty of Uciali was formally annulled, and the independence of Ethiopia recognised. OLD AND NEW SCORES. Adowa stands for one of the old scores Mussolini claims that Italy has : against Abyssinia. And certainly no right-minded man will attempt to condone Ethiopian barbarities inflicted by the victors upon the vanquished. The Italian dead were dishonoured, and the wounded shockingly mutilated. Further, to the Italian mind, Menelik appeared as a monster traitor. It was chiefly through Italy's intervention that he had gained the throne. Further,

when the Treaty of Uciall was signed Italy presented Menelik with 5000 rifles. These were used against Italian troops at Adowa. Italy claims to have new scores against Abyssinia. There was the frontier clash at Ualual in December, and the more serious clash in February, which have appeared in League of Nations discussions as "incidents." But Mussolini's indictments go far beyond these:—ln Ethiopia the institution of slavery still exists on a vast scale; the Emperor and his administration are powerless to suppress man-stealing forays on Abyssinian borders, and the slave trade; there is no fixed law of succession'to the throne, and no system of justice beyond tradition; civil war and inter-tribal disputes are almost chronic and inflict great misery upon the people; punishments are barbarous; education is entirely lacking; as are also the amenities of civilised society. And, it is only fair to state, that there are others besides Italians, who know Abyssinia, who are convinced that only outside intervention by a European Power or Powers will give to this ancient land the security of ordered government, and bring it into line with the ideals of civilised society. ITALIAN WAR-lUINDEDNESS. Mussolini seems grimly determined on war. And he is resolved not to risk any repetition of Adowa. A diplomatic approach, by the settlement o£ European questions, and an understanding with France on African affairs, cleared the way. Mussolini was able to assure the nation that its European frontiers were secure. The Defence Council/declared that the nation was in readiness for war. The Press of Italy proclaims that the hour for opening a new chapter in Italy's colonial history has struck. The appointments made are ominous. Mussolini himself has assumed the portfolio of Minister of Colonies. This makes him virtually the Italian Government. The Ministries of Foreign Affairs, of Interior, of Corporations, of Navy, of War, of Aviation, and now of Colonies, all live under the hat of this modern Caesar. General Graziani, conqueror of Arab resistance in Libya, has been appointed Governor-General of Italian Somaliland; an ardent Fascist imperialist, General de Bono, has been made Com-missioner-General of Italian Somaliland and Eritrea. The methods of Mussolini for financing the African military expedition clearly envisage a •campaign. These are drastic and novel, as stated in a recent issue of "Current History":—"Employers must pay the workers who are called to the colours full wages for the first three months, one-half wages for another three months, and restore them to their old jobs when they return from the war." IF WAR COMES. Should Mussolini's will to war not be thwarted at the eleventh hour, and hostilities' eventuate, what will be the issues? The general opinion seems to be that with slender equipment and without munitions factories Abyssinia is sure to go down before the mechanised equipment and disciplined valour of Italian arms. But all war is a gamble; this not excepted. And it is possible that the Abyssinian mountains may become the wall upon which Italian Facism and its creator may be broken. The climate may take a hand. In Eritrea and Somaliland tropical diseases take heavy toll of European life. The only Europeans living in British Somaliland are Government officials. Then the countries surrounding Abyssinia upon which Italian troops may draw for supplies are not food-export-ing lands. In Somaliland the rainfall averages from 2 to 14 inches a year, insufficient for agriculture, and barely sufficient to provide herbage for cattle. These latter are trained to drink once in three days. Animals can live but soldiers can't fight on empty stomachs. There may hang on the war issues more momentous than the loss of Ethiopian independence, or the fall of Italian Fascism. The victory by a white nation over the one remaining African native kingdom would be resented by the coloured peoples of Africa and the world, while an Abyssinian victory over Italy might hasten the clash of colour which thoughtful men regard as one of the perils of civilisation today. But the chief casualty might \be the League of Nations itself, and the scrapping of its pacific machinery created by the statesmen of the nations for the settlement of disputes as worthless political junk. The chief gleam of hope on the war horizon seems to be the faith and courage and wisdom of British statesmen. They may become the rallying-point for the stern conscience of the world against war.