The Timaru Herald WEDNESDAY, MAY 21, 1941 Abyssinia Redeemed

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIX, Issue 21968, 21 May 1941, Page 4

The Timaru Herald WEDNESDAY, MAY 21, 1941 Abyssinia Redeemed

IN the Assembly Hall of the League of Nations on June 30, 1936, Haile Selassie uttered prophetic words. “It is iny duty to inform all Governments of the deadly peril which threatens them,” he said. “I assert that the problem submitted to-day is much wider than settlement of Italian aggression. It is collective security. It is the confidence each State is to place in treaties. It is the value of promises to small States that their integrity and independence shall be assured. In a word, international morality is at stake.” There is no reason to suppose that Haile Selassie, when he made that declaration, was able to take a better view of world trends than any other statesman. Most of them would have known what the Italian attack on Abyssinia meant, but Halle Selassie went more directly to the heart of the problem because he knew from bitter experience what aggression by a powerful bullying neighbour involved. Five years have passed since he made that speech to the League of Nations Assembly, but now the full cycle is run: Haile Selassie is back in Addis Abbaba and the work of redeeming Abyssinia is practically complete. Since the capture of the capital the British forces have gone methodically about the work of driving the Italians from Abyssinia. The campaign was carefully planned and it has been efficiently executed so that needless loss of life could be avoided. From the start of the campaign the Duke of Aosta, commander of the Italian forces and Viceroy of Abyssinia, knew that there could be only one outcome to the struggle. He knew that the Italians would eventually be defeated, and he knew also that he had no hope of assistance from home. The wearing down process is now finished and last week the Italians were trapped in their last stronghold at Amba Alagi. When the town was practically surrounded the Duke of Aosta took the only course open to him: he asked for the British terms of surrender. They were communicated to him and they have been accepted. This Italian defeat, which brings with it the restoration of looted country to its rightful ocupants, is symbolic. Abyssinia was the first to suffer at the hands of the Axis and it is the first to be redeemed. What has been done for Abyssinia will in good' time be done for all the afflicted nations under the Axis yoke. The struggle will be stern and it may be long, but the reprieving success will come in the end.

With Abyssinia retaken from the Italians the question arises as to the relationship to be established between Haile Selassie and the British Government. There need be no doubt concerning the ultimate status of the country. British policy towards Abyssinia was plainly stated by the Foreign Secretary in the House of Commons last February. Mr Eden then said: “His Majesty’s Government would welcome the reappearance of an independent Ethiopian State, and recognise the claim of the Emperor Haile Selassie to the throne.” Britain, obviously, has no territorial ambitions in Abyssinia, and it would allow no such ambitions to be cherished in any other quarter. The most likely relationship between Britain and an independent Abyssinia would be, the Spectator suggests, such as exists between Britain and Egypt. Then the Spectator goes on to say: “On every ground, particularly in view of the new awareness and sensitiveness of all native Africa regarding the relations of the black and white races, it is eminently to be desired that the idea of alliance between an indepndent Britain and an independent Abyssinia should be inculcated on all occasions.” The final adjustment of relations, however, is a question which may have to stand unsettled for the present. In the meantime the most important fact is that Abyssinia has been freed of Italian domination and all Mussolini and his Viceroy can do is exchange messages of condolence with each other.