765.84/4600: Telegram
The Minister Resident in Ethiopia ( Engert ) to the Secretary of State
395. Department’s 266, June 4. There is really very little to add to my telegrams in the latter part of May as the situation has remained practically unchanged. But I should like to correct certain erroneous statements in telegrams the Department has been good enough to repeat to me.
- 1.
- Department’s 242, May 20.55 It is untrue that Italian airmen are maintaining surveillance “throughout the entire country”. They may do so in the north and southeast but no attempt at surveillance has so far been made in the south and southwest.
- 2.
- Department’s 265, June 4.56 … Italian forces cannot yet be said to be “in complete control” anywhere south of the ninth parallel and west of the fortieth meridian except along the railway. There seems to be no Italian troops south of the Blue Nile and the westernmost point in central Ethiopia so far occupied is Ambo about 55 miles from Addis Ababa. To say that contact with the inhabitants is maintained “almost entirely by civil officials” is entirely untrue even in Addis Ababa although it may be applicable to the extreme north.
- 3.
- No attempt has been made by the Italians to penetrate into the vast areas comprising such provinces as Jimma, Wollega, Kaffa, Bakema, Walamo, Sidamo, Arussi. For example, there are eight Europeans on the ninety-fourth [sic] coffee plantations in Arussi who sent message to the Belgian Minister here that their homes had been sacked and they were in danger of their lives. Although they are [Page 206] only 14 hours by road from Arba railway station, the Italians have so far been unable to send any forces for their evacuation.
- 4.
- Similarly my repeated inquiries concerning welfare of Americans in the south and southwest have always received the reply that the Italian authorities have no information whatever regarding the situation in those provinces and were not yet prepared to send any troops there. When I suggested patrolling by planes I was told it was too risky because of impossibility of landing in an emergency.
- 5.
- Ras Seyum the Italians claim to have captured; also Dejazmatch Wandwossen, Ras Kassa’s eldest son. Ras Imru still has a force somewhere west of Ambo and Ras Desta is believed to be in Sidamo. In Lekempti, the province due west of Addis Ababa, Dejazmatch Gabre Mariam, a Galla who is the hereditary ruler there, has set up a government of his own and is reported to keep good order. Jimma, which like Lekempti is a Galla province, is being held by Kantiba Tanna an ex-mayor of Addis Ababa. He too is said to have the situation fairly well in hand. In Wallega a certain Fitoraori Johannes, another Galla and son of a former chief there, appears to have assumed control but with what success is unknown here.
- 6.
- The Italians themselves admit that the disarming of the natives has been very slow and unsatisfactory. For example, Badoglio told me that in Addis Ababa only 400 rifles had been collected which is a ludicrous figure considering that nearly every Abyssinian habitually carried a rifle of some sort. In the provinces the proportion is doubtless even smaller and convoys between here and Dessie continue to be attacked.
- 7.
- The above is not intended to convey the impression that properly constituted political entities exist which govern portions of the country in the name of the Emperor or that any large organized forces are in the field even in those areas where no Italian soldiers have so far been seen. I merely wish to point out that certain obvious difficulties are only just beginning for the Italians and that even if they are left in undisturbed possession by the other powers it may be 6 months or more before the whole country can be properly garrisoned.
Engert