384.11/146: Telegram
The Minister Resident in Ethiopia (Engert) to the Secretary of State
[Received 4:22 p.m.]
339. As it has so far proved impossible to obtain reliable information regarding the welfare of American citizens in the interior, I am [Page 268] sending trustworthy runners to the principal centers with letter from me asking them to reply by the same messengers regarding their safety and plans.
Most of our missionaries are located in the south and southwest, i. e., areas which Italian forces may not reach for weeks or months. I have not even been able to obtain news of one American citizen at Debra Markos and two at Lalibella although both localities are in Italian occupied territory.
Two New Zealand women of the Sudan Interior Mission at Gogetti, some 70 miles due south of Addis Ababa, are reported to be in danger and the British Legation is taking up with the Italian authorities question of their protection or evacuation. No Americans at their stations.