811.24 Ordnance/358: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Ambassador in France (Straus)
295. (1) Last March the Department shipped 6 rifles, 6 pistols and 600 rounds of ammunition, together with gas masks, saddles, etc., for use by our Legation at Addis Ababa. It now appears that this shipment has been held at Djibouti by the French authorities for several months.
(2) As the Department is most anxious to provide the Legation at Addis Ababa with means of self-protection in case of need you should make urgent representations to the French Government for the issuance of orders which will facilitate the immediate forwarding of the shipment to Engert.
(3) For your confidential information, the French Minister at Addis Ababa has explained the delay as follows:
The Governor of French Somaliland is not by law empowered to allow any arms to be shipped to Ethiopia unless authorization of “Ethiopian Government” has first been obtained. Permit by Italian authorities in occupation cannot be substituted and the Governor has consistently refused all requests for transit of arms and munitions from every source. The Governor fears that if he made one exception he would have to make others as the Italians have repeatedly asked for special consideration as regards shotguns, revolvers, etc., of a non-military character, but he has declined in every instance.
(4) The Department assumes that the difficulty cited by the Governor of French Somaliland relates to the treaty of August 21, 1930,41 regulating the importation into Ethiopia of arms, ammunition and implements of war. As this agreement specifies that its purpose is to “insure an effective supervision over the trade in arms and munitions” for the “preservation of internal order”, the Department is of the opinion that its provisions should not be applied to arms destined for the defense of the American Legation against possible internal disturbances. The Department is strengthened in this view by the exemptions provided in Article 15 in favor of arms dispatched to the forces of the signatory powers wherever located. If necessary you may bring the contents of this paragraph to the attention of the French authorities.
Please keep the Department promptly informed of developments.
- Signed at Paris by Great Britain, France, Italy, and Ethiopia; for text, see British and Foreign State Papers, vol. cxxxiv, p. 332.↩