865D.00/26
The Vice Consul at Aden (Chiperfield) to the Secretary of State
[Received January 8, 1938.]
Sir: …
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
American missionaries are slowly leaving Ethiopia, as are the missionaries of all nations. They are unwelcome in the country, though the Italians cannot be said to have treated them discourteously or unjustly. The Italians have reserved the right to educate the natives themselves, but Mr. Duff informs me that his mission has continued with its ecclesiastical teaching and services entirely unmolested. The Italians have been appreciative of the hospital and medical work now being carried on by the missionaries, but it is known that as soon as the Italians are prepared to take over all this work themselves, they will do so. One of the works of Mr. Duff’s mission has been the establishment of a leper hospital, which now has about eighty inmates. The new cases delivered to the hospital by the Italians after their occupation of Addis Ababa, are adequately supported by funds from the Italian authorities. There are now 25 American missionaries in Addis Ababa; none are known to be elsewhere in Ethiopia. [Page 717] There is transmitted as an enclosure a list of these Americans21 as supplied by Mr. Duff. They are believed to be the only Americans now in Ethiopia.
The chief difficulty being experienced by the missionaries is that their property is being taken over by the Italians, but in each case a fair price is being paid, usually the first figure asked by the mission itself. Thus the missionaries are being slowly pushed from the country, and Mr. Duff predicts that within one year all the Americans will probably have left. Five of the Americans mentioned above have planned to leave the country on or about December 10, 1937, and it is presumed that they have now departed. Most of the missionaries upon leaving will go into the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan or Kenya Colony. The missionaries have, of course, been disheartened because their activities in the interior have been completely stopped, as no civilians are now allowed to reside outside the cities. These regulations, of course, apply to all civilians, and the missionaries have made no complaints to the authorities.
Respectfully yours,
- Not printed.↩