884.01A/62
The Chief of the Division of Near Eastern Affairs (Ailing) to the First Secretary of the British Embassy (Hayter)
My Dear Mr. Hayter: The American technical mission to Ethiopia, which has been the subject of several recent discussions between us, is now virtually complete as to organization and personnel and expects to leave the United States toward the end of January 1944. A brief indication of its origin, purpose and composition may prove of interest and value to you as background.
In a formal communication dated June 24, 1943,52 Mr. Yilma Deressa, Vice Minister of Finance of Ethiopia, who was then in the United States, expressed the hope that the Government of the United States would send various missions to Ethiopia to assist in the rehabilitation of the country and to help Ethiopia make a greater contribution to the war effort. This hope was reiterated by Mr. Deressa in an aide-mémoire left with President Roosevelt on July 13, 1943, and, in later conversations in the Department of State, Mr. Deressa stated that the Emperor of Ethiopia was anxious to arrange for the sending of three missions in particular, a highway engineering mission, an agricultural mission and a minerals mission. To these three a fourth was added when the Ethiopian Government requested that a medical mission also be sent.
While the original plan drawn up by this Government called for the organization of four separate missions, it was eventually decided that their functions were so interrelated that the missions should be consolidated under a single administrator or Chief of Mission and the present structure of organization reflects that decision. As now constituted, the mission is headed by Mr. E. O. Marsh, an engineer with long experience and excellent background who will act as Chief of Mission, and includes a Chief Engineer’s representative who will accompany the unit during its initial operations, and an Economic Advisor who will study the relations between Ethiopian rehabilitation and Near Eastern supply and who will be drawn, if possible, from American representation on the Middle East Supply Center in order to secure effective liaison with the Center. The technical personnel accompanying them includes a head civil engineer, a structural engineer, a construction engineer, an expert in mining and minerology, an expert geologist, an animal husbandry expert, an agronomist and an expert in public health. An executive secretary brings the staff of the mission to a total of twelve members.
The mission is sponsored by the Foreign Economic Administration and the Department of State. It is expected that the mission will be [Page 123] able to lend advice and assistance to the Ethiopian Government in connection with problems of road construction, repair and maintenance, repair, maintenance and operation of public works, agricultural production and animal husbandry, exploration and development of mineral resources and the encouragement of better sanitation and public health. The mission may be described as exploratory in character, but it is anticipated that a considerable amount of actual work will be undertaken and concrete results obtained. The activities of the mission are expected to be complementary to those of other organizations and individuals giving similar aid to Ethiopia and should make a genuine contribution to the economic rehabilitation, health and welfare of Ethiopia and its people.
I shall be glad to let you know when the mission eventually departs for Ethiopia and to provide further information concerning the activities of the mission should it be of interest to you.53
Sincerely yours,
- Missing from Department files.↩
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In a letter of March 31, 1944, the Chief of the Division of Near Eastern Affairs informed Mr. Hayter that the technical mission had just departed from the United States, the position of head of the mission having been filled by Mr. Perry A. Fellows, Assistant Chief Engineer of the Foreign Economic Administration (884.01a/76a).
Mr. Fellows arrived in Addis Ababa on May 2, 1944, with James M. Landis, American Director of Economic Operations in the Middle East; both were immediately received the same day by Emperor Haile Selassie (884.01a/81).
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