Foreign Relations of the United States, 1946, Paris Peace Conference: Documents, Volume IV

865.014/8–3046

The Counselor of the Italian Embassy (di Stefano) to the Deputy Director of the Office of Near Eastern and African Affairs (Villard)

Washington, August 30, 1946.

My Dear Mr. Villard: Following to our conversations, I am enclosing herewith a short memorandum outlining the amendments which, in view of the Italian Government, should be adopted in the Italian peace treaty draft.

The Italian Government would appreciate it very much if the State Department could give them the most favorable consideration.³⁸

Thanking you again for your constant assistance, I am [etc.]

M[ario] di Stefano

[Enclosure]

Memorandum From the Italian Embassy³⁹

Article XVII, paragraph I, of the Italian peace treaty draft⁴⁰ sets forth Italy’s renunciation of her sovereignty over her colonial possessions.

On June 22nd, the Italian Government in its communications to the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs in Paris, made it known that it would be by no means able to accept the clause of the unconditional renunciation of sovereignty over its African territories.⁴¹

The Italian Government therefore asks that the clause contained in paragraph I be suppressed.

Paragraph II of the same Article XVII provides that Italian possessions remain under the present administration until their fate is definitely decided.

The Italian Government has suggested that the wording of said paragraph read as follows: “Italian territorial possessions in Africa, that is, Libya, Eritrea and Italian Somaliland, shall remain under the present administration until their fate is definitely established.”

However, it would seem necessary to integrate the above-mentioned paragraph so as to establish that the present administration should refrain from altering the status quo. That addition might read as follows:

“The present Administration shall continue to apply the laws governing those territories at the time of the occupation.”

A second addition to the same paragraph should also set forth a wider participation of Italian officials in the administration of said territories during the year before their final assignment.

The addition might read as follows:

“An adequate number of Italian officials shall be placed by the Italian Government at the disposal of the present administration to integrate the present organization and facilitate its normalization.”

As far as paragraph 3 is concerned, the Italian Government expresses the wish that to the joint declaration of the four Governments therein referred to, be added a phrase which, while reaffirming the principals of the San Francisco Charter, take[s] into consideration the Italian interests in those territories.

38. In a memorandum dated September 18, the Department of State acknowledged the receipt of the Italian memorandum and indicated that it had been transmitted to the United States Delegation in Paris for appropriate action (865.014/8–3046).
39. Confidential reports from unnamed sources in the possession of the Italian Government regarding conditions in Tripolitania and Eritrea, not printed, were appended to this memorandum.
40. For text, see pp, 1, 12.
41. The note from the Italian Ambassador in the United States to the Acting Secretary of State on this subject, dated June 25, is printed in vol. ii, p. 628.