111. Telegram From the Department of State to the Embassy in Ethiopia1
229. Embtel 252.2 Please deliver following personal message from me to Aklilou:
“Since our conversations in London,3 I have had very much in mind your Government’s request for military and development assistance [Page 330] from this Government. I have looked carefully into this matter in the spirit of cooperation and mutual interest which have characterized the long and happy relationship between our two governments. I am now pleased to inform you that we are willing to undertake a program which is, I believe, responsive to Ethiopia’s military needs this year and will, at the same time, make significant contribution to the development of your country.
“In addition to the substantial technical assistance program already in operation, this Government is willing to provide in the current fiscal year: 1) a program of $5 million assistance for the Ethiopian Army; 2) one naval patrol craft to be delivered in Fiscal Year 1957; and 3) a program of economic assistance to be based on such soundly-conceived projects as we may mutually agree, the total costs to be under $5 million. This Government is also willing to accede to the suggestion of the Ethiopian Government for a survey of Ethiopian Air Force capabilities, with the understanding that such a survey is not to be considered as a commitment of US support to a future aid program for the air force.
“With respect to the military assistance program, while it is contemplated that the funds will be obligated in the current year, it may not be possible to complete all deliveries in that period.
“May I say again how much I enjoyed talking to you in London and how confident I am that our two countries will continue to maintain the same close relationships which have benefited us both so greatly in the past.”
FYI, if the GOE raises question future program you should say it will be necessary take into account US legislative authority and availability of funds, as well as Ethiopia’s own capacity to support resulting programs.4
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, 775.5–MSP/10–1356. Secret; Niact. Repeated to USCINCEUR, Asmara, Paris, and London.↩
- Telegram 252 from Addis Ababa, October 13, presented the country team assessment of the assistance requirements of Ethiopia. (Ibid.)↩
- Dulles met with Aklilou on August 18 and 24 and September 21, in London where they were both present for the Suez Canal Conferences. At their second meeting, Aklilou commented that the U.S. military aid program was slow to materialize. Rountree responded that he hoped a plan would soon be ready. (Memorandum of conversation prepared by the U.S. Delegation at London, August 24; ibid., Conference Files: Lot 62 D 181, 760) During his visit to Ethiopia, Senator Theodore Francis Green of Rhode Island, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, had an audience with the Emperor September 18, and was sent an aide-mémoire by the Emperor’s Private Secretary on September 21, which left him in no doubt as to Haile Selassie’s dissatisfaction with the delays and limitations of the military aid program. This anxiety was heightened by the fact that the details of the fiscal year 1957 program were not yet available. (Despatch 59 from Addis Ababa, September 24; ibid., Central Files, 775.5–MSP/9–2456)↩
- Aklilou’s immediate response, upon receipt of the Secretary’s message on October 17, was that the military aid figures were too low. (Telegram 270 from Addis Ababa, October 18; ibid., 775.5–MSP/10–1856) Aklilou’s official response, given to Simonson on October 19, expressed his appreciation for the Secretary’s personal interest in the matter and noted his satisfaction regarding the promised development assistance and the U.S. offer to survey Ethiopia’s Air Force capabilities. Furthermore, he noted the Emperor’s pleasure that military support would be “placed on basis permitting rational development according to agreed program, rather than on separate and fresh re-examination annually.” (Telegram 283 from Addis Ababa, October 23; ibid., 775.5–MSP/10–2356)↩