ERITREA AND ABYSSINIA SIR,—Suggestions have appeared in your columns and
elsewhere that the hill country of the late Italian colony of Eritrea should be transferred to the Sudan, and that only the low-lying lands, mainly desert, and the inferior port of Assab, should be allotted to Ethiopia. That this would be extremely unfair to Ethiopia is obvious to those who are familiar with the facts as they present themselves to the Ethiopians. When the Italians landed at Massawa in 1885 the hill country included the Hamasien province of the Ethiopian Empire and the northern part of the province of Tigre ; and the Italian seizure of the Eritrean plateau was both politi- cally and militarily opposed by the Ethiopians.
Ethnically the peoples of most of Eritrea are identical with the inhabi- tants of Northern Ethiopia and they speak the same language ; also the majority of the population are Christians in the Ethiopian branch of the Coptic Church. In the disposal of Eritrea, whilst consulting the wishes of the Eritreans, it is essential that the United Nations should take the long view of the just needs of Ethiopia. For instance, the port of Assab would serve only the central part of Ethiopia, which is served already by the railway leading to Jibuti. Massawa is the natural port of exit and entry for all Northern Ethiopia.
Owing to two major wars having been fought on ber soil, Ethiopia has been violently projected from feudalism into the atmosphere of a modern State. Time will be needed for her to modernise her adminis- tration, especially as the Italians murdered nearly all the young men whom the Emperor Haile Sellassie had had trained abroad in order to equip them for positions of responsibility.
In spite of the dislocation due to the war of liberation, the Ethiopian administration has already been strikingly improved ; the revenue is growing and exceeds expenditure, education is being rapidly extended and provision made for economic and political development. The Parlia- ment of two houses has resumed regular sessions and debates all new laws, and Ethiopia, as a member of the United Nations, has sent delega- tions to all the International Conferences. It is now generally recognised that Ethiopia must have a coastline ; and the only satisfactory solution is the restoration to her of Eritrea.—Yours faithfully, H. STANLEY JEVONS.
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