Negotiating A New Agreement
Despite Ethiopian distaste for the agreement, both the Emperor and his innermost group of Ministers were reluctant to actually submit the notice required to end the agreement. A set of proposals for a new agreement submitted to the British at the beginning of 1944 was summarily rejected. As John Spencer, an American advisor to Ethiopia in international law during this period, explains, "They feared retaliation in the form of a re-occupation of the province of Tigré, south of Eritrea, and of Sidamo and Gemu Gofa bordering on Kenya, and just possibly other areas in the west such as the provinces of Wollega and Illubabor. These fears were the subject of endless discussions with me." In the end, Ethiopian officials overcame their trepidation and had the three-month notice of termination delivered to the British charge d'affaires 25 May 1944 along with a request for the prompt negotiations of a new agreement. By this time, the United States had not only re-established its diplomatic mission in Ethiopia, but declared the country eligible for Lend-Lease, providing a vital tool to Ethiopian officials in their negotiation with the United Kingdom.
The initial British response was silence. Only after the Ethiopian government reminded them of the expiry of the agreement 16 August and that they were looking forward receiving possession of the railway and administration of the Ogaden and Reserved Area, did the British respond. Initially the British attempted to delay the termination of the agreement, claiming it could not accommodate the Ethiopian demands, and settled for a two-month extension for the date to hand the properties over. A negotiating team led by the Earl de la Warr arrived 26 September, and over the following months both sides argued until 19 December 1944, when a new Anglo-Ethiopian agreement was signed and Britain agreed to relinquish several advantages they had enjoyed in Ethiopia. Specifically Britain would: remove her garrisons, except from the Ogaden; open Ethiopia's airfields (heretofore restricted to British traffic) to all Allied aircraft; and give up direct control of the Ethiopian section of the Addis Ababa-Djibouti railroad. The new agreement also revoked British precedence over other foreign representatives. But perhaps more important was the use of the word "Ally" in the agreement. Not only did this remove any further basis for considering Ethiopia "enemy territory" -- as General Mitchell had claimed—but it also prevented Ethiopia from being denied a seat at the future peace conference, and made it harder for the British to permanently keep the Ogaden and Reserved Areas without jeopardizing the territorial status of other allies.
Despite these gains, the process of reversing the effects of World War II on Ethiopia did not completely end until 1954 when Ethiopia was restored to its internationally recognized borders of 1935, prior to the Italian invasion.
Read more about this topic: Anglo-Ethiopian Agreement
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