The Ethiopian Campaign and French Political Thought

Chapter Eight: The Covenant of the League of Nations

49 During the Peace Conference, the word spread to Addis Ababa that the French government was prepared to cede Djibouti to Italy.1 The Regent, Prince Ras Tafari (Haile Selassie) believed that there was a threat to Ethiopian independence and proposed, afterwards, to seek his country’s entrance into the League of Nations; the proposal obtained the support of the French government, but the French, facing the hostility of Great Britain, had to give up pursuit of implementing the proposal. In 1922 the British press took up a campaign against Ethiopia, which we have described. In September of the same Chapter Eight T h e C ov e na n t of t h e L e agu e of Nations 50 | The Ethiopian Campaign and French Political Thought year, when the League of Nations put the question of slavery on its work agenda, the New Zealand delegate submitted an act of accusation against the Ethiopian government; at the Council meeting, which took place in June 1923, the French representative expressed the wish that the Ethiopian government be heard: the Italian delegate refused. Then, some French friends counseled the Regent Tafari to address a request for admission to the secretariat of the League of Nations. The petition, dated 19 August 1923, was supported by the French government, whose president was Raymond Poincaré who was represented in Geneva by Henry de Jouvenel. Let us try to untangle what were the most important characteristics in the debate that ensued. 1. It was France that led the charge, and to its delegates are owed the merit and responsibility for Ethiopia’s entry into the League of Nations. Those who have stated, in regard to the Italo-Ethiopian conflict, that the League of Nations is only an instrument of the Foreign Office have forgotten, or have pretended to forget, that Ethiopia was admitted to the League of Nations at the price of the victory of French influence over British influence. 2. The opposition was led by Great Britain; it was vehement , obstinate, and made use of arguments similar to those that Italy developed in 1935 to obtain Ethiopia’s exclusion. 3. Italy’s attitude remained reserved for a while; it does not seem right to say, as has often been done, that Ethiopia was admitted at Geneva through the request of France and Italy; the Italian delegate ultimately gave in to de Jouvenel’s arguments, but from the totality of his remarks it seems rather that he had favored delaying tactics. 4. Did Ethiopia fulfill the legally required conditions for its entry into the League of Nations? The reports presented on this subject lead to a conclusion in the affirmative; they The Covenant of the League of Nations | 51 leave, however, the impression of reservations and hesitations on several points of great importance: the authority of the central government, the determination of borders, fidelity to international agreements, arms and munitions trafficking , and the struggle against slavery. 5. De Jouvenel, in accord with the policy that France followed after its settlement on the Somali coast, conducted himself as a resolute partisan for Ethiopian independence, and an open friend of Ethiopia; he trusted in Prince Tafari’s desire for reform; he affirmed that Ethiopia’s entry into the League of Nations was the surest way to achieve the speedy abolition of the abuses and disorders in the Empire’s current situation. 6. In entering the League of Nations, Ethiopia had undertaken some reform commitments; and the League of Nations , for its part, had committed itself to that labor of reform. It does not appear that, on either side, these commitments were fully observed. Materiel impossibilities, negligence, bad faith? Let us merely recall that in 1934, eleven years after Ethiopia’s entry into the League of Nations, no effective determination was reached whether Walwal, located according to the theoretical border inside Ethiopia and more than a hundred kilometers away from Italian territories, belonged to Ethiopia or Italian Somalia. Was Ethiopia’s admission into the League of Nations, unanimously declared by the Assembly on 28 September 1923 a mistake? This is the view not only of all the cynics, but also of several loyal and fervent advocates of international law. It would be outside our present purposes to take sides on this question. By way of a reminder of principles, we will only say here that if participation in the rights of a member of the...