HC Deb 12 November 1952 vol 507 c923
12 and 13. Mr. Peter Freeman

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (1) what further agreement is being negotiated between Ethiopia and Great Britain, in particular regarding provisions for the British evacuation of the reserved area of Ethiopia; and whether Her Majesty's Government will publish, as a White Paper, the correspondence between the Foreign Office and the Ethiopian Government on this question;

(2) what steps are being taken to withdraw from the reserved area of Ethiopia Which Her Majesty's Government was allowed to occupy for the period of the recent war by the Anglo-Ethiopian Agreement of December, 1944, as a contribution by Ethiopia to the Allied war effort without prejudice to Ethiopia's sovereignty in the area.

The Joint Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Mr. Anthony Nutting)

I would refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave him on 10th November. I should prefer not to publish the correspondence between Her Majesty's Government and the Ethiopian Government until the negotiations now in progress have been concluded.

Mr. Freeman

Was it not agreed that this land should be handed over to the Ethiopian Government at the conclusion of the war? After seven years, could hot some effective action be taken along those lines irrespective of the negotiations which are going on?

Mr. Nutting

The 1944 Agreement was arranged to last until such time as a treaty took its place. There was no limit in the terms of that Agreement relating to the duration of the war.

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