27

reuniting all the Somalis —an aim which, at the purely practical level, might not be furthered by reintroducing Italian administrative methods and the Italian language to an area which for nearly a decade had used the English language and had been trained in British administrative methods. Above all, he had maintained that the people of the territories were entitled to expect from the General Assembly the most careful and earnest judgment based on the universal principles of equity, justice, and fair dealing. Not convinced that the proposed resolution wasindeed in the interests of the people of Somaliland, and despite the expressions of confidence by the United States and many other representatives in the intentions of the new democratic Italy, the New Zealand delegation abstained from voting both in the Committee and in the Assembly. The General Assembly adopted the First Committee's proposals for Somaliland by 48 votes in favour, 7 against (the Soviet group, Yugoslavia,, and Ethiopia), and 3 abstentions (Liberia, New Zealand, and Sweden)Eritrea In May, 1949, the First Committee had accepted by the large majority of 36 votes to 6 the first part of the Bevin-Sforza Eritrean proposal providing for the allocation of part of Eritrea to Ethiopia, and had rejected by 19 to 16 the second part by which the remainder would have been joined to the Sudan. It might have been expected that Ethiopia'sclaims would be assured of satisfaction six months later. Quite the opposite was the case, however, and the Assembly's decisions on Eritrea and Somaliland left the Ethiopian delegation profoundly disturbed and disappointed. The United States and the United Kingdom maintained their beliefs and presented draft resolutions to the effect, that the central and easternprovinces should be ceded to Ethiopia (subject to guarantees for Italian and other minorities and to the provision of municipal charters for the City of Asmara and the Port of Massawa) and that the western provinces should be incorporated in the Western Sudan. In the six months between the two Assemblies, however, Italy's stand had changed, and with it the stand of most Latin American delegations. Italy now asked that Eritrea be granted independence, maintaining that theEritreans had proved conscious of their maturity and determined to assert it * and many of the Latin American representatives who a few months previously, when Italy was seeking the trusteeship, had claimed that Eritrea was far from ready for independence, now supported its immediate independence. Several Moslem delegations, moreover, with Sir Zafrullah Khan (Pakistan) as the most effective speaker, mistrusted the solution of partition, which, they felt, would place the large Moslemminority of Eritrea under the control of the ruling Christian Coptic hierarchy of Ethiopia.