884.014/41
Memorandum by the Chief of the Division of Near Eastern Affairs (Murray)
Mr. John H. Spencer, formerly adviser to the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told me yesterday that the Anglo-Ethiopian Boundary Commission, which was surveying territory in the vicinity [Page 83] of the Ethiopian-British Somaliland boundary at the time of the Wal Wal incident in 1934, was established as a result of lengthy secret negotiations between Great Britain and Ethiopia. On the Ethiopian side these negotiations were carried out in large part by Mr. Everett Colson. The negotiations were unknown to any of the other foreign advisers in Ethiopia and were equally unknown to all but a few high Ethiopian officials. According to Mr. Spencer the negotiations envisaged the transfer of a large area of Ethiopia to British Somaliland. I asked Mr. Spencer if these very negotiations might not have been the factor which precipitated the Wal Wal incident. In this connection I pointed out that if the Italians had any information that the British were actually seeking to obtain Ethiopian territory they (the Italians) might have felt that it was necessary for them to take immediate and drastic action to prevent such a cession. Mr. Spencer said that this was the natural conclusion, but he seemed to doubt whether the Italians were actually aware of the negotiations. However, in view of the excellent Intelligence Service which the Italians maintained in Ethiopia, it is hardly possible that they would not have known of such negotiations.
Mr. Spencer also stated that on at least two occasions prior to the Wal Wal incident the Emperor had endeavored to induce the British Government to declare a protectorate over Ethiopia with his (the Emperor’s) concurrence.