UNITED STATES SECURITY AGREEMENTS AND COMMITMENTS ABROAD ETHIOPIA MONDAY, JUNE 1, 1970 UNITED STATES SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE ON U.S. SECURITY AGREEMENTS AND COMMITMENTS ABROAD OF THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS, Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to recess, at 10:05 a.m. in room S-116, the Capitol Building, Senator Stuart Symington (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Present: Senators Symington and Fulbright. Also present: Mr. Holt, Mr. Paul, and Mr. Pincus of the committee staff. David Newsom, Assistant Secretary for African Affairs, Department of State; George Bader, office of the Assistant Secretary for International Security Affairs, Department of Defense; Sophocles H. Hero, Office of the General Counsel, Department of Defense; Lt. Col. Melvin G. Goodweather, OSAF; Elizabeth G. Verville, attorney, Department of State, Office of Legal Adviser; Charles N. Brower, Assistant Legal Adviser for European Affairs, Department of State; John G. Kormann, Regional Politico-Military Adviser for Africa, Department of State; Gordon R. Beyer, Country Officer for Ethiopia, Department of State; Capt. Carl C. Hilscher, staff assistant, Africa region, Department of Defense; Peter Knaur, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense, International Security Affairs; Joseph J. Wolf, Bureau of Politico-Military Affairs, Department of State; and H. G. Torbert, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Congressional Relations, Department of State. Senator SYMINGTON. The committee will come to order. Today we will take up the matter of U.S. commitments in Ethiopia. The principal witness is Mr. David Newsom, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs. He is accompanied by Mr. George Bader from the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs. Will everybody rise, as it is the custom, and take the oath. Please raise your right hand. Do you swear the testimony you give the subcommittee will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God? Mr. NEWSOM. I do. Mr. BADER. I do. Senator SYMINGTON. Please be seated. Will you identify yourself reading from left to right as to who you are and who you represent. Mr. HERO. Sophocles Hero, Office of the Secretary of Defense. Colonel GOODWEATHER. Lieutenant Colonel Good weather. Mrs. VERVILLE. Elizabeth Verville, Office of the Legal Adviser, Department of State. Mr. BROWER. Charles Brower, Assistant Legal Adviser for European Affairs, Department of State. Mr. KORMANN. John Kormann, Regional Politico-Military Adviser for Africa, Department of State. Mr. BEYER. Gordon Beyer, Country Officer for Ethiopia, Department of State. Captain HILSCHER. Capt. Carl Hilscher, staff assistant, Africa region, Department of Defense. Mr. WOLF. Joseph Wolf, Bureau of Politico-Military Affairs, State Department. Mr. KNAUR. Peter Knaur, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs. Senator SYMINGTON. Thank you. I understand you have a statement, Mr. Newsom. Senator SYMINGTON. Mr. Secretary, will you read it? TESTIMONY OF HON. DAVID D. NEWSOM, ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE FOR AFRICAN AFFAIRS; ACCOMPANIED BY GEORGE W. BADER, DIRECTOR, AFRICA REGION, OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE, INTERNATIONAL SECURITY AFFAIRS Mr. NEWSOM. Right. Mr. Chairman, at the suggestion of the committee, I am pleased to appear today to review our relations with Ethiopia. HISTORICAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN UNITED STATES AND ETHIOPIA Ethiopia has occupied a special place in U.S. relations with Africa for many years. As an historic land and as one of two independent black African nations prior to World War II, this land was of particular interest to our country and to our Negro citizens. We established diplomatic relations in 1903. The interest widened when the Emperor appeared dramatically before the League of Nations in 1936, to protest the invasion of his country. He was one of the first apostles of collective security. Our role in the liberation of Ethopia by the Allied forces in 1941 was minor. Nevertheless, in gratitude for the support which the United States and President Roosevelt had given to Ethiopia's struggle for freedom, the Emperor provided a plot of land adjacent to a royal palace for our Embassy. Official relations became somewhat closer in 1942 when Averell Harriman visited Eritrea, a liberated Italian colony, and made contact with Ethiopian officials. The possibility of the United States use of a communications center site at Asmara in Eritrea was raised shortly thereafter. The site was technically a particularly desirable one. When North Korea invaded South Korea on June 25, 1950, the United Nations shortly thereafter authorized the United States to lead a U.N. force in defense of the South. Ethiopia, backed by the Emperor's consciousness of collective security responsibilities, responded with troops. Ethiopian units fought beside ours in one of the most significant contributions from any Afro-Asian country. The close cooperation was further signaled on May 22, 1953, when two agreements were signed between the United States and Ethiopia. One permitted the use by the United States until 1978 of communications facilities at Kagnew Station in Asmara. The second governed the provision of grant military assistance and training to the Ethiopian forces. These agreements are a matter of public record. In the 1950's, also, the march of African countries toward independence began. In the view of many, Africa hung in the balance during those years. European nations, no longer content to bear the burden of colonial rule, and under increasing world pressure to relinquish control, accelerated the pace of independence. The Soviets watched from the sidelines, expecting to have a place of particular influence in the postindependence world. Skeptics in Europe doubted Africans could manage their affairs. Extremists in Africa projected plans and issued slogans beyond reality. ETHIOPIA'S CONTRIBUTION TO A UNIFIED AFRICA During this critical period, the prestige and the voice of the Emperor was of critical value in guiding the new nations into responsible nationhood and into communication with one another. All nations, including our own, who sought stability and cohesion in the nations of Africa and who sought to insulate Africa from the wider world struggle, owe him a debt. Quick to perceive the great desire of the Africans for a symbol of their unity, yet conscious of the unreality of many proposals, he worked with great skill and diligence to bring into being the Organization of African Unity. Addis Ababa became its headquarters. We may not be in full agreement at all times with the actions and policies of the Organization of African Unity. We have on numerous occasions, however, expressed our support for the generally stabilizing and constructive influence it has exerted on African events. Once more it is the Emperor who shares a large measure of the credit for the results. Both as a leader in the OAU and as an individual with prestige unsurpassed in Africa, the Emperor has personally used his influence to assist the solution of critical African problems. His efforts at mediation in the border dispute between Algeria and Morocco in 1963 averted a crisis which could have had significant consequences for all states interested in the Mediterranean area. In the several years of crisis in the Congo, Ethiopia and the Emperor supported the United Nations efforts and worked directly to bring about stability in that country. Today the recovery of the Congo shows the wisdom of the Emperor's approach and the benefits of Ethiopia's contribution. In the Nigerian civil war, the Emperor worked quietly to avert a graver crisis among African nations and to bring about peace within Nigeria, itself. His willingness to share his thoughts and counsel with us during this critical period was of great value in our own assessments of African opinion and the course of events. To recount these various ways in which Ethiopia and the Emperor have contributed to the stability of Africa and to our own interests in Africa, is not intended to eulogize, but to place in perspective the emphasis we have put on Ethiopia in the allocation of our official resources in Africa. Events and a commonness of interest brought us into close cooperation with Ethiopia. These factors, also, inevitably brought us into direct contact with some of Ethiopia's own problems. ETHIOPIA'S OWN PROBLEMS Ethiopia is a country of more than 40 different ethnic groups. Two of the groups, the Amharas and the Tigres, have dominated in the governing of Ethiopia. The Emperor's rule is highly personal, but from its first days he has recognized the need to develop more modern institutions of government. Recently his efforts have begun to bear fruit. In such a land, it is not surprising that there are pressures from within for greater autonomy for the ethnic groups and for modernization of society and government. Ethiopia is a poor land. Illiteracy is widespread (95 percent); the general health of the people is poor (malaria alone reduces the effectiveness of the labor force by 25 percent); the standard of living is low (gross national product is $64 per year per person); the impact of scientific and modern ways is a disrupting element in a traditional society; there is a paucity of reliable information concerning the country's true resources. Two adjacent former Italian colonies present special problems. U.S. MILITARY ASSISTANCE TO ETHIOPIA Between 1953 and 1960 we began the provision of grant military assistance under the agreement previously mentioned. A military assistance advisory group was established in 1953. During these years we assumed the responsibility for equipping three Ethiopian divisions of 6,000 men each. In 1960, the Somali Republic was formed out of the former British and Italian Somalilands. There were determined voices calling for the unity of all Somalis, including the large number who graze in Ethiopia's Ogaden. [Deleted.] The government turned to us for further help. [Deleted.] They requested an increase in equipment for each division to support 8,000 men and equipment for a fourth division. After extensive discussions, we agreed to provide the equipment [deleted] for a fourth Ethiopian Army division. [Deleted.] Through the years, since THREAT TO ETHIOPIA Senator SYMINGTON. What was the danger involved there? Mr. NEWSOM. The Somali Republic, Mr. Chairman, came into independence claiming or calling for the reunion of what it considered |