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The Italian Colonies and the General Assembly

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 May 2009

Benjamin Rivlin
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Extract

The General Assembly of the United Nations fell heir to one of the most vexing and obdurate problems of the postwar diplomatic scene when in September 1948 the big four powers referred to it the problem of the disposition of the Italian colonies. For over three years, the Big Four had wrestled ineffectually with this problem. Despite the deliberations of special deputies of the Council of Foreign Ministers for nearly a year, the efforts of a Four Power Commission of Investigation which visited the colonies, and the advice of nineteen other interested governments, the future of the colonies remained undetermined on September 15, 1948, one year after the coming into force of the treaty of peace with Italy. On that date, the authority of the Big Four to decide the future of the colonies expired according to Annex XI of the Italian peace treaty, which provided that in the event of failure of France, Britain, the USSR and the United States to agree to a solution, the matter was to be referred to the United Nations General Assembly.

Type
Articles
Information
International Organization , Volume 3 , Issue 3 , August 1949 , pp. 459 - 470
Copyright
Copyright © The IO Foundation 1949

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References

1 Several analytical summaries of the negotiations are: McKay, Vernon, “The Future of Italy's Realities: The Italian Colonies”, Foreign Policy Reports, 01 1,1946Google Scholar; Haines, C. G., “The Problem of the Italian Colonies,” The Middle East Journal, Vol. I, No. 4, 10 1947Google Scholar and Matthews, L., “Politics and Realities: The Italian Colonies,” American Perspective, 10 1948Google Scholar.

2 For text of Annex XI, see Department of State publication 2743, p. 88.

3 United Nations Press Release GA/PS/179, April 6, 1949.

4 Text of the United States proposal can be found in Department of State publication 2669. The discussion in Byrnes, James F., Speaking Frankly, New York, 1947, p. 92–94, is especially pertinent on this pointGoogle Scholar.

5 Matthews, op. cit., contains a good analysis of the Italian population problem in relation to the colonies.

6 Article 21 of the treaty of peace with Italy.

7 The actual reports of the Commission of Investigation have not been made public. The French have released official summaries as Notes Documentaires et Etudes, No. 1025 (Eritrea and Somaliland) and No. 1026 (Libya). Newspaper summaries of the reports have appeared in The Times (London), Manchester Guardian and New York Times on 07 22 and 28, 1948Google Scholar.

8 New York Times, December 7, 1948.

9 For summary of discussions at the second part of the third session see this issue, p. 471.

10 New York Times, May 10, 1949.

11 United Nations Press Release PM/1293, May 9, 1949, p. 2.

12 See dispatches in the New York Times on May 12, 15, 16, and 18, 1949.

13 United Nations Press Release GA/PS/217, May 10, 1949.