First published in 1953, this book deals with the last decade of the struggle to reunite Eritrea to the Ethiopian motherland from which it was torn by Italian conquest in the last quarter of the 19th century.   

The liberation of ex-Italian Eritrea after seventy years of colonial rule, its federation to Ethiopia, and the restoration of untrammeled access to the sea for the Ethiopian people after more than four hundred years of land-locked isolation, are well documented in this book.

Little understood outside the Ethiopian-Eritrean Federation, this book was written while the stories were recent and vivid in mind, and still in the realm of controversy and discussion.

While most African colonies began to agitate for independence after World War II, Ethiopia was faced with a different challenge. It had already acquired independence more than two millennia ago during the fourth century BC, but it was still the victim of colonial offenses â€” the most glaring of which is the loss of Eritrea to Italy.

This book is “the penultimate chapter” in Sylvia Pankhurst’s work on Ethiopia. It documents the political challenge of deciding the fate of Eritrea. Readers will be able to experience what life was like as the last vestiges of colonialism gave way to the era of Independence. Moreover, they will gain an understanding of how previous political decisions affect the region today.

Preface by Richard Pankhurst 

Foreword    

Introduction 

CHAPTERS

The Pledges Flutter Down 

The Colony as the British Found It 

The Establishment of British Administration 

Italian Sabotage Under the Cloak of Collaboration 

The Growth of the Unionist Movement 

The Editor of New Times and Ethiopia News Visits the Territory 

The Diplomatic Struggle Opens 

The Four Power Inquiry Commission 

At the Bar of the United Nations 

Eritrean Youth Becomes Militant 

At the United Nations Again 

The United Nations Commission of Enquiry 

A Decision at Last 

The Dismantling of the Ports 

Asmara After 60 years of Colonial and Caretaker Government 

Awaiting the Transfer of Power 

The Head of the Federation’s Triumphal Visit 

Appendix

The Administration of Eritrea as Proposed by the Ethiopian Government in 1946

Four Power Commission: Statistical Methods 

The Eritrean Constitution as Ratified September 11, 1952 

Eritrea’s Deficit Economy 

Index