A tale of two lions: Haile Selassie and Belgium - part 3

The Belgian Military Missions in Ethiopia (1930–1935)

One of the first priorities Emperor Haile Selassie set himself after his coronation on 2 November 1930 was the reorganization and modernization of his troops. That he called upon Belgian assistance for this purpose can likely be explained by several factors. France, Great Britain, and Italy were all already active along Ethiopia's borders. Belgium, by contrast, was a small European nation that would pose no immediate threat to any of these military powers and, at the same time, could draw upon considerable experience on African soil thanks to its presence in the Belgian Congo.

Initially, the Belgians were tasked with providing the Imperial Guard[i] with a Western-style training. The Guard was to become an elite corps, thereby strengthening the Emperor's personal authority.

The Belgian officers achieved excellent results, owing chiefly to two factors: they adapted Western training methods, where necessary, to the mentality of the Ethiopians, and they were led by the capable Major Ernest Polet, who, as a former member of the Force Publique in the Belgian Congo, was well acquainted with African customs.

Brussels hoped to derive certain economic advantages from this military presence, yet, aside from a few major orders placed with FN[ii], Ethiopian interest largely failed to materialize.

In April 1933 a second contingent of four Belgian officers arrived in Ethiopia, and for the first time Haile Selassie began to consider the defence of the provinces. To that end, he entrusted three instructors, Lieutenants de Ceunynck, de Meulenaer and Vandendriessche, with the establishment of a new training centre at Goba, capital of the strategically important region of Bale, which was regarded as vulnerable to possible British attacks from British East Africa (present-day Kenya) or Italian aggression from Somalia.

At the same time, the Imperial Court appointed four Belgian gendarmerie officers (Major Leclaire, Captain Coppenolle, and Lieutenants Verachtert and Vanderoost) to reorganize the gendarmerie of Addis Ababa. This police mission was intended, on a European model, to bring order to the capital while simultaneously reinforcing Ethiopia's modern image in the eyes of Western diplomats.

In keeping with the same logic, in November 1933 the Ethiopian Mekonnen Deneke was also sent to Belgium to receive training at the Royal Gendarmerie School of Ixelles. For Deneke, this training marked the beginning of a particularly successful military career that would ultimately lead him to the rank of brigadier general.

The project, however, failed: the Belgian officers became confused by local customs, and their work was sabotaged by the head of the municipal administration, who refused to cooperate with whites. Owing to these difficulties, the mission could not be maintained and was recalled after scarcely a year.

In a third phase, considerations of foreign policy gained the upper hand. The Emperor, who had become increasingly aware of mounting Italian pressure on Ethiopia's borders, decided in January 1934 to establish new training centres in the strategically important provinces along the frontiers with the Italian colonies of Somaliland and Eritrea.

The principal centre, Harar, capital of the province of the same name to the east of Addis Ababa, constituted the bulwark of Ethiopian defence against Somaliland and Italian Somalia. Under the command of Major Auguste Dothée, and with four officers (Captain Listray, Lieutenant Knight de Dieudonné de Corbeek-over-Loo, and Second Lieutenants Tellier and Meys), approximately three thousand soldiers were assembled into two traditional infantry battalions, supplemented by a battery of automatic 20 mm Oerlikon guns (of Swiss manufacture), two squadrons of cavalry, and a company of meharists (camel troops).

In view of the looming Italian invasion, these forces were further reinforced from May 1935 onward by a platoon of bridge-builders, a rudimentary medical service, and a squadron of armoured cars. In order to forestall any offensive plans from Somalia, Lieutenant Cambier formed a corps of roughly one thousand recruits at Irga-Alem, the administrative centre of Sidamo in the south of the country and also the stronghold of Ras Desta, the Emperor's son-in-law but an opponent of the regime. Finally, at Dessie in Wollo, north of Addis Ababa, Captain Motté undertook the training of a roughly equal number of soldiers, destined to confront any potential invasion from Eritrea.

From 1935 onward Mussolini began exerting pressure upon the Belgian government to reduce its military assistance to Ethiopia. First, FN's arms deliveries were suspended, and thereafter the mission itself was recalled, much to the Emperor's displeasure. The attitude adopted by the Belgian government in the Italo-Ethiopian conflict would consequently lead to a cooling of relations between Belgium and Ethiopia for many years.

It should be noted in passing that even after the departure of the Belgian military personnel, an unofficial Belgian military mission remained active in Ethiopia. On 16 September 1935, Prime Minister Van Zeeland was informed that eleven Belgian mercenaries, all retired officers or reservists, had arrived in Addis Ababa, where they were to assist the Ethiopian Emperor with further restructuring of the army and the police corps. Paradoxically, it was Colonel Leopold Reul, well known in his own country for his nationalist and fascist positions, and a man who made no secret of his admiration for Mussolini and his Fascist regime, who assumed command of this motley band.

The Belgian government was by no means pleased with this turn of events. In the name of neutrality it had strictly refrained from any form of support to either Ethiopia or Italy, and the fact that eleven Belgians had taken up the torch of the official mission was regarded as highly problematic. The government therefore attempted to have the mission discontinued by issuing threats and by pointing out that eight of the eleven mercenaries still had military obligations, rendering their presence in Ethiopia unlawful. It was once again emphatically recalled that participation in a foreign army by Belgians with outstanding service obligations was formally prohibited, yet these warnings failed to deter those concerned.

Once in Addis Ababa, Reul and his companions set to work, but their impact remained very limited. Reul himself was tasked with organizing the central headquarters of the Ethiopian armies, a mission which contemporaries considered doomed to failure owing to the deplorable state of communications between the general staff and the troops at the front. Vanden Hende, Henrion, and Bérard were employed at a censorship bureau in the capital, where they checked telegrams and were expected to filter out negative reports concerning Ethiopian atrocities or the chaotic life in Addis Ababa. Lieutenant Armand Frère was sent to the province of Sidamo to train troops there, but came into conflict with Ras Desta Damtew, Shum or Governor and military commander of the region. He was threatened and driven away and was forced to cover on foot the approximately 300 kilometres from Irgalem to Addis Ababa. Lieutenant Adelin de Fraipont, who accompanied the Emperor on inspection tours, was seriously wounded in the arm during Italian bombardments of Dessie, after which he withdrew from active service. Edmond Debois and Gustave Witmeur acted as chief advisers to Ras Nasibu Zeamanuel in the Ogaden and were obliged to collaborate with Mehmet Vehip Kaçı Paşa, a Turkish military adviser to that Ras, whose defensive plans they themselves deemed unrealistic. The restructuring and training of the police were entrusted to Joseph Van Fleteren, who had to carry out this task single-handedly and, like his predecessor Captain Leclaire, soon encountered a glaring lack of means and personnel.

The failure of this unofficial Belgian mercenary mission was therefore ultimately inevitable. Internal Ethiopian tensions, a growing xenophobia towards Europeans, irregular payment, and unclear chains of command rendered the work of the Belgians ever more dangerous. Reul returned to Belgium in early 1936 in ill health and would not return to Ethiopia; the remaining mercenaries followed later, chiefly out of self-preservation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Belgian-Congolese Contribution to the Liberation of Ethiopia (1941)

Belgian-Congolese troops also made a far from insignificant contribution to the liberation of Ethiopia in 1941[iii].

After the German army invaded Belgium on 10 May 1940, a large part of the Belgian government fled abroad, first to France and subsequently to Great Britain, where a government-in-exile was formed. Although the Belgian government in exile initially remained very cautious with regard to participation in Allied operations, Pierre Ryckmans, Governor-General of the Belgian Congo, adopted a far more combative tone from the outset[iv].

The borders of the Belgian Congo were, however, not immediately threatened, and at first matters were therefore limited to martial declarations and material assistance intended to keep the Allied war machine in motion[v].

Yet when the Italians aligned themselves with Germany on 10 June 1940, Ryckmans soon found himself in a position to take action: on 15 October 1940 the Italian sommergibile[vi] Cappellini torpedoed the Belgian-flagged merchant vessel Kabalo near the Azores, and from 25 October 1940 onward the Italians began using Belgian airfields as bases for bombing raids against Great Britain[vii].

Major-General Gilliaert departed from Stanley Pool in the west of the Belgian Congo with several battalions and marched towards Ethiopia; a trek of more than two thousand kilometres across extremely difficult terrain.

On 11 March 1941, the Belgian-Congolese troops, together with men of the British King's African Rifles, surprised the Italian occupation forces stationed at Asosa and subsequently advanced via Gambella to Saio, where they succeeded in bringing the Italian occupier to its knees despite a considerable numerical superiority. The fact that the Italians referred to the Congolese as "niam-niam" ("big eaters") and even attributed to them cannibalistic traits may well have played a part in this.

Belgian-Congolese losses ultimately amounted to some 500 casualties, and these were chiefly due to dysentery, pulmonary ailments such as bronchitis and pneumonia, and beriberi[viii], whereas more than 15,000 Italian troops, including nine generals, laid down their arms and were taken prisoner of war.

The feat of the Congolese soldiers was immortalised in a marching song:

Esengo ya motema ezali na biso                                  The joy in our hearts is great

Po ya kopesa mbote na basoda banso                          Because we wish to salute all the soldiers

Asosa, Gambela, Saio na mboka ya Abisini                In Asosa, Gambela, Saio and in the land of Abyssinia

Basoda ba biso babundi mingi, makasi pe,                 Our soldiers have fought hard and bravely;

na bobangi te, tokamati mboka ya bangunya,             without fear we have seized the land of the enemy

totalisi makasi ya biso                                                   and have shown our strength         

Lelo, tokamati Saio                                                       Today, we have taken Saio

 

Saluti, saluti, pesa saluti,                                              Salute, salute, give the salute,

saluti, saluti, pesa saluti,                                               salute, salute, give the salute,

tokopesa saluti na basoda banso                                   we shall give the salute to all the soldiers,

Tokopesa saluti na basoda banso                                 we shall give the salute to all the soldiers.

 

Biso ba Congole, toyei kotalisa,                                   We, the Congolese, have come to show

mokambo na motema makasi, ya biso                         our courage and steadfast resolve

Lelo, tokamati Saio                                                       Today, we have taken Saio

 

Saluti, saluti, pesa saluti,                                              Salute, salute, give the salute,

saluti, saluti, pesa saluti,                                               salute, salute, give the salute,

tokopesa saluti na basoda banso                                   we shall give the salute to all the soldiers,

Tokopesa saluti na basoda banso                                 we shall give the salute to all the soldiers.

 

from: 'This Is A Good Country: Welcome To The Congo' - Albert Makele, 2008)

 

In Faradje, the home base of the 11th Battalion of the Force Publique, a pyramid-shaped memorial monument was inaugurated in 1943[ix]. In Schaerbeek[x] and Kinshasa[xi], two monuments - strikingly similar in design - still commemorate the merits of the troops of the Force Publique. In 1947, the Commemorative Medal of the Ethiopian Campaign, or Médaille Commémorative de la Campagne d'Abyssinie[xii], was awarded to those who had taken part for at least one year in the Abyssinian campaign between 6 March and 3 July 1941.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reciprocal Diplomacy and Imagery: the Ethiopian Legation in Brussels and Images d'Ethiopie (1948)

 

Exactly twenty-five years after the establishment of a Belgian legation in Addis Ababa, Emperor Haile Selassie deemed the time ripe to open an Ethiopian legation in Brussels as well. On Wednesday 2 June 1948, Tesfaye Teguegn arrived from Paris at Brussels-South, where he was received by the Ethiopian consul in Belgium, Marcel Dupret.

 

For Teguegn, Belgium was by no means entirely unfamiliar territory, for in 1924 he had already taken part, as an interpreter, in the Ethiopian delegation which, under the leadership of the Prince Regent Ras Tafari Makonnen, undertook a diplomatic tour of Europe. Teguegn had, among other things, made his mark at the Compagnie du Chemin de Fer Franco-Éthiopien, at the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and at the Ethiopian Ministry of Press and Information.

 

Ato Tesfaye was able to set to work at once, for on 3 June 1948 the Belgian-Ethiopian Gala was held at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, a benefit in aid of war victims, during which 'Images d'Ethiopie', an acclaimed documentary by the brothers Jean and Paul Pichonnier, was screened that evening; the film would enter competition at the Cannes Film Festival the following year. It was the very first Belgian documentary devoted to Ethiopia, but matters might well have unfolded differently: in the archives of the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Brussels, we came across a letter dating from 1927 in which the Liège-based filmmaker Ernest Genval[xiii] sought permission to travel to Abyssinia in order to film there, a request that was, however, politely declined by the Ethiopian court at the time.

 

With the support of the newly founded charter company Sobelair[xiv], which thereby sought to promote its direct connection between Brussels and Addis Ababa, the brothers travelled to Ethiopia with their equipment, where they recorded, among other things, court life around Emperor Haile Selassie, as well as landscapes, ceremonies, and scenes from everyday life, in an effort to offer the Belgian public a nuanced and contemporary image of the country. In 1948, Le Soir Illustré also published a six-part series of articles by them under the title 'Un Reportage Belge en Éthiopie'.

 

In support, the then Mayor of Brussels, Joseph Van de Meulebroeck, provided them with the following letter of credence addressed to the Ethiopian Emperor:

 

Sire,

 

The memory of the visit which Your Majesty was graciously pleased to pay to the city of Brussels in 1924 remains alive in the hearts of the Belgians; they recall with emotion the respectful and enthusiastic welcome which they were permitted to accord to Him who, at that time, bore the title of Ras Tafari.

 

In the years that followed, they shared in the misfortunes of Your Country and of Your People and applauded the final success of the armies of Your Majesty and of His glorious allies. I therefore have the honour to beg Your Majesty graciously to accept the present letter as a tribute of respectful admiration from the City of Brussels to Your Majesty and to His valiant people.

 

I should have been happy to do so in person, but circumstances compel me to take advantage of the journey to Your Empire of two of my most distinguished fellow citizens, the Messrs. Pichonnier brothers; they have kindly consented to undertake the task of presenting to Your Majesty the album of which they are the authors and which I humbly pray Your Majesty to accept as a token of homage from the city, in remembrance of the visit which She paid to our Town Hall.

 

It is with the sentiments of the most profound gratitude, Sire, that I beg Your Majesty to accept the homage of Your very faithful and most obedient servant,

 

Van de Meulebroeck,

Mayor of Brussels

 

Clearly charmed, Haile Selassie did not fail to entrust the Pichonnier brothers with a personal audio message for the Mayor of Brussels. The original recording is still preserved in the VRT archives, and we gladly reproduce the text of the French translation here:

 

Monsieur le Bourgmestre,

 

We have received the homage which you were good enough to address to Us in the name of the City of Brussels, a homage which has revived the memories We had preserved of Our visit to your city in 1924.

 

The events of recent years have demonstrated the solidarity of the ties which unite Ethiopia and Belgium.

 

When We became convinced that the invasion of Our country, long premeditated by Italy, had become imminent despite Our efforts to ensure, by peaceful means, the respect of Our rights, and in spite of the world's public indignation rallied to Our cause, Ethiopia, which, with its faith in collective security and with a clear conscience, had in no way prepared itself for war, was then compelled to procure arms in order to defend its age-old liberties and repel the invader.

 

The latter, in order to carry out his pre-established plans for easy conquest, employed every means to prevent Us from being supplied with these arms and thereby rendered Our task all the more difficult.

 

Had Belgium, at that moment, not without hesitation opened its doors to Us, and permitted Us to obtain in those renowned factories the arms which were indispensable to Us, the enemy, counting upon securing by his superiority in armament an easy victory, would not have been held in check for seven months to the point of doubting the success of the enterprise. It is evident that his victory remained uncertain until, at the end of the seventh month, he resorted to the use of asphyxiating gases.

 

Subsequently, in 1940, Italy believed it could take reprisals against Belgium for the assistance which She had afforded Us, but at the same time, in Ethiopia, those arms which Belgium had supplied were hewing breaches in the ranks of our common enemies and preparing the way for the final victory of the Allies.

 

The sentiments of friendship which exist between Ethiopia and Belgium have thus proved their worth in the course of the sad events now past, and this new chapter of history brings our two countries still closer together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Between Mission and Commitment: Major-General Dothée in Addis Ababa (1947–1952)

 

One of the extras appearing in the documentary by the Pichonnier brothers is Major-General Auguste Dothée, who, as a major, had already taken part in the Belgian military mission in Ethiopia from 1934 to 1935. In 1947 he returned to Addis Ababa on his own initiative, where, for the next five years, he was placed at the head of the military schools.

 

Under pressure from the Americans, who from 1943 onward maintained a base at Kagnew[xv] near Asmara and sought to expand their influence in Ethiopia, Dothée was obliged to leave the country in 1952. Ethiopia, however, never released its hold upon him, and until his death he remained, in the absence of an official Ethiopian diplomatic representation in Belgium[xvi], a loyal ambassador of Haile Selassie. Dothée died on 20 December 1972 in Schaerbeek and was thus spared the misfortune of witnessing the fall of his beloved Emperor.

[i] The Kebur Zebenya

[ii] In the archives of the FPS Foreign Affairs in Brussels, there is still a letter dated 21 February 1935 from Ras Mulugeta Yeggazu, the then Ethiopian Minister of War, placing an order for 3,000 Mauser carbines, 7,000 Mauser rifles, 250 machine guns, and 10,000,000 rounds of 7.92 mm ammunition.

[iii] In season 4, episode 2 of the CANVAS series Publiek Geheim, this history was also partly unveiled.

[iv] On 28 May 1940, Governor-General Pierre Ryckmans delivered an emotional radio address on Radio Léopoldville in which he resolutely declared that the Belgian Congo would continue the war.

[v] Initially gold, and later (after the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 and the entry of the United States into the war) also tin. Following the loss of the Malayan rubber plantations to the Japanese in 1942, the Belgian Congo became a strategic supplier of rubber. The uranium used in the American atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 also came from the Shinkolobwe uranium mine in Katanga.

[vi] A sommergibile is a vessel primarily designed to operate on the surface but capable of submerging when necessary, though at the cost of speed and manoeuvrability. Compared with a sottomarino (submarine), the sommergibile has only limited underwater endurance and is not capable of operating submerged for extended periods.

[vii] The central theme of Aeroport Urano in Maldegem, the second episode of the fourth season of the CANVAS series Publiek Geheim.

[viii] A disorder caused by a deficiency of vitamin B1 (thiamine), in which one form affects the cardiovascular system and another manifests with neurological symptoms. The name beriberi was possibly borrowed in the 18th century from Sinhala (the main language of Sri Lanka), in which the phrase බැරි බැරි (bæri bæri) means “I cannot, I cannot”, reflecting the severe weakness characteristic of the disease.

[ix] The monument is a three-sided pyramid, with the name of a battalion victory inscribed on each face (Asosa, Gambela, Saïo), and on the “Gambela” side a small plaque listing the names of the Belgian fallen: Colonel Moulard (or Moulait), Lieutenant Simonet, Lieutenant Lambrecht, and Adjutant Dorgeo.

[x] In 1963, General Van der Meersch, honorary chairman, and Reserve Commander Albert Goffin, chairman of URFRACOL (Union Royale des Fraternelles Coloniales, an association of former Belgian colonial troops), approached the mayor of Schaerbeek, Mr. Willot, requesting a location for a monument commemorating the campaigns of the Force Publique. The site ultimately chosen was François Rigasquare. The monument was designed by Antwerp native Willy Kreitz, professor of sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. However, it was not until 1970 that the monument was finally inaugurated by Prince Albert. The monument features, on the left, the head of a European soldier wearing a colonial helmet; on the right, the head of a Congolese soldier wearing a fez; and in the centre, two hands clasped in a handshake, symbolizing the friendship between the two fighters. On the back of the monument is the text of a speech by King Boudewijn, delivered on 30 June 1960 in Kinshasa, in which he paid a warm tribute to the Force Publique.

[xi] Clearly inspired by the monument in Schaerbeek, the Mémorial aux Anciens Combattants was inaugurated on 1 December 2005 by the Belgian and Congolese Ministers of Defense, in the presence of Commander Pedro Michel, Vice President of URFRACOL. It is located in the Kasa Vubu municipality, near the Force Publique roundabout. The monument features, on the left, the profiles of two Congolese soldiers wearing their fezzes; on the right, the profile of a Belgian officer with a colonial helmet and a Congolese non-commissioned officer; and in the centre, an image based on the Belgian Medal for the Colonial War Effort 1940-1945.

[xii] The medal was designed by sculptor Arthur Dupagne. Struck in patinated bronze, it has a trapezoidal shape and measures 45 mm high by 31 mm wide, with two curved sides. The obverse depicts the overlapping profiles, facing right, of a European and an African soldier, with the years 1940–1941 inscribed at the bottom. The reverse lists the names of the three main battles of the campaign: SAIO, GAMBELA, and ASOSA, with a star above and below. The ribbon is light blue with green edges and a yellow central stripe.

[xiii] Ernest Genval (1884–1945), real name Ernest Thiers, was a Belgian chansonnier, poet, and filmmaker, best known for the films he shot in the Belgian Congo between 1924 and 1938. During the First World War, he performed more than 8,000 times as the “chansonnier of the army” and published several collections of patriotic songs. From 1925 onward, he produced propaganda films on the Belgian Congo on behalf of the Belgian government, including 'Le Congo Qui S’éveille' (1927), which brought him international recognition. During the Second World War, he joined the Resistance, was arrested by the Gestapo in 1942, and died of typhus in 1945 in Dachau.

[xiv] Sobelair was the oldest charter airline in Belgium. The company was founded in 1946 under the name Société Belge des Transports Aériens to operate an air connection between Belgium and the Belgian Congo. It later evolved into a charter airline serving more than seventy destinations. Thus, at the end of 1947, at the request of the Ethiopian government, a regular air link was established between Addis Ababa and Brussels. Sobelair was declared bankrupt in January 2004.

[xv] Kagnew Station was a United States Army base in Asmara, Eritrea, in the Horn of Africa. The base was established in 1943 as a U.S. Army radio station. It took over and refurbished an existing Italian radio facility, Radio Marina, after Italian forces in Asmara had surrendered to the Allies in 1941. Kagnew Station remained operational until 29 April 1977, when the last Americans departed. The base housed the 4th Detachment of the Second Signal Service Battalion of the U.S. Army. It had four principal functions: it served as a strategic communications station for the U.S. Army, as a ground station for the Defense Satellite Communications System, as a communications facility for the U.S. Navy, and as a high-frequency transmitter for diplomatic communications. Kagnew Station functioned as a city within a city, with its own water supply, recreational facilities, and housing. Its presence was highly unpopular among Eritrean nationalists and students.

[xvi] The Ethiopian embassy in Brussels only opened its doors in 1970, with His Excellency Lij Mikael Imru as ambassador.