- Wuchale Treaty: Lesson to avoid imposed treaties
BY HAILE DEMEKE
There is strong argument that most of the treaties signed during the colonial time were highly biased. They were signed merely for meeting the interests of colonizers. However, through the passage of time, the treaties ended up leading to chaos in the midst of countries. They were fully attaching importance to their interests.
If we take Africa as an example, most of the treaties were signed with the intention of turning Colonialists’ vision into reality. In the process of partition and delimitation of borders in Africa, no account was taken of local conditions. At that point, there was mistrust between European and African rulers.
In a similar vein, Ethiopia is one of the African countries that signed different treaties and agreements with other countries. The treaty of Wuchale that had been signed between the empire of Ethiopia and the kingdom of Italy to promote friendship and trade among the two countries on May 2, 1889 led the two nations to conflict.
In actual fact, the difference between the Italian and the Amharic versions, particularly Article 17 created disagreement that resulted in the abrogation of the treaty by Menelik II in 1893.
In an interview Temesgen Tesema, Lecturer of Law at Wollo University gave to The Ethiopian Herald said, “Most of the treaties that had been signed at that point were the cause of conflicts in most countries. As a matter of fact, the treaty of Wuchale was one of the major causes of the Battle of Adwa. The two countries signed the agreement by sending missionaries.
During that time different countries had signed colonial treaties depending on the will of their leaders, but the latter were not ratified by people’s participation. Most of them were signed on the basis of escaping from the yoke of colonialism.
Assistant Professor Abebaw Ayalew, Deputy Director of Authority for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritage said on the topic of the issue, “Italy’s principal objective of signing the treaty of Wuchale was to establish a protectorate over Ethiopia.
“Strictly speaking, Wuchale was an immediate cause of the Battle of Adwa. Furthermore, war was inevitable between the two countries in view of the fact that Italy’s interest was to colonize Ethiopia.”
Even though Menelik II demanded ratification of the article quite a lot of times, Italians insisted on retaining Article 17 of the Italian version that led to the abrogation of the treaty on the Ethiopian side in 1893, the historian elaborated.
He went on to say, “Ethiopia had become a victim of indecent treaties at various times. The Treaty of Wuchale was not the only one; there was also a Treaty of Adwa signed between Egypt and Ethiopia in 1884. While on the subject, the Treaty of Adwa was another dubious agreement signed between Britain, Egypt and Ethiopia at Adwa on 3 June 1884 that triggered indirectly a new conflict between Ethiopia and Italy.
In an interview Ahmed Hassen, External Relations, Partnership and Communications Director at Addis Ababa University gave to The Ethiopian Herald said, “The Treaty of Wuchale was aimed at achieving mutual interest. Unfortunately, several things complicated the reality.
The different versions of Article 17 finally changed the direction of the agreement and ended up favoring Italians and reducing Ethiopia directly or indirectly to a level of protectorate or colonization.”
For the love of not repeating the same mistake, Ethiopia needs to have “diplomatic strength and understanding. Besides, the country needs to have the ability to look into details of agreements from the perspective that could benefit the nation based on the principle of giving and taking,” the scholar suggested.
Professor Ahmed Zekaria of Addis Ababa University said on his part, “As the victory of Adwa is a symbolic one, we should be able to draw important lessons and pass it down to the future generation.
Ethiopians should avoid minor misunderstandings and stand in unity in the face of adversity and enemies. “We turned out to be triumphant over Italy. We defeated them because we were united. The same thing would happen again. If you are being threatened, you have to respond in a little while. But taking a wide spectrum of perspectives into account you should make an effort to get to the bottom of the problem through dialogue,” the professor concluded.
According to Temesgen, Ethiopia should seriously consider treaties related to the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) as the negotiation over the dam is ongoing. Speaking of which, considering colonial treaties is important so as to avoid making similar mistakes. The negotiation that took place in the midst of Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt regarding the usage of GERD is an age-long.
By the same token, Ethiopia has the right to use its resources abiding by international rules and regulations. The country is constructing the dam complying with international rules of trans-boundary resources. Therefore, the question of Egypt must be how to use the Nile water like other riparian countries, not about the dam.
To the best of my knowledge, there is no negotiation over my rights or the rights of somebody else. The issue for negotiation should be how to use the Nile water reasonably and equitably without causing a significant harm.
Now Egypt is following the then Italian colonial treaties and doing its level best with the purpose of inciting conflict with neighboring countries and conspiring against the sovereignty of Ethiopia through Different ways. Its main objective is delaying the project getting themselves involved in various conspiracies. Likewise, Ethiopia should learn from the past treaties not to repeat the same mistake.
The government of Ethiopia must take a strong and clear stance against the Egyptian conspiracy. What we are witnessing is that Egypt is rushing for diplomatic superiority over Ethiopia.
The government must take a strong caution so as not to repeat similar mistake like the treaty of Wuchale. The negotiation must be led by intellectuals, experts, professionals, diplomats and others so as to achieve the desired goal at the earliest possible time.
Currently, most of the crises, disagreements, and conflicts that take place in Africa is the result of the then signed colonial treaties. Those agreements were not signed based on the will of the people. They were simply signed for the sake of escaping colonialism. Serious caution must be taken while signing an agreement. Furthermore, we should be able to avoid fear of pressure from other countries for the most part case related to GERD.
Abebaw elucidated that patiently negotiating on issues related to the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, Ethiopia executed the first-round filling of the dam on July, 2020 GERD. Despite the crude diplomacy of the Trump administration and internal challenges, the country is going ahead with negotiations in line with the Declaration of Principles 2015.
At present, Ethiopia is getting ready for the second round of filling and power generation. However, Egypt has left no stone unturned to pour cold water on the effort of Ethiopian government and use Machiavellian diplomacy to force Ethiopia sign a treaty that denies its sovereign rights to the waters of Abay.
The scholars, however, believe that lessons should be learned from the Treaty of Wuchale and others while reaching agreement on GERD with downstream countries.
The Ethiopian Herald March 2/2021
