ABSTRACT
Eritrea, just the size of England, is a triangle in the African Horn, stretching for over 600 miles on the western shores of the Red Sea. Eritrea’s geopolitical strength caused its perception as the starting point for the establishment of an Italian East Africa, so the Italian government augmented private investment by injecting public money into infrastructural development and military installations. The American position on the Eritrean disposition soon prevailed over competing plans, and the UN soon voted to endorse the Anglo-American plan to partition the colony. The UN Commission for Eritrea (UNC) was originally intended to ascertain the wishes of the Eritrean people through formal hearings. In January of 1950, long before the UNC entered Eritrea, parallel discussions were held in Geneva and London to bring Italy and Ethiopia together. In mid-July, the interim committee began deliberations on the future of Eritrea on the basis of the UNC report.
