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Title: | Ethiopia and Egypt: Ras Tafari in Cairo, 1924 |
Author: | Erlich, Haggai |
Year: | 1998 |
Periodical: | Aethiopica: International Journal of Ethiopian Studies |
Volume: | 1 |
Pages: | 64-84 |
Language: | English |
Geographic terms: | Egypt Ethiopia |
Subjects: | images foreign policy history 1924 History and Exploration Inter-African Relations |
About person: | Hayla Selasse I, emperor of Ethiopia (1892-1975)![]() |
External link: | https://journals.sub.uni-hamburg.de/aethiopica/article/view/617/628 |
Abstract: | The balance of mutual dependency between Ethiopia and Egypt gave rise to a multifaceted history of common relations which saw periods of constructive cooperation as well as periods of acute conflict. The visit of Ras Tafari Makonnen, an ambitious politician, who was to be crowned Emperor Haile Selassie I in 1930, to Cairo in 1924 was the historical peak of friendliness. During the years following 1924 the mutual goodwill continued, and Egypt's special interest towards Ethiopia culminated in 1935, during the year of the 'Abyssinian crisis', when Mussolini threatened to destroy Ethiopia. However, it seems that even the 1924 period of grace in Ethio-Egyptian relations could not wipe out the Ethiopian Christian fear of political Islam, a concept in which Egypt remained a central factor. The year 1924 was also a year of rising liberal expectations, of openness and hope in Egypt. On the basis of this spirit, the new Egyptian State was ready to give Tafari a warm reception. Yet, there was a general ambivalence between fear of Ethiopia and a need for her friendliness. These modern Egyptian concepts of Ethiopia were related to inherent traditional Islamic concepts of that country. Notes, ref. [ASC Leiden abstract] |