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| Selected Speeches |
| The Church of Haile Selassie I, Inc. |
| Chapter III |
| Inter-Africa |
| Reply to President Tubman's Toast Dec. 07, 1960 |
| Selected Speeches |
| Haile Selassie the First - December 7, 1960 |
We thank Your Excellency for the warm and cordial sentiments which you
have expressed on Our behalf and on that of Our people. Ethiopia and
Liberia are old and respected friends, and it is fittting and proper that the
leaders of these two nations should entertain for one another feelings of
warm and deep friendship and that their peoples, united by these ties of
mutual respect and admiration, should equally partake of these feelings.
We need not set forth in detail the long history of acquaintance between
our two states which has brought their relations to the high level which
they today enjoy. Long before much of this great continent of Africa was
known to the outside would, Ethiopia and Liberia stood as twin symbols of
independence, one in West Africa, the second on the other side of the
continent, and the flame of freedom which these two states held high,
flickering faintly at the outset, then growing in intensity, has swept from
East to West, from North to South, and today it illuminates every corner
of this vast land. History will attach high importance to the example of
Liberia and Ethiopia, who demonstrated that Africans can and must be
free, in accounting for the tide which is today sweeping colonialism and
oppression from this continent.
In particular are We mindful of the sympathetic and fruitful co-operation
which has marked relations between Ethiopia and Liberia at the United
Nations. Ethiopia's cause has been that of Liberia; Liberia's cause that of
Ethiopia, and We could ask for no greater blessing than that relations
between our two countries will be maintained on this same high plane.
This We are confident will be the case.
have expressed on Our behalf and on that of Our people. Ethiopia and
Liberia are old and respected friends, and it is fittting and proper that the
leaders of these two nations should entertain for one another feelings of
warm and deep friendship and that their peoples, united by these ties of
mutual respect and admiration, should equally partake of these feelings.
We need not set forth in detail the long history of acquaintance between
our two states which has brought their relations to the high level which
they today enjoy. Long before much of this great continent of Africa was
known to the outside would, Ethiopia and Liberia stood as twin symbols of
independence, one in West Africa, the second on the other side of the
continent, and the flame of freedom which these two states held high,
flickering faintly at the outset, then growing in intensity, has swept from
East to West, from North to South, and today it illuminates every corner
of this vast land. History will attach high importance to the example of
Liberia and Ethiopia, who demonstrated that Africans can and must be
free, in accounting for the tide which is today sweeping colonialism and
oppression from this continent.
In particular are We mindful of the sympathetic and fruitful co-operation
which has marked relations between Ethiopia and Liberia at the United
Nations. Ethiopia's cause has been that of Liberia; Liberia's cause that of
Ethiopia, and We could ask for no greater blessing than that relations
between our two countries will be maintained on this same high plane.
This We are confident will be the case.
| Combined Action |
This same spirit of collaboration on problems of mutual concern is
continuing at an accelerated pace today in the policies which these two
African states are pursuing to the end of eradicating racial discrimination,
that ignoble and most infamous of prejudices, from the face of the earth.
Ethiopia and Liberia are today pressing a legal action before the
International Court of Justice at the Hague, for the lifting of the mandate
held by the Republic of South Africa over the territory of South-West
Africa. We re-affirm here now our determination to pursue this course to
its successful conclusion.
And, in the crisis in the Congo, in the efforts which We have made to find
an amicable and just solution to the vexing problems which exist in the
newly independent country, We have counted Ourself fortunate in the
whole-hearted co-operation of Your Excellency and in the sagacity and
judgment which you have brought to this problem. The Congo represents,
first and foremost, a problem for Africans, and it is Africans who must,
putting aside superficial differences, collaborate in unity to restore order in
the Congo, to ensure its territorial integrity, and to prevent the insinuation
into the Congo, in whatever guise, of the colonialist influences of which
the Congolese people have sought to rid themselves.
We look forward with calm confidence to yet further improvements in
relations between us, and We hope that one of the results of the visit
which We are paying to this great nation will be the taking of further
measures to expand and broaden contacts between us. The initiation of
direct air travel between Ethiopia and Liberia will, We hope, do much to
facilitate the interchange of ideas, people and goods, and it is in this spirit
that We desire that relations with Liberia grow and develop.
For, it is this development that leads to the strength of economy and
mutual assistance.
continuing at an accelerated pace today in the policies which these two
African states are pursuing to the end of eradicating racial discrimination,
that ignoble and most infamous of prejudices, from the face of the earth.
Ethiopia and Liberia are today pressing a legal action before the
International Court of Justice at the Hague, for the lifting of the mandate
held by the Republic of South Africa over the territory of South-West
Africa. We re-affirm here now our determination to pursue this course to
its successful conclusion.
And, in the crisis in the Congo, in the efforts which We have made to find
an amicable and just solution to the vexing problems which exist in the
newly independent country, We have counted Ourself fortunate in the
whole-hearted co-operation of Your Excellency and in the sagacity and
judgment which you have brought to this problem. The Congo represents,
first and foremost, a problem for Africans, and it is Africans who must,
putting aside superficial differences, collaborate in unity to restore order in
the Congo, to ensure its territorial integrity, and to prevent the insinuation
into the Congo, in whatever guise, of the colonialist influences of which
the Congolese people have sought to rid themselves.
We look forward with calm confidence to yet further improvements in
relations between us, and We hope that one of the results of the visit
which We are paying to this great nation will be the taking of further
measures to expand and broaden contacts between us. The initiation of
direct air travel between Ethiopia and Liberia will, We hope, do much to
facilitate the interchange of ideas, people and goods, and it is in this spirit
that We desire that relations with Liberia grow and develop.
For, it is this development that leads to the strength of economy and
mutual assistance.
| Ba Beta Kristiyan Haile Selassie I |
| Ba Beta Kristiyan Haile Selassie I |