Catalogue description Records of the Foreign Office Administration of African Territories

As a consequence of military operations during the Second World War, the former Italian colonies in Africa (Cyrenaica, Tripolitania, Eritrea and Somalia) were placed under British military administration. The War Cabinet decided in 1941 that the War Office should be responsible for the administration of these territories. This responsibility was first exercised through the Civil Affairs Branch of GHQ Middle East Land Forces and, after 1st August 1948, by the Civil Affairs Directorate at the War Office.

On 17th January 1949, a proposal was jointly submitted to the Cabinet by the Secretaries of State for Foreign Affairs and for War, that, because the administration of Cyrenaica and Tripolitania and their position in the field of international affairs involved questions of foreign policy which could only be settled by the Foreign Secretary, the Foreign Office should take over responsibility for these territories from the War Office. A Working Party was set up to see how this proposal should be put into effect. It was also proposed that the Working Party should study the question of Eritrea and Somalia.

The Working Party recommended to the Cabinet that the Foreign Office should assume responsibility for all four territories with effect from 1st April 1949, when a new Foreign Office establishment, the Foreign Office Administration of African Territories (FOAAT), was created in London. Although differing arrangements were to be made for the future status of the colonies, the Working Party decided that responsibility for all four as a unit should be transferred to the Foreign Office, partly because many of the existing records dealt with them together, and partly to secure staffing economies.

The new establishment became responsible for the day-to-day administration of the territories. It was headed by a director general and comprised four departments: Establishments and Personnel; Civil Administration; Technical Services and Supply; and Finance and Economics. Questions affecting the strategic position and external relations of the territories were the responsibility of the Foreign Office African Department.

As a result of the implementation of resolutions adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, Somalia was transferred to Italian Trusteeship on 1st April 1950; Cyrenaica and Tripolitania were federated, together with the French-occupied province of the Fezzan, under the Amir of Cyrenaica, to become an independent Kingdom of Libya on 24th December 1951, whilst Eritrea was federated with, and thus became part of, the Ethiopian Empire on 15th September 1952.