Catalogue description War Office: British Military Administration of African Territories: Papers

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Details of WO 230
Reference: WO 230
Title: War Office: British Military Administration of African Territories: Papers
Description:

This series concerns the administration of former Italian colonies in Africa after their occupation by the Allies. The papers are those of the two responsible commanders - the Commander-in-Chief, Middle East, and the General Officer Commanding in Chief, East Africa.
Date: 1939-1951
Arrangement:

The files are in order of the original file number within each Command.
Related material:

For related records concerning the administration of former Italian African colonies see FO 1015

For papers of the East Africa Command relating to the administration of East African territories see WO 276
Held by: The National Archives, Kew
Legal status: Public Record(s)
Language: English
Creator:

War Office, Department of the Permanent Under Secretary, 1924-1964
Physical description: 326 file(s)
Access conditions: Subject to 30 year closure unless otherwise stated
Unpublished finding aids:

A table showing the organisation of command as it existed from 1943, is available in the reading rooms at The National Archives, Kew.

Administrative / biographical background:

The administration of Italy's African Territories after their occupation by the allies was undertaken by the Commander-in-Chief, Middle East, who was responsible for Eritrea, Cyrenaica, Tripolitania and the Dodecanese; and by the General Officer Commanding in Chief, East Africa, who was responsible for Somalia, reserved areas of Ethiopia, and British Somililand (which had been occupied for a short while by the Italians).

Ethiopia was administered by the British under the terms of the Anglo-Ethiopian Agreements of 1942 and 1944.

In the case of British Somaliland it was decided to introduce military administration for the sake of uniformity, but the military governor was appointed by a special Order in Council to restore, as far as possible, the original constitution.

From April 1949 the Foreign Office administered the former Italian colonies and from April 1950 Somalia was administered by Italy under United Nations trusteeship.

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