Diplomatic Diversion

The week's entertainment in dull, dusty Addis Ababa was supplied by the amazing spectacle of Italy's Minister to Ethiopia, volatile Count Luigi Orazio Vinci-Gigliucci, refusing to go home. Emperor Haile Selassie sent the envoy his passport on the ground that the Legation had violated its pledge not to use its wireless station and had become "a centre of espionage and a hotbed of intrigues." The Count had exactly 48 hours to catch the train. Forthwith, Vinci-Gigliucci spun around Addis Ababa, asking Haile Selassie for a stay, his fellow diplomats for advice and support. His story was that he must wait for the tardy Italian Consuls slogging in from distant posts. Haile Selassie refused stay and audience. The diplomatic corps advised the Count to get out.

At the end of the grace period the Legation's motor cavalcade rolled to the railway station, loaded its files and staff on the train. The Italians' special train pulled out. The second secretary was later found hiding in the station. The Minister and his military attache were found hiding in the cellar of the Legation.

At length perspiring Tas Faye, the Emperor's Political Director, got from Count Vinci-Gigliucci word that he would come out. if he might stay in Addis Ababa as a private citizen. Ethiopian soldiers marched in, marched out again escorting the Minister to the fortified palace of Haile Selassie's son-in-law. Ras Desta Demtu . There, dining off a tray sent in from the Imperial Hotel. Vinci-Gigliucci threw off all diplomatic discretion, exulted, "Nothing will stop Mussolini in his aim of subjugating Ethiopia. . . . Thanks to our magnificent army, we already occupy 3,000 square miles of Ethiopia. We will never give it up. We fear nobody."

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