1939: Somaliland, French

French Somaliland, a French colony in Eastern Africa, is situated in a commanding position on the Strait of Bab el Mandeb at the junction of the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea. It is bounded north and west by Italian East Africa, and south by British Somaliland. The territory has an area of 8,492 sq. mi. Its population by the 1936 census was 44,240 inhabitants, of whom 27,380 were Somalis, 12,000 were Danakils, 4,200 were Arabs, 660 were Abyssinians, Jews, and Hindus, and 1,221 were Europeans. The colony is chiefly a commercial center for goods consigned to the inland territories. The coastal fisheries are important. Salt is the most valuable mineral. The principal exports are hides and skins, coffee, animal wax and salt. Principal imports are cotton goods, coal, sugar and cattle. Total imports in 1937 were valued at $6,400,000; total exports at $3,700,000. The colony is administered by a governor (M. Annet, appointed December 1935), assisted by a council.

The friction between France and Italy increased considerably during the early part of 1939 owing to Italy's demands on France for colonial readjustment in East Africa. Although the Italian claims were vague and unofficial, their object, it was believed by the French, was to secure control of the strategic port of Djibouti in French Somaliland, which is at the head of the railroad to Addis Ababa over which supplies to the interior are shipped. Throughout February, March and April the Italian press continued to agitate strongly for some adjustment of this situation; the Djibouti-Addis Ababa railroad was boycotted by the Italian colonies; and a number of minor incidents aggravated the situation, such as the arrest on Feb. 20, of three Italians as spies in French Somaliland. During March, the French Government sent two detachments of troops to Somaliland to increase the standing army there and took over the strip of territory north of Djibouti, which by an agreement in 1935 was to have been occupied by Italy, and which agreement Italy had never officially ratified and now repudiated. In September the outbreak of war in Europe temporarily put an end to the problem of colonial readjustment between France and Italy. See also ITALIAN EAST AFRICA.