Basic HTML Version
(Conrinued from page 1)
guest at the residence of Dr. Na–
gendra Singh, one of the world's
leading exponents for world peace
through international law. He had
been Executive SecTetary to tbe
President of India. V. V. Giri, and
recently appointed Judge on the
World Court at The Hague.
Among other guests was bis Ex–
ceUency Ato Getachew Mekasha,
the Ambassador from Ethiopia, and
wife. Also the Ambassador from Af–
ghanistan and wife, and the elder
son of President GiTi. Accom–
panying me were my daughteT, Mrs.
Beverly Gott, Mr. and Mrs. Stanley
Rader (he is our General Counsel),
and Professor Osamu Gotoh, Chair–
man of our Ambassador College
Asían Studies Department.
During the course of the luncheon
both Ambassadors extended in–
vitations to visit their respective
countries and their kings. Tentative
arrangements were made for the
Ethiopian visit in May. I was unable
to meet that schedule, but did man–
age to make it in June.
I had ftown again to oUT campus
in England to officiate at gradu–
ation, and then on to Jerusalem.
Eighty-five of our students - from
all thTee campuses - ftew on the
same day to Jerusalem to spend two
months working in our archae–
ological project there. As most of
OUT readers know, Ambassador Col–
lege is in joint participation with
Hebrew University and the Israel
Archaeological Society in the very
large project adjacent to the Temple
Mount in Jerusalem (see
Time,
Sep–
tember 3, 1973).
Meanwhile a second invitation
had come by telex to visit the Em–
peror in Addis Ababa.
At a luncheon in Jerusalem, at–
tended by several high-ranking uni–
versity and govemment officials, it
was mentioned that Emperor Se-
PLAIN TRUTH December 1973
lassie had spent over two years in
Palestine during bis exile, and ouT
Israelí friends at the luncheon knew
him well.
lt
so happened that in our archae–
ological project, a very ancient seal,
used by kings of Judah more than
2500 years ago, had been discov–
ered. A lion was engraved on the
seal, representing ''The Lion of the
Tribe ofJudah." This title is applied
to Christ in the Bible, but Emperor
Selassie claims to be the direct de–
scendant of King Solomon and the
Queen of Sheba, and is often called
"The Lion of the Tribe of Judah."
Our Israelí friends thought it
would be nice to make a blown-up
photograpb of the seal, frame it, and
let me pTesent it to the Emperor,
which was done. Also our friends at
the luncheon told me tbat the Em–
peror understands and speaks
English very well, altbougb, as all
heads of state do, he would speak
through an interpreter at ouT meet–
ing.
While in Jerusalem I was received
for a personal visit by Israel's new
President Katzir.
We had a really spectacular ftight
from Tel Aviv directly to Addis
Ababa (capital city of Ethiopia),
over tbe stTaits ofTiran, the Gulf of
Aqaba, and the Red Sea, with Saudi
Arabia on OUT left, and Egypt on
our right.
Ethiopia is a mountainous coun–
try, in east-central Africa, south of
Egypt, and north ofKenya. It covers
an area about the size of Texas,
Oklahoma and New Mexico com–
bined. Much of its area is a high
central plateau, ranging from 6,000
to 9,000 feet elevation. Addis Ababa
is over 8,000 feet, aod 1 did have
sorne little difficulty breathing, espe–
cially early mornings, because of the
thin air at that altitude.
We arrived Sunday, June 17,
about 1:30 p.m. at Addis Ababa air–
port. OUT party was met at OUT
plane by the Ambassador to India
and
bis
wife, wbo bad ftown from
New Delhi to welcome us, as well as
the President of tbe Haile Selassie
University and others.
His Imperial Majesty the Em–
peror had sent to tbe airport one of
his Mercedes limousines and driver,
which was put at my personal ser–
vice for the duration of OUT stay.
Other cars were waiting for the
others of our party. Accompanying
me on this trip were Mr. and Mrs.
Rader, Professor Gotoh, and Mr.
and Mrs. Charles F. Hunting. Mr.
Hunting is one of our Vice Presi–
dents, in charge of financia! affairs
for Britain, EuTope and the Middle
East. Due to fatigue from so much
travel, my daughter had not come
on this trip.
The capital city of Addis Ababa
was an eye-opener for me. In the
main it is a very modero city - a
generous sprinkling of new, modern
high-rise buildings, and a goodly
number of imposing and impressive
public buildings. These included the
headquarters building of the Orga–
nization for African Unity (OAU).
This is an organization of African
nations, brought about primarily
through tbe initiative and lead–
ership of Emperor Haile Selassie.
Other impressive buildings were
govemment buildings, hotels, the
University, hospitals. Addis Ababa
is a city of over 800,000 population,
approaching a million.
We were dTiven to the compara–
tively new Addis Ababa Hilton Ho–
tel, one of the better Hiltons, and 1
was given the Presidential suite.
That evening our party was
hosted at an informal dinner by His
Excellency the Ambassador to In–
dia, and the Minister of l nforma–
tion, at the borne of the latter.
On Monday morning, due to
shortness of breath 1 remained in
the hotel, but Mr. Rader and Prof.
Gotoh met at the university in a
preliminary meeting with the Uni–
versity's President and Vice Presi–
dent, making arrangements for my
visit to the university on Wednes–
day.
Monday evening the Minister of
Education and Chairman of the
University Board of Governors, His
Excellency Ato Seifu Mahteme Se–
lassie, hosted a reception for us. Of
37