CITIZENSHIP AND STATELESSNESS IN THE HORN OF AFRICA \Y the associated rights. The status of those who were subjects of the Ethiopian emperor was somewhat unclear; but following the conquest of Ethiopia, racial hierarchies were more stringently enforced.'” In the Protectorate of British Somaliland, those born in the territory who were not “British subjects” (confusingly, compared to the French and Italian terminology, “British subject” was until 1948 the highest status in British law) or did not have another nationality became “British protected persons” (BPPs), a lesser legal status created for the “natives” of a protectorate.'® Djibouti As for the other colonised territories, the inhabitants of the Céte francaise des Somalis, subsequently the Territoire francais des Afars et des Issa, were all French nationals for international law purposes during the colonial era. However, as in Italian Eritrea and Somalia and in British Somaliland — and other parts of the French empire — there was a racial hierarchy within French nationality. In the French territories, this was effected by the difference in status between sujets francais and citoyens fran¢ais. Only French citizens had full civil rights. These were of course mostly those of French ethnic ancestry, but included a handful among the native population (the indigénes), or those of mixed-race (métis), provided they showed sufficient assimilation to France.‘ Uniquely among French territories, the legislation governing Djibouti provided for French nationality — with the status of sujet francais — to be attributed based purely on birth in the territory, in order to incorporate the majority of the population with origins in neighbouring states.*° Foreigners of statut indigéne (those of non-European descent), could also naturalise as sujets francais.*' Nationality law at the transition to independence and amendments since independence Ethiopia The legal framework for Ethiopian nationality established in 1930 continued in effect throughout the period of colonisation military occupation of Ethiopia’s neighbours, and was during the second world war. The resumed 1930 unaltered law also remained after the brief period of in effect following the overthrow of the Ethiopian emperor. 1” Giulia Barrera, ‘The Construction of Racial Hierarchies in Colonial Eritrea: The Liberal and Early Fascist Period, 1897-1934’, in A Place in the Sun: Africa in Italian Colonial Culture, ed. Patrizia Palumbo (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2003), 81-115; Giulia Barrera, ‘Sex, Citizenship and the State: The Construction of the Public and Private Spheres in Colonial Eritrea’, in Gender, Family and Sexuality: The Private Sphere in Italy, 1860-1945, ed. Perry R Willson (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004); Fabrizio de Donno, ‘La Razza Ario-Mediterranea: Ideas of Race and Citizenship in Colonial and Fascist Italy, 1885-1941’, Interventions 8, no. 3 (2006): 394-412; Luca Bussotti, ‘A History of Italian Citizenship Laws during the Era of the Monarchy (1861-1946)’, Advances in Historical Studies 05, no. 04 (2016): 143-67, https://doi.org/10.4236/ahs.2016.54014. 18 In 1948, “British subjects” — those born in Britain or one of the territories designated a “crown colony” under British law, or the child of a British subject father -- were renamed “citizens of the UK and colonies” (CUKCs), as part of a major reorganisation of British nationality law. BPP status was established under the British Protected Persons Order in Council of 1934, revised in 1949. Fransman, Berry, and Harvey, Fransman’s British Nationality Law, chap. 7. 19 Bronwen Manby, Citizenship in Africa: The Law of Belonging (Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2018), chaps 3 & 4; Emmanuelle Saada, Les enfants de Ia colonie: les métis de l’empire frangais entre sujétion et citoyenneté (Paris: La Découverte, 2007). 20 Simon Imbert-Vier, ‘Devenir citoyen ou national en Céte francaise des Somalis: manipuler des catégories’, Outre-mers: Revue d’histoire 107, no. 404-405 (December 2019): 41-62. 21 Yerri Urban, ‘Race et nationalité dans le droit colonial francais (1865-1955)’ (PhD, Dijon, Université de Bourgogne, 2009), 310, https://hal.archivesouvertes.fr/tel-01630611/document. UNHCR — December 2021 11