port on a future course for Eritrea. Several countries had shown an interest in the area. Italy had asked for Eritrea to be returned as a colony or as a trusteeship, and this was supported at first by the Soviet Union, which anticipated a Communist victory in a coming Italian election. The Arab states saw Eritrea and its large Muslim population as an extension of the Arab world, so they sought the establishment of an independent state. Some Britons favored a division of the territory, creating one region with the Christian areas and the coast from Mitsiwa southward to go to Ethiopia, and creating an area to the northwest t
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