This  compilation of treaties has much that is of interest.

It includes a treaty governing the use of the Nile and another which contained this promise from Emperor Menelik, “Done at Adis Abbaba, the 14th day of May, 1897.”

“His Majesty the Emperor Menelek II, King of Kings of Ethiopia, engages himself towards the Government of Her Britannic Majesty to do all in his power to prevent the passage through his dominions of arms and ammunition to the Mahdists, whom he declares to be the enemies of his Empire.”

This helped lay the foundations for the relationship between Britain and Ethiopia.

It dealt with Sudan, but perhaps it also explains why Britain felt such anger in 1915 when Lij Iyasu started sending ammunition to the “mad Mullah” in Somaliland – another of London’s enemies in the region.