Siege of Saïo the Italian dictator, Benito Mussolini, proclaimed the colony of "Africa Orientale Italiana" (AOI, Italian East Africa), formed from Ethiopia (after the Italian victory in the Second Italo-Ethiopian War, fought 3 October 1935 – May 1936) and the existing Italian possessions of Italian Eritrea and Italian Somaliland. On 10 June 1940, Mussolini declared war on Britain and France, which made Italian military forces in Libya a threat to Egypt and those in Italian East Africa a danger to the British and French colonies in East Africa. Italian belligerence also closed the Mediterranean to Allied merchant ships and endangered British supply routes
Rhodesian mission in Lisbon after Reedman's investiture, Rhodesia went one further and unilaterally declared its independence from Britain. The mission in Lisbon operated until 1975, when it was closed following the Carnation Revolution in Portugal the previous year. Having been governed and developed by the British South Africa Company since the 1890s, Southern Rhodesia became a self-governing colony within the British Empire in 1923, when it was granted responsible government by Whitehall. The Southern Rhodesian capital, Salisbury, was henceforth empowered to run its own affairs in almost all matters, including defence. Foreign affairs was one of the few areas reserved by the British government.