The United States has given assurances to Ethiopia in this regard." The Independence Bloc of Eritrean parties consistently requested from the UN General Assembly that a referendum be held immediately to settle the Eritrean question of sovereignty. A United Nations (UN) commission was dispatched to the former colony in February 1950 in the absence of Allied agreement and in the face of Eritrean demands for self-determination. It was also at this juncture that the US Ambassador to the UN, John Foster Dulles, said, "From the point of view of justice, the opinions of the Eritrean people must receive consideration. "Nevertheless" the strategic interest of the United States in the Red Sea basin and the considerations of security and world peace make it necessary that the country has to be linked with our "ally" Ethiopia." The Ambassador's word choice, along with the estimation of the British Ambassador in Addis Ababa, makes quite clear the fact that the Eritrea aspiration was for Independence. The commission proposed the establishment of some form of association with Ethiopia, and the UN General Assembly on 2 December 1950 adopted that proposal along with a provision terminating British administration of Eritrea no later than 15 September 1952. The British, faced with a deadline for leaving, held Legislative Assembly elections on 25 and 26 March 1952, for a representative Assembly of 68 members, evenly divided between Christians and Muslims. This body in turn accepted a draft constitution put forward by the UN commissioner on 10 July. On 11 September 1952, Emperor Haile Selassie ratified the constitution. The Representative Assembly subsequently became the Eritrean Assembly. In 1952 UN General Assembly Resolution 390 to federate Eritrea with Ethiopia went into effect. The resolution ignored the wishes of Eritreans for independence, but guaranteed the population some democratic rights and a measure of autonomy. Some scholars have contended that the issue was a religious issue, between the Muslim lowland population desiring independence while the highland Christian population sought a union with Ethiopia. Other scholars, including the former Attorney-General of Ethiopia, Bereket Habte Selassie, contend that, "religious tensions here and there...were exploited by the British, [but] most Eritreans (Christians and Moslems) were united in their goal of freedom and independence." Almost immediately after the federation went into effect, however, these rights began to be abridged or violated. These pleas for independence and referendum augured poorly for the US, Britain and Ethiopia, as a confidential American estimate of Independence Party support amounted to 75% of Eritrea. The details of Eritrea's association with Ethiopia were established by the UN General Assembly Resolution 390A (V) of 2 December 1950.