“The Opposite of Happy”
By Dr. Richard Pankhurst:-
After the Italian fascist occupation of Addis Ababa, on 5 May 1936,
and the proclamation of Mussolini’s Empire on May 9, the aggressors
still had much to do in the military field. Graziani, the Italian
commander responsible for operations against the forces of Ethiopian
resistance, and later Viceroy of Ethiopia, was in a by no means
confident mood. He was subsequently quoted by the Italian military
author Canevari as declaring:
“The situation that I inherited was the opposite of happy; on the
contrary it looked more and more serious as each single aspect was
examined. In the capital which, as is well known, lies a great forest of
eucalyptus trees, there were only 7,500 of our men, virtually
surrounded by the remains of the Negus’s armies, that is more than
100,000 armed men.”
Seeking to explain his then difficulties (and in effect contradicting
Mussolini’s claim that the war had by then come to an end) Graziani
went on to declare that:
“the Ethiopian people had for many years been targets of anti-Italian
propaganda which intensified with the war. The country was full of arms
that flowed in steadily from the neighbouring British possessions. In
fact our troops were in control of only a very small part of the immense
territory of Ethiopia. Moreover the rainy season, which begins
regularly at that time of year, would make the arrival of reinforcements
and supplies almost out of the question”.
Disarming the Ethiopian Population
Vigorous efforts were now made by the Italian occupying forces to
disarm the Ethiopian population. The latter had long possessed
quantities of fire-arms, and in not a few instances had in fact earlier
obtained them as gifts from the invaders. Earlier in the fighting the
latter had distributed weapons freely to dissident elements, in the hope
that they would use them against the Emperor’s armies. Thus foreign war
correspondents reported in November 1935 that General Mariotti had
given 10,000 rifles to some of the Afars. Herbert Matthews, an American
journalist, observed that the Italians “were playing a dangerous game in
Ethiopia, and. . . were willing to use dangerous tactics.” The guns
given out by the Italians, he reports, were “a miscellaneous and antique
selection: French Gras rifles, 1874 model, Lebel, 1886 model, and the
Daudeteau.” He nevertheless adds: “They may have been antiques to us,
but the joy of the Danakils on receiving them was genuine and immense”.
This was not surprising for “many of them”, he was led to believe, “had
never had guns before.” Several hundred Azebu Gallas, or Oromos,
according to the same observer, were shortly afterwards given rifles by
the Italians at Dolo, while Badoglio, the Italian commander in the
north, records that immediately before the battle of Enderta the latter
were armed by his men with 3,000 guns, and “formed” by the Italians into
“units of varying strength and constitution.” After the occupation,
however, Italian policy inevitably changed, and orders were given, by
the invaders, that all the local inhabitants should at once surrender
their weapons. This policy was put into immediate effect, and on 8 May
1936 Badoglio proudly reported that in the first four days of the
occupation the Addis Ababa population had surrendered 3,500 rifles, 89
pistols, 35 machine-guns, two cannon and “numerous” spears and swords.
Less than a week later, he announced that these figures, by May l5, had
risen to 7,853 rifles, 80 pistols, 156 machine-guns, and 51 cannon,
besides an “enormous quantity” of ammunition. Insistence on the
surrender of arms was naturally most unpopular. Towards the end of the
year, Wiese, a visiting British journalist, went so far as to declare
that this policy constituted “perhaps the greatest obstacle to
pacification”.
Order for Repression not carried out
The fascist military authorities, who were well aware, despite the
Duce’s triumphant (but entirely dishonest!) proclamation, that the war
was by no means over, were determined to continue the policy of
repression, which had characterised the earlier stages of the conflict.
On 13 May 1936, Mussolini therefore sent Graziani “peremptory orders to
shoot these so-called Young Ethiopians”, who consisted mainly of the few
hundred young men educated abroad in the previous decade or so.
Graziani, who had by then become the Italian Viceroy hesitated, however,
perhaps because the situation seemed to him both unstable and tense.
Lij Haile Mariam Mammo
lt. was a sign of things to come when, on May 4, Lij Haile Mariam
Mammo, a patriotic Ethiopian, attacked invading troops passing through
Debra Berhan on the way to Addis Ababa. He thus became as his compatriot
Woizerit Salome Gabre Egziabher was to note three decades later, “the
first Patriot of Shoa.”
“Prisoners to be Shot Immediately”
Ten days later Graziani telegraphed to Lessona, the Italian Minister of the Colonies, to report:
“Yesterday afternoon our native company, working on the road
Jigjiga-Harar at 34 kms from Jigjiga was attacked by groups of armed
Abyssinians. The attackers were driven back with serious losses… Through
my message distributed everywhere by means of aircraft and by
messengers I have told Ethiopian chiefs and private persons after the
fall of the Empire of Haile Sellassie, those who dared to commit hostile
actions against our troops would be considered as rebels and treated as
such, while I guaranteed immunity to those who surrendered; so I have
given orders that the prisoners taken shall be shot immediately… Of this
I have notified chiefs and soldiers who have not submitted by means of
another appropriate message which will be distributed by aircraft and
messengers. And I have warned them that this fate will befall without
mercy all those who hereafter commit acts of rebellion.”
The said “appropriate message” was addressed by Graziani to “all the people of Ethiopia”, and declared:
“H.M. the King of Italy and Emperor of Ethiopia has sent me here to
uphold the government of the Empire. Mussolini, the Duce of Italy and of
Fascism, has given me orders to lead all the people back to peace and
tranquillity. Do not listen therefore to false news spread by
illwishers. Italy is now the absolute master of all Ethiopia, and will
remain so at whatever cost using extreme severity towards those who seek
to rebel and the greatest generosity towards chiefs and followers who
freely and loyally submit. Give up your arms, because he who is
hereafter found in possession of them will be inexorably punished!
Return to the fields to work, and to your commerce! If you listen to
these words of the Duce, Italy will make all the territory of the Empire
rich and prosperous. Rebels on the other hand, will be destroyed and
annihilated”. The prime objective of the fascists at this time, as later
explained in the official Italian publication “Gli Annali dell’ Africa
Italiana,” was, however, largely limited to ensuring the safety of the
Addis Ababa-Dessie road, their main communications route with Eritrea,
their colony and base of operations to the north.
On May 15 1936 Italian reinforcements were accordingly despatched to
Debra Berhan and Debra Sina, and succeeded in occupying Ankober on 21
May. Graziani afterwards noted, on 30 June that the inhabitants of the
Debra Berhan-Ankober area had “spontaneously” handed in 447 rifles,
20,000 cartridges, 4 machine-guns, and 170 artillery projectiles. How
“spontaneous” was their action may be open to discussion. Be that as it
may, the more important question as to how many weapons the population
retained he did not discuss.
“All Rebels… should be Shot”
Mussolini meanwhile fully concurred in Graziani’s policy of
repression. On 5 June he sent him an urgent telegram to the Viceroy,
declaring, “All the rebels made prisoners should be shot”. On 8 July he
observed in a longer telegram:
“I once more authorize Your Excellency systematically to conduct
policy of political terror and extermination against rebels and
implicated populations. Without the law of tenfold retribution one does
not cure the wound in good time.”
Lessona also urged the need for rigorous repression, particularly
against the Young Ethiopians who, he sneeringly declared, on July l0,
had a “false veneer of Europeanized culture”, and, being “at the head of
every xenophobic movement”, were “particularly poisonous and
dangerous”. Recalling the Duce’s previous command that they should be
shot, he declared that the then existing situation rendered it
“necessary that such orders be executed completely”, so that the Young
Ethiopians in question be “eliminated, without mercy or pardon”.
Graziani, however, once more decided against so stringent a policy,
and telegraphed back on the same day that he would instead exile the
young men to a camp at Danane on the Somali coast. This was, however, no
very great act of clemency. One of the detainees, Mikael Tesema, who
had previously been educated in Italy, later testified that out of 6,500
prisoners at Danane no fewer than 3,175 died, while Blatta Bekele Hapte
Mikael, an Ethiopian judge, subsequently declared on oath: “The food
which the Italians gave us was very bad for our health”, and consisted
largely of “rotten biscuits with many worms in them.”
Though not going to the full length urged by his superiors in respect
of the Young Ethiopians, Graziani devoted most of his energies to a
policy of coercion. On 8 July he reported that he had given orders
suspending for fifteen days the right of what he termed the exLegations,
i.e. the former foreign legations whose status had been greatly reduced
as a result of the occupation, to send radio messages. On 15 July he
announced that his “organs of police and information” were “at last on
the track of the organization “through which the “rebel” leader, Aberra
Kassa, was in contact with the inhabitantsof Addis Ababa. The Viceroy
moreover was as determined as Mussolini that anyone implicated in
resistance should be mercilessly punished. In a telegram of 30 July to
the Minister of the Colonies he declared:
“Repressive action continues against armed groups scattered in the
bush. All prisoners have been shot. Inexorable repressive measures have
been effected against all populations guilty, if not of complicity, at
least of absence of reaction.”
Source: http://www.linkethiopia.org
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