THE DILEMMA of COEXISTENCE, 1936–1939 Fascist Italy's
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CHAPTER NINE A NEW IMPERIAL NEIGHBOR ON THE FRONTIER: THE DILEMMA OF COEXISTENCE, 1936–1939 Fascist Italy’s vision of an enlarged colony in the Horn of Africa had been realized by 1 June 1936. Field Marshal Pietro Badoglio was appointed vice- roy of Italian Oriental Africa, with Addis Ababa as the capital. For the first time, Italy was able to combine the administration of its colonies of Eritrea, Somaliland and occupied Ethiopia.1 The Italian occupation of Ethiopia and the expansion of Italian Oriental Africa resulted in major adjustments to the political landscape of the Horn of Africa. Now the Italians shared the southern frontier with the British. These changes dra- matically affected the relations between the imperial states and, most profoundly, on frontier nomads. Italian East Africa was divided into five ‘governorates’, including Hararghe province, Amhara (Gondar); Harar (Harar); Galla-Sidamo (Jimma); and Italian Somaliland (Mogadishu). The Borana region was placed under the Galla-Sidamo administration. In the emerging situation, the Italian occupiers shifted administrative borders by transferring some provinces that were formerly part of Ethiopia to Italian Somaliland. For example, the expanded region of Ogaden on the upper Shebelle and Juba rivers was assigned to Italian Somaliland, which had previously been sep- arated by international frontiers. This chapter analyzes the impact of Italian administration on law and order in frontier relations with the British. The Italian Administration of the Borana Frontier The Italian administration of the Borana frontier began with the appoint- ment of colonel Settani as commissario put in charge of the southern fron- tier of Galla-Sidamo province. His administration extended from Malka Marri on the Daua River in the east and southwards to Lake Stefanie. The region was divided into five districts: Mega, Yaaballo, Moiale, Negelle and 1 Moyale, Northern Frontier, Mandera, subdistrict, 1936, p.17, KNA/DC/MDA/1/2. <UN> <UN> 186 chapter nine Arero. A residente was appointed for each district with authority to reorga- nize district administration. The region north of the Daua, including the Oddo district, was administered from Mogadishu, with the residente’s headquarters at Bokol Manyo.2 From here, the residente dealt with admin- istrative affairs in Oddo and the eastern region of Borana.3 The Italians extended their laws for administering Italian Somaliland to the Galla- Sidamo region. They began sending patrols to villages along the frontier with Kenya. All the Amhara settler-farmers had fled from this area, leaving behind un- harvested crops. The Borana and other frontier nomads helped them- selves to the ripening crops and the abandoned stock.4 The Italians established chains of police posts manned by banda noncommissioned officers along the frontier. In all these places, the pastoralists were informed of the change in government, a change that was reinforced by practical demonstrations of what this meant. For example, in Mega the population was gathered for a demonstration of Italian military power that focused on the destruction of a mud hut by an Italian tank. In November 1936, the minister of the colonies addressed a large gathering attended by colonial administrators and Somalis from Italian Somaliland, Oddo and Borana provinces. Marshal Rodolfo Graziani ‘issued a procla- mation [abolishing] the gabbar system’ and claiming that the Italians had come as liberators of those oppressed by the Amhara (Mockler 2003:93). The Italians aimed to abolish the upper level of the Ethiopian system of administration and its accompanying feudal Amhara structure of gabbar, including the tax system of crop rents and payment of tributes, partly based on the exploitation of labor through the virtual slavery of tenants by government officials, military officers, landlords and the church. The Italian newspapers, Il Giornale d’Italia and Resto del Carlino, ran spurious articles on the destruction ‘from top to bottom of the whole rudimentary structure, political and administrative, of the old Abyssinian Empire’ and on the ‘destruction of the old social system of Ethiopia.’5 The press claimed 2 Gerald Reece, ‘The Italian invasion’,1936, p.18, KNA/DC/MDA/4/6. 3 Moyale, Northern Frontier, Mandera sub-district, 1936, p.14, KNA/DC/MDA/4/6. 4 When the Ethiopian administration returned after the defeat of the Italians in the Anglo-Italian War of 1940, the Borana were forced to pay for the produce lost during the six years of Italian occupation and had to return the livestock looted from the settlers, taking into consideration their reproduction over six years as interest (Oba Sarite Kura, interview, 1992b). 5 Reece, ‘Italian Invasion’, p.7, KNA/DC/MDA/4/6. <UN> <UN>.