Cyber Ethiopia

We looked last week at the history, largely outside Ethiopia, of several prominent Italian Fascists - and of one Anti-Fascist, involved in the Italo-Ethiopian war of 1935-41. This historical essay ends with the current issue: Galeazzo Ciano Mussolini's son-in-law Galeazzo Ciano was one of several leading members of the Fascist regime who sought publicity in 1935-6 through the invasion of Ethiopia. To that end he flew Italian Royal Airforce Caproni bombers in a squadron named La Disperata. He thus participated in the indiscriminate bombing of the Ethiopian civilian population, against which Emperor Haile Sellassie later protested to the League of Nations. Early in May 1936 Ciano attempted to land in Addis Ababa, immediately prior to its occupation by the Fascist army - but was obliged to fly off as a

result of continued Ethiopian resistance. After the Fascist "conquest" of Ethiopia, Ciano soon returned to Italy. Throughout this time he kept an important personal diary (from which we have quoted in these pages); and served as Fascist Foreign Minister, and subsequently as Italian Ambassador to the Vatican. By the early 1940s he seems to have had a presentiment of his fate. Talking to a journalist early in 1943 he is said to have declared: Public hanging of the Duce and others "I Shall be Shot, I Have No Doubt" "I shall be shot, I have no doubt of that, if not by one then by another. I don't know whether it will be in the summer or the winter. I would much prefer the summer". Ciano later attended the fateful meeting of the Fascist Grand Council, referred to last week, which met at Verona in January 1944. He there supported the "treasonable" resolution against his father-in-law. Mussolini thereupon ordered his immediate arrest, but for one reason or another Ciano could not be found. He was, however, later apprehended, and was executed on 10 January – and was thus shot in the winter! Vittorio Mussolini Two of Ciano's comrades in the Italian Royal Air Force attack on Ethiopia were Mussolini's own sons - Ciano's brothers-in-law: Vittorio and Bruno. Vittorio, the Duce's elder son, described his Ethiopian exploits in his book "Voli sulle Ambe"[or "Flight over the Ambas"], which was translated into many languages. In it, referring to his bombing missions in Ethiopia, he wrote: "I was always miserable when I failed to hit my target, but when I was dead on I was equally upset because the effects were so disappointing. I suppose I was thinking about American movies and was expecting one of those terrific explosions when everything goes sky-high. Bombing these thatched mud huts of the Ethiopians doesn't give the slightest satisfaction". Describing later operations, near Amba Aradam, he declared: "In a short time, the plain was depopulated... I still have in mind, the spectacle of a little group [of Ethiopians] blooming like a rose when some of my fragmentation bombs fell in their midst. It was great fun and you could hit them so easily". Vittorio Mussolini, the proud writer of such exploits, survived his father, and travelled to safety in South America. His brother Bruno was, however, killed in a plane clash during the war in Europe. Roberto Farinacci Another Fascist luminary of this time who joined the Italian Air Force for the invasion of Ethiopia was the Fascist lawyer, Roberto Farinacci, a sometime Secretary of the Party. After his tour of "duty" in Africa, he returned to Italy. He subsequently attended the final meeting of the Fascist Grand Council, in July 1943, when, seemingly loyal to the Duce, he accused Grandi of sabotaging the war, but nevertheless abstained on the final vote. He later made his way to Germany, where he met Adolf Hitler, and, ever an opportunist, accused Mussolini of incapacity. There was later some talk of Farinacci forming an alternative Italian Fascist Government on German soil, but, largely due to his lack of charisma (which could not compete with the Duce), this failed to materialise. Farinacci was shortly afterwards captured by Italian Partisans, who gave him a summary trial, after which he was shot at Vimercate, in April 1944. He was later hung beside the Duce, Starace, and several other prominent Fascists. Pietro Badoglio Pietro Badoglio, an Italian career officer, who had accepted Mussolini's seizure of power in 1922, replaced De Bono, as we saw last week, as the commander in-chief of the invading army in November 1936. He was thus responsible for the use of poison gas in Ethiopia. Badoglio was called to power by the King of Italy in the summer of 1943, immediately after Mussolini's dismissal from office. He promised to continue the war side by side with Nazi Germany, but surrendered almost immediately afterwards, whereupon he announced his adherence to the Allied cause. He then served, with Allied support, as Italian Prime Minister until the Anglo-American occupation of Rome. The city fell on 4 June 1944, and Badoglio resigned five days later. He was replaced by Ivanoe Bonomi, an elderly Socialist. Despite his fall, the British continued to afford Badoglio unreserved support. When it seemed for example that the Bonomi Government was about to arrest him, for crimes committed in Italy (rather of course than in Ethiopia), Prime Minister Churchill despatched a "Personal and Top Secret" telegram, on 8 December 1944, to Sir Noel Charles, the British Ambassador in Rome. It declared: "You are Responsible" - Churchill "... You are responsible for the Marshal's safety and sanctuary in the British Embassy or in some equally safe place to which he can be removed. It must be remembered that he has signed a treaty with General Eisenhower and also documents with Admiral Cunningham which involve the honour of the British Government. A man who has signed such documents could only be brought to trial by the conquered Italians with the approval of the United States and United Kingdom Governments... you are not to let him go into any danger or pass out of our safeguarding hands until we have given full directions on the matter... military honour is also involved on account of the high Generals and Admirals with whom he has dealt so faithfully. I repeat you are responsible for his honourable security..." Badoglio thus escaped trial. Regarded in Ethiopia as a War Criminal He was, however, regarded in Ethiopia as a War Criminal, and his name came before the Ethiopian War Crimes Commission set up in Addis Ababa on 26 May 1946. Though the most important of the enemy nationals regarded by the Ethiopian Government as war criminals, he was only one among many. The newly reconstituted post-war Ethiopian Government was, however, in no position to embark on numerous war crimes charges. It therefore announced on 29 October 1947 that it would limit itself to formulating charges against only ten individuals - including Badoglio and one other Fascist commander, Rodolfo Graziani. The Ethiopian Government added that to allay fears of possible bias from Ethiopian judges, it agreed that the accused, if surrendered by Italy, would be tried by a court to include a majority of European judges. The Italian Government, however, was then still imbued with pro-colonial ideology, and was seeking to return to its ex-colonies in Africa. It refused to hand over the accused. None of them were therefore brought to Court, though the United Nations War Crimes Commission duly ruled that there was a prima facie case against all eight accused military men, and that the two civilians, should be listed as witnesses. The Ethiopian Government, having no custody over the accused, subsequently waived the case against all but two: Badoglio and Graziani Ato Abebe Retta The Ethiopian Minister in London, Ato Abebe Retta, thereupon called on the Italian Ambassador in Britain, Duke Gallarti-Scotti, with an aide-memoire in which the Ethiopian Government demanded the surrender of Graziani and Badoglio, as war criminals. The Duke bluntly refused to receive the document, whereupon the Ethiopian prosecution thus collapsed.. The Italian Trial of Graziani An Italian trial of Graziani, for his collaboration with the Germans, was, however, resumed in 1950. He was eventually found guilty, and sentenced, on 2 May, to nineteen years' imprisonment, but was released in the following year, to become the leader of a short-lived neo-fascist organisation. He died, peacefully, on 11 January 1955.