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The Government of Italian East Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2013

H. Arthur Steiner
H. Arthur Steiner
Affiliation:
University of California at Los Angeles
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Extract

On May 4, 1936, the Emperor Haile Selassie departed from Djibuti aboard the British cruiser Enterprise, en route to Geneva by way of Palestine and England. On May 5, the victorious legions of the Second Roman Empire, commanded by Marshal Pietro Badoglio, entered Addis Ababa after what appears to have been a week of looting and pillaging in the Ethiopian capital. A few hours later in Rome, Benito Mussolini thunderously declared to a hastily-summoned Adunata: “Ethiopia is Italian! Italian in fact, because occupied by our victorious armies; Italian in law, because with the gladiators of Rome, civilization triumphs over barbarity, justice over arbitrary cruelty.”

At the behest of its Duce, a grateful Italy surrendered itself, between May 5 and May 9, to the most riotous celebration in the annals of Fascism. To climax the memorable jubilee, Mussolini appeared on the balcony of the Palazzo Venezia, after consulting successively and rapidly with the Fascist Grand Council and the Council of Ministers in the late evening of May 9, to read to the second Adunata of the week the substantive provisions of a new royal decree-law. Therein (1) Ethiopia was declared to be under the full and complete sovereignty of Italy; (2) the assumption by the king of Italy of the additional title, emperor of Ethiopia, was proclaimed; and (3) announcement was made that Ethiopia would be governed in the future by a governor-general, with the title of viceroy of Ethiopia.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 30 , Issue 5 , October 1936 , pp. 884 - 902
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1936

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References

1 Popolo d'ltalia (Milan), May 6, 1936Google Scholar. Accounts of each of the events subsequently noted will be found in the Popolo d'Italia of the day following the date of the event.

2 R.D.-L., May 9, 1936, no. 754, Gazzetta ufficiale, (hereafter cited as G. U.), May 9, 1936, no. 108. The event appears to have inaugurated a new calendar. At Avellini, on August 30, Mussolini closed the military maneuvers of the “Year One of the Fascist Empire!” (Popolo d'Italia, Sept. 1, 1936).

3 The same language was used in the R.D.-L. of November 5, 1911, no. 1247 (Bollettino ufficiale Ministero delle Colonie, 1913, p. 7Google Scholar), which proclaimed, after their conquest, the absorption of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica. See the present writer's Italy in Africa: A Study of the Italian Imperial System, now in press, Chap. 3.

4 R.D.-L., May 9, 1936, no. 755, G. U., May 9, 1936, no. 108.

5 The Badoglio-Graziani combination is an old one. Badoglio was governor of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica from December 18, 1928, until December 31, 1933. Under his direction, Graziani was charged with execution of the pacification program, and completed the conquest of the Fezzàn between 1928 and 1930. He then became vice-governor of Cyrenaica (March 16, 1930–April 30, 1934) and there, still under Badoglio's direction, Graziani routed the Senussi and finally pacified eastern Libya. The record is found in his Verso il Fezzàn (Tripoli, 1930)Google Scholar and Cirenaica pacificata (Milan, 1932)Google Scholar. On March 7, 1935, Graziani became governor of Somalia, and on November 27, 1935, Badoglio, appointed high commissioner for East Africa, resumed the collaboration with Graziani. The present instance, however, is the first in which Graziani has actually taken a position vacated by Badoglio.

6 No. 867, G. U., May 25, 1936, no. 120.

7 Popolo d'Italia, May 7, 1936.

8 R.D.-L., June 1, 1936, no. 1019, G. U., June 13, 1936, no. 136.

9 The “Federals,” usually the most influential civil authorities in their respective areas, were the following, as of June 22, 1936: Guido Cortese (Addis Ababa), Leonardo Gana (Asmara), Alessandro Strazza (Mogadiscio), Mario Pigli (Harrar), and Francesco Bellini (Gondar). Notice of their appointment appears in Foglio di disposizioni del P. N. F., no. 610, June 22, 1936.

10 An especially amusing account appears in Popolo d'Italia, May 22, 1936.

11 See “Le realizzazione dell'Ente per la Colonizzazione in Cirenaica”, Cirenaica economica (Bengasi), III (February, 1935), 65–69Google Scholar; Relazione della giunta generate del bilancio (Relatore Ferretti di Castelferretto), Atti parlamentari, XXIX Legis., 1934–1935 Session, Camera dei Deputati, no. 442-A, pp. 17–21; Ministerial report (Mussolini) on project of law, Atti parlamentari, XXIX Legis., 1934–1935 Session, Camera dei Deputati, Disegno di legge, no. 633.

12 Popolo d'Italia, June 7, 1936. The total number of Italian workmen sent to East Africa between January 1, 1935, and May 31, 1936, is officially reported to have been 118, 540, of whom 25,351 were repatriated, while 453 lost their lives. Considering the normal death-rate and the peculiar military and climatic conditions found in East Africa, the last number is unbelievably small. The same generalization applies to official Italian estimates of military casualties.

13 Under the definition of the Convention on Forced Labor adopted by the International Labor Organization in 1930 and applied in other Italian colonies by the R.D., April 18,1935, no. 917, G. U., June 19, 1935, no. 143, this does not constitute forced labor, since (1) compensation is forthcoming and (2) the work is done in the public interest, under charge of the public authorities.

14 Franchetti, L., Sulla colonizzazione agricola dell'altipiano etiopico (Rome, 1890)Google Scholar. Franchetti actually landed the first Italian colonizing mission in East Africa at Massaua in 1890; later he reported upon the colonization possibilities of Tripolitania.

15 Despite the absence of information, Italian newspapers in general stirred the Italian imagination with lurid accounts of the resources of Ethiopia. Typical was the Popolo d'Italia which, under an eight-column head: “The Vast Mineral Possibilities of the Ethiopian Subsoil,” May 28, 1936, prefaced its imaginary description with a statement that nothing was known about them. Reports from the present surveys will probably not be available before 1937.

16 delle Colonie, Ministero, Manuale di legislazione della Colonia Eritrea (8 vol., Rome, 1914, 1915)Google Scholar, and Rossetti, C., Manuale di legislazione della Somalia Italiana (3 vol., Rome, 1912–1914)Google Scholar, are collections of the early legislation issued for and in the two colonies. A compilation of legislation in force, July, 1931, is: Parpagliolo, A., Raccolta dei principali ordinamenti legislativi delle colonie italiane, Vol. IIGoogle Scholar; Provvedimenti riguardanti le colonie dell'Africa orientate (Rome, 1932)Google Scholar.

17 No. 1646, Bollettino ufficiale Ministero delle Colonie, 1928, p. 394Google Scholar.

18 No. 999, G. U., August 16, 1933, no. 189, in force from April 1, 1934, R.D. February 26, 1934, no. 323; G. U., March 10, 1934, no. 59.

19 Schanzer, C., “La carta fondamentale delle colonie dell'Africa Orientale”, in Sillani, T. (ed.), L'Affrica Orientale Italiana (Rome, 1934), pp. 128–145Google Scholar; Parpagliolo, A., “La nuova legge organica per I'Eritrea e la Somalia Italiana”, Rivista delle colonie italiane, VIII (May, 1934), 349–361Google Scholar. The writers of these surveys were the principal authors of the law.

20 No. 42, G. U., February 12, 1935, no. 36. The temporary post was abolished with the creation of Italian East Africa on June 1, 1936.

21 Cited above.

22 Ibid., art. 1. Subsequent citations to articles by number refer to the R.D.-L., June 1, 1936.

23 The title “viceroy” appears to be honorary and without legal significance. Nevertheless, the governor-general of Italian East Africa is not classified in the personnel roll as is the governor-general of Libya.

24 Arts. 12-13.

25 Arts. 2–4.

26 See, among others, Paulitische, P., Beiträge zur Ethnographie und Antropologie der Somal, Galla und Harrar (Leipzig, 1886)Google Scholar; Verneau, R., Mission Duchesne-Fournet en Éthiopie, II: Anthropologie et Ethnographie (Paris, 1909)Google Scholar; Lester, P., Étude anthropologique des populations de l'Éthiopie (Paris, 1928)Google Scholar. Some useful charts are found in a recent propaganda work: Zoli, C., Etiopia d'oggi (Rome, 1935)Google Scholar. See also a brief article in the Enciclopedia italiana, XIV (Rome, 1931), p. 486Google Scholar.

27 Population data for the former colonies of Eritrea and Somalia based upon Istituto Centrale di Statistica, VII Censimento generate della popolazione, 21 aprile 1931, Vol. V: Colonie e possedimenti (Rome, 1935)Google Scholar. To the official figure there given for Eritrea have been added the estimated population of 1,000 included in the sector of French Somalia ceded by the Italo-French Treaty of Rome, January 7, 1935.

28 Estimates of the area and population of the former Ethiopia vary widely. The approximate areas and populations for the new governi here given are based upon semi-official estimates published in the Popolo d'Italia, June 20, 1936. There, a total of 659,574 sq. mi. and a population of 7,600,000 are claimed for Italian East Africa. Deducting the known areas and populations of the former Eritrea and Somalia, this produces an estimated area of 417,561 and population of 5,976,866 for former Ethiopia. This calculation possibly overestimates the area, but the population estimate is the lowest; 10,000,000 is customarily accepted elsewhere as a fair population approximation.

29 R.D., June 20,1935, no. 1649; G. U., September 19, 1935, no. 219 (for Eritrea); R.D., same date, no. 1648; G. U., September 16, 1935, no. 216 (for Somalia). Despite the identical governments which were maintained in other respects under the law of 1933, the different compositions of the native peoples in the two colonies necessitated judicial systems differing in detail.

30 Lessona served as under-secretary of state for the colonies between 1929 and 1936 and, in 1935–1936, when Mussolini was nominally the colonial minister, he conducted the affairs of the ministry. See his Scritti e discorsi coloniali (Milan, 1935)Google Scholar for useful explanations of Italian colonial policy.

31 The basic personnel system, prescribed for all ministries by R.D., November 11, 1923, no. 2395, G. U., November 17,1923, no. 270, and R.D., December 30, 1923, no. 2960, G. U., January 21, 1924, no. 17, was especially adapted to the Colonial Ministry by the R.D.-L., February 26, 1928, no. 355, G. U., March 9, 1928, no. 58, as later modified in 1933 and 1934. The R.D.-L. of June 2, 1936, no. 1020, G. U., June 13, 1936, no. 136, merely enlarged the permanent colonial staff as follows:

Group A (Political-administrative), from 210 to 350 posts,

Group B (Auxiliary personnel), from 123 to 250 posts,

Group C (Orderly service), from 277 to 400 posts.

Subsequent decrees will distribute the posts, by categories, to specific positions in East African service.

32 Art. 22.

33 Art. 23.

34 Art. 25. These are practically identical with the “government councils” which functioned in Eritrea and Somalia before 1936.

35 This tendency is reflected in the law of 1933 for Eritrea and Somalia, cited, and in the R.D.-L. of December 3, 1934, no. 2012, G. U., December 21, 1934, no. 299, establishing the unified government in Libya.

36 Art. 24.

37 Idem.

38 For Eritrea and Somalia, judicial ordinances of 1935, cited; for Libya, R.D., October 25, 1928, no. 3497, G. U., April 9, 1929, no. 83, as modified by R.D., June 27, 1935, no. 2167, G. U., December 30, 1935, no. 303.

39 Art. 53. The codes are the following: Civil, Civil Procedure, Commercial, Penal and Penal Procedure; the military codes for the army and navy; and the Mercantile Marine Code of Libya. The same codes are in force in Libya, and were also formerly effective in Eritrea and Somalia.

40 Art. 50.

41 Art. 31.

42 Idem.

43 On the problem in general, the best work is Salis, R. Sertoli, La giustizia indigena nelle colonie (Padua, 1931)Google Scholar.

44 Guidi, I., Il Fetha Nagast o “Legislazione dei Re” (3 vols., Rome, 1897–1899)Google Scholar, is the finest edition and translation of the civil and ecclesiastical laws of Ethiopia, and has steadily been applied by the tribunals of Eritrea in cases involving native Christians recognizing the authority of the Abuna.

45 On the Moslem schools of jurisprudence, in general, see Juynboll, T. W., Handbuch des islamischen Gesetzes (Leyden, 1910)Google Scholar; Clavel, E., Droit musulman … d'après les différents rites et plus particulièrement d'après le rite hanefite (2 vols., Paris, 1895)Google Scholar. For the Hanefite law with special reference to Eritrea, see Capomazza, I., Usanze islamiche hanefite di Massaua e ditorni (Macerata, 1910)Google Scholar.

46 Juynboll, T. W., Manuale di diritto musulmano secondo la dottrina della scuola sciafeita (Milan, 1916)Google Scholar.

47 Guidi, I. and Santillana, D., Il “Muhtasar” o sommario di diritto malechita (2 vols., Milan, 1914)Google Scholar, gives the basic text; Santillana, , Istituzione di diritto musulmano malekita (Rome, 1926)Google Scholar, supplies an authentic commentary.

48 One of the best descriptions of the cadi is in Gabrielli, G., “Il cadi o giudice musulmano”, Rivista coloniale, VIII (August 15, August 30, 1913), pp. 61–67Google Scholar; 89–98.

49 Art. 32. No comparable guarantee has been afforded Amharic, which, however, is not a vulgar language.

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