Italy and Ethiopia: the colonial interlude revisited

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Periodical article

Title:	Italy and Ethiopia: the colonial interlude revisited
Author:	Sbacchi, Alberto
Year:	1999
Periodical:	Horn of Africa
Volume:	17
Issue:	1-4
Pages:	88-107
Language:	English
Geographic terms:	Ethiopia Italy
Subjects:	colonialism foreign policy
Abstract:	The visit of the Italian President Luigi Scalfaro to Ethiopia in November 1997, and his formal apology to the Ethiopian people for the fascist invasion in 1935-1936 and the massacre of 400,000 Ethiopians, is the first time for an Italian Head of State to visit a former Italian colony and accept responsibility for the negative aspects of Italian colonialism. This article attempts to outline some less negative aspects of Italy's occupation and rule. In order to lay the foundations for a more objective assessment of the role of Italian colonialism in Ethiopia, it discusses the historiography of Italian colonialism; Italian archival sources; conditions in Ethiopia before the invasion; Ethiopian collaboration; the position of the Oromo and other Ethiopian minorities during the occupation; the attitude of Emperor Haile Selassie to the Italians after his return to power in 1941 and his subsequent autocratic and reactionary rule; Italian investments in Ethiopia and Italo-Ethiopian diplomatic relations after independence; and negotiations about the return of the Axum obelisk from Rome to Ethiopia. [Notes and ref. missing.]