CHAPTER 33

ON OCTOBER 14, DE Bono decided to enjoy some of the glory his quick success had earned him and traveled to Adowa for a triumphal ceremony of conquest and submission planned for the next morning.

He expected the trip from his headquarters at Coatit to include at least six hours on mule back over the rugged mountain trail and was surprised and gratified to learn that after only one week’s work, his labor battalions had proven again the renowned Italian skill in building roads. The trail was already in such excellent condition he was able to make the entire journey in his black FIAT Balilla motorcar.

The small town of Adowa, only twenty miles south of the frontier with Eritrea, had always been an important trading center on the routes from the Red Sea to central Ethiopia and was for this reason the scene of the devastating defeat of the Italian army in 1896.

Like most Ethiopian towns, there were clusters of the beehive tukuls nestling around the round Coptic Church. The squalid little town, now damaged by the bombs from the Royal Italian Air Force’s Caproni bombers, was nevertheless bedecked with flags. Flowers lined the streets and several triumphal arches had been erected in accordance with De Bono’s instructions, although they were made from wood and not marble. Sure of the impending Italian invasion, De Bono had commissioned in Italy a large stone statue to honor the Italians who had died at the Battle of Adowa and had brought it to the town. Surrounded by his troops standing at attention in the seething heat in the dusty main square, while the band played the Fascist anthem, Giovanezza, De Bono with great fanfare unveiled the statue by pulling from it the green, white, and red Italian flag.

Zeri, hot beyond means and thirsty, was not in the mood for such shows of patriotism. He coughed and moved off to one side.

De Bono’s second official act on this October day was the issuance of a proclamation to the people of Tigre:

“Concerning the Assumption of Government Beyond the Frontier.” The proclamation declared:

“In the name of His Majesty the King of Italy, I assume the government of the country. From today, you, the people of Tigre, are subject to and under the protection of the Italian Flag.

“Those of you in local authority should remain in office and are responsible for the order and discipline of your respective districts. They will present themselves before the nearest military authority together with the clergy of the parish church to make the act of submission. Those who do not present themselves within ten days will be considered and treated as enemies.

“Let whosoever has suffered injury present himself to my generals and he will receive justice.

“Traders, continue to trade; husbandman, continue to till the soil.”

At the same time, De Bono issued another directive, a kind of Fascist Emancipation Proclamation. “You know that where the flag of Italy flies,” it declared, “there is liberty. Therefore, in your country, slavery under whatever form is suppressed. The slaves at present in Tigre are free and the sale or purchase of slaves is prohibited.”

Zeri, thought this ironic. Why hadn’t De Bono freed the slaves in Eritrea? He knew that a 1935 League of Nations report on slavery acknowledged its existence in Ethiopia, but praised Emperor Haile Sellassie’s efforts to phase it out. Furthermore, Zeri noted that De Bono would have a problem that he should have foreseen. If the slave owners no longer fed their slaves, who would? The Italians!