Italy: 1936 Ethiopia invasion was a 'mistake'.

Italy: 1936 Ethiopia invasion was a 'mistake'.

THE FINAL CALL

December 16, 1997

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (PANA)-----Italian President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, Nov. 26 concluded a four-day state visit to Ethiopia, by expressing his country's regret over the 1936 invasion and five-year occupation of Ethiopia, which he described as a "mistake."

Mr. Scalfaro, the first Italian leader to visit Ethiopia with which Italy fought two wars in 1896 and 1936, stopped short of making an apology for the atrocities committed by dictator Benito Mussolini's fascists during the brazen invasion of the country and its occupation until 1941.

He said, at a crowded press conference before leaving Addis Ababa for Asmara on a three-day similar visit to Eritrea, that the trip was a rewarding experience. He pledged Italy's commitment to Ethiopia's development and efforts at democratization and poverty alleviation.

Mr. Scalfaro said he had "frank words" with President Negasso Gidada and Prime Minister Meles Zenawi about Italy's "mistakes and guilt" for attacking Ethiopia in 1936 and violating the human rights of its people during the five-year occupation.

Asked if he had made a formal apology about this, Mr. Scalfaro responded: "What I had said says more. I sincerely believe in what I said. It is not easy to deny what had happened. I spoke the truth, but did not ask for forgiveness."

Mr. Scalfaro laid wreaths at the Ethiopian Liberation Monument honoring the victims of the 1936 invasion and those who fought Mussolini's fascist troops during their occupation of Ethiopia, and at the Gulale War Cemetery in western Addis Ababa, for about 1,600 Italians killed in Ethiopia. He said he prayed for the dead on both occasions.

The Italian leader said he was impressed with the hospitality accorded to the 2,000-strong Italian community in Ethiopia. Most of whom had opted to remain in the country after the war. Mr. Scalfaro said he was happy that his visit to Ethiopia came as Italy is about to return the Axum Obelisk, seized as war booty on the orders of Gen. Mussolini in 1937.

It is to be returned in April and to be re-erected at the northern historic city of Axum.

The Italian president was accompanied by a party of Italian businessmen and industrialists, who held talks with their Ethiopian counterparts on trade, investment and joint venture opportunities in Ethiopia.

Italy's first attempt at colonizing Ethiopia was frustrated at the battle of Adwa in March 1896. Forty years later, Gen. Mussolini, with the aid of Russian Leader Joseph Stalin, invaded the country ass revenge for Adwa, deploying modern war machines, including airplanes and mustard gas. Fascist troops occupied the country for five years.

After failing to secure the help of the United Nations' predecessor, the League of Nations, Ethiopia was liberated in 1941 during World War II, with the help of troops from several African colonies, and its own soldiers fighting on the side of British forces.