The modern A.O.I. Chronicle of a foreign policy that will bring Italy to ruin in the Horn of Africa

Italian East Africa (acronym A.O.I.) was the official denomination of the Italian colonial possessions in the Horn of Africa, proclaimed by Benito Mussolini on May 9, 1936 after the Italian conquest of Ethiopia. It united the colonies of Eritrea and Somalia to the annexed Empire of Ethiopia.

The A.O.I. in Fascist mythology it represented the attempt to recreate the Roman Empire. In realpolitik, the economic need to become, with extreme delay, the fifth European colonial power after France, Great Britain, Portugal and Spain.

After only four years, the Italian African Empire was already in ruins. In 1940, the Italian Africa was effectively isolated, unable to receive direct supplies from the Motherland and completely surrounded by hostile British colonies. The mobility of the Italian forces was also threatened by the resistance of the Ethiopian guerrillas.

The Italian African Empire ends in 1941 following a series of disastrous military defeats suffered between Ethiopia and Eritrea. 27 March the fall of the stronghold of Cheren, 8 April the surrender of Massawa, 19 May the defeat of Amba Alagi suffered by the viceroy Amedeo d’Aosta, 28 November the surrender of Gondar by General Guglielmo Nasi

After 84 years, Italy is trying again to impose its influence in the Horn of Africa by creating political, economic and military alliances with the worst regimes in the region: from the Eritrean dictator Isaias Afwerki to the nationalist Amhara leadership increasingly oriented towards Nazi policies and genocide.

“The modern A.O.I. Chronicle of a foreign policy that will bring Italy to ruin in the Horn of Africa “ is an in-depth investigation into the complicity of the Italian government with these brutal regimes of ethnic and fascist orientation. A complicity supported by an underground foreign policy, ambiguous and nostalgic for old glories of the past carried on without the knowledge of the Italian people and beyond the control of Parliament.

A policy that fits into the heart of the epochal drama of four peoples.

The Eritrean one subjugated for 31 years by the ferocious dictatorship of Isaias Afwerki which transformed Eritrea into a country-prison and which now intends to put the entire region on fire and sword.

The Tigrinya one, victim of the first African genocide of the 21st century.

The Oromo one who fights proudly to break the chains of racial contempt to win the right to exist and to become the protagonist of Oromia and Ethiopia future.

The Amhara one, victim of the madness of fascist leaders who unleashed a devastating civil war after 30 years of peace just to follow the crazy dream of recreating the ethnic domination of the Amhara Empire that lasted 119 years.

This series of articles will examine the behind-the-scenes manoeuvres of the deceptive suspension of Italy’s military cooperation with the Ethiopian regime, the symmetrical and devious policy of support for the regimes of Asmara and Addis Ababa, the insane Rome project of “Strategic Partnership” with the Eritrean dictator Isaias Afwerki.

This investigation is the result of collaboration with Eritrean and Ethiopian activists in defence of human rights of Hidareb, Kunama, Amhara, Tigrina and Oromo origins, whose identities are protected for obvious security reasons. A team work between Farengi, Eritreans and Ethiopians to tell the Italian people what their government does not want them to know.

A contribution to our three nations: Italy, Eritrea, Ethiopia and to the peace in the Horn of Africa which, unfortunately, will be restored with the blood of the innocent in the hope of offering future generations a climate of Democracy, Brotherhood, and Peace where the current monstrous dictators will be an horrible but distant memory.