A history of traitor of Qolla Dega Damot Awrajja, 1936–1941

Abstract

Firm patriotic opposition followed the Italian conquest of Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia, and other metropolitan centers in 1936. Even though Ethiopians had fought against the fascist army, some of them provided various forms of support to the opposing forces. The scholars did not write the brief history of the Italian collaborators, known as bandas. These bandas served as both combatant and non-combatant combatants for the Italian troops. On the other hand, some scholars had enumerated that Italian collaborators were later the patriots of their surrounding province, thus, led for the sovereignty of Ethiopia. Different sources, however, attested to the fact that Ethiopian bandas, despite their past in Qolla Dega Damot Awraja, which the scholars did not write and document, were essential to the Italians’ ability to hinder the nationalist resistance effort. Thus, between 1936 and 1941, the history of Ethiopia’s traitors in Qolla Dega Damot Awrajja was meticulously researched and documented in this work. For political and financial reasons, the Italian collaborators in Qolla Dega Damot Awrajja had served their masters, the fascist troops. Therefore, methodologically, the brief history of the bandas of Qolla Dega Damot Awrajja was documented using a variety of historical published and unpublished sources. Furthermore, oral sources from informants who witnessed the events firsthand and who were knowledgeable about the subject were also considered relevant sources. Once the sources are delivered, they are qualitatively analyzed to record the background information on the previously specified subjects.

Keywords

• Qolla Dega Damot
• traitors
• banda
• fascists
• patriotic resistance movement
• Samuel Adu-Gyamfi, History and Political Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology College of Arts and Social Science, Ghana