Ethiopian Fascist Guard (Italian Empire)

Ethiopian Fascist Guard
Yefashīshiti Zebenya
Active	1975-present
Country	Empire of Ethiopia
Allegiance	Italian Empire
Branch	M.V.S.N.
Type	Militia
Role	Security
Size	330,000
Part of	M.V.S.N.
Garrison/HQ	Addis Abeba
Commanders
Commandant-General	Lt. Gen. Giulio Stradelli

The Ethiopian Fascist Guard (Ahmaric: የፋሺሽት ዘበኛ Yefashīshiti Zebenya, የ.ዘ.; Italian: Guardia Fascista, G.F.) is the militia part of the security establishment of the Empire of Ethiopia, other three parts being the Imperial Ethiopian National Defence Force, the Ethiopian National Imperial Guard and the Ethiopian Gendarmerie. The Ethiopian Fascist Guard is under the functional leadership of the Ethiopian Ministry of Interior, under the disciplinary leadership of the Italian M.V.S.N. and under the political guidance of the Ehiopian Fascist Front.

History

The Ethiopian Fascist Guard tracks its origins back to the Italian Colonial Militia. The Colonial Militia was formed by Benito Mussolini in 1923. Based in Italian North Africa and Italian East Africa, the Colonial Militia recruited initially among Italian colonists, but later also among local Africans. By December 1931, the recruits reached 399,000. With the establishment of the Special Government Regions, local militia units began to be organised also within indigenous peoples. With the Proclamation No.71, issued in 1975, the government established the Ethiopian Fascist Guard in order to "safeguard the revolution and the Empire" and the local power bases.
The Ethiopian Fascist Guard has always been largely a rural organization, despite the fact that Addis Ababa had directed urban dwellers' associations and workers' associations to "elect" constituents to serve in the militia.

Mission and tasks

The Ethiopian Fascist Guard has the task to carry out local police duties, to cooperate with the Gendarmerie, the Army and the other armed corps, to protect State-owned property and crops, and to enforce the decisions of the relevant Fascist Party.

The Fascist Guard, under the command of public security organs, assists in maintaining public order. The Fascist Guard's tasks are:

• Take an active part in the modernisation drive and be exemplary in being the vanguard of the New Man;
• Undertake the duties related to public order;
• Be always ready to join the armed forces to take part in war, resist aggression and defend the fatherland.

Organisation

The Fascist Guard is organised according the decentralised structure of the Empire of Ethiopia. At the imperial level, the Guard is dependent on the M.V.S.N. General Command, but functionally depends on Minister of Interior and is politically guided by the Ethiopian Fascist Front.

The Fascist Guard is organised into provincial commands, which in turn oversee village militias and directly subordinate units and formations, and is subdivided into specialty units. It is overseen by the Ministry of Interior, which can order the deployment of its personnel during peacetime and wartime contingencies as ordered by the Emperor, who is overall supreme commander of the armed services of the Empire.

General Command

The Fascist Guard is administered by the General Command, under the functional dependence on the Ministry of Interior and the political guidance Ethiopian Fascist Front. The General Command provides a communication channel for Provincial Commands to the Ministry of Interior, as well as policies and requirements for training and funds and other administrative responsibilities.

The General Command is headquartered in Addis Abeba, and is to conduct all the administrative matters pertaining to the Fascist Guard. As of July 2018, the current Commandant-General is Lieutenant General Giulio Stradelli. He is responsible for ensuring that the Fascist Guard personnel are accessible, capable, and ready to protect the Empire. He is appointed by the Empreor of Ethiopia.

Commandant-General

The Commandant-General of the Ethiopian Fascist Guard is an officer of the Ethiopian Fascist Guard who, at the time of his appointment, holds the rank of Consul General. He is appointed by decree of the Emperor, on the joint proposal of the Secretary of the Ethiopian Fascist Front and of the Minister of Interior, after hearing the Commandant-General of the M.V.S.N., on which he depends. Within the Ethiopian Fascist Guard, the Commandant-General is hierarchically superior to all the General Officers and, in case of absence, impediment or vacation of the office, is replaced by the Deputy Commandant-General.

Chief of Staff of the Fascist Guard

The Chief of Staff of the Fascist Guard is a Consul General tasked of being the chief consultant and collaborator of the Commandant-General, on which he directly depends. He receives from the Commandant-General the directives for the activity to be carried out and directs the activities of the General Staff and defines, where necessary, the additional elements to translate the decisions of the General Commander into orders and plans.
As Chief of Staff, he represents the Commandant General and issues orders in his name, when authorized, and has some departments and units under his direct dependencies: Health and Administration Directorates, the Secretariat, the Autonomous Unit of the General Command and the Head of the Spiritual Assistance Service (military chaplains).

Provincial Command

Special Police Force legionnaires of the Arsi Province Fascist Guard Command.

The Fascist Guard subdivided into 16 Commands (one for each City or Province) called "Sefari". Each Provincial and City Command is attached to the government cabinet of the relevant Governor. However, it is the individual ethnically-based coalition Fascist Party which supervises it and actually exercises the day-to-day command. In case of Cities, the central Fascist Front exercises the "political guidance".

The first and foremost task of the Provincial Command is to plan and execute security and contingency plans, to coordinate local militias activities and to direct them, as well as to provide logistics and support to local militia units. In the Cities, the relevant City Command is an unified structure with direct command over all Legionnaires.

The Fascist Guard Provincial Commands also control the relevant Special Police Force. It is to note that the central Ethiopian Fascist Front directly controls 5 Fascist Guard Provincial Commands (and the relevant Special Police Forces), while ethnic Fascist Parties control up to two Commands each.

Each Provincial Command is functionally subordinated to the relevant Governor and, through him, to the Minister of Interior. On the other side, the Guard depends on the General Command. Each Provincial Command is led by a Major General:

• Commander;
  • General Staff;
  • Administrative Detachment;
• Training Regiment;
• Logistics Depot;
• Health Centre;
• Special Police Force;
• Political Delegate.

Provncial and Awrajja Commands

No.	Provincial Command	Type	Party	Number of Awrajja Commands	Special Police Force	Notes
1	Arsi	Province Command	Oromo Peoples' National Organization	3	3,000
2	Bale	Province Command	Oromo Peoples' National Organization	5	5,000
3	Begemder	Province Command	Amhara National Fascist Movement	7	7,000
4	Gamu-Gofa	Province Command	Ethiopian Fascist Front	4	4,000	The Ethiopian Fascist Front has an unitary command
5	Gojjam	Province Command	Amhara National Fascist Movement	7	7,000
6	Ogaden	Province Command	Ogaden People's Party	13	13,000
7	Illubabor	Province Command	Gambella People's National Movement	5	5,000	The Illubabor has a Special Border Unit
8	Caffa	Province Command	Southern Peoples' Fascist Federation	6	6,000
9	Scioà	Province Command	Ethiopian Fascist Front	10	15,000	The Ethiopian Fascist Front has an unitary command
10	Sidamo	Province Command	Southern Peoples' Fascist Federation	6	6,000
11	Tembien	Province Command	Tigrayan Fascist Party	8	5,000
12	Uolleggà	Province Command	Benishangul-Gumuz Unity Front	6	6,000
13	Uollò	Province Command	Afar National Fascist Party	12	12,000
14	Addis Abeba	City Command	Ethiopian Fascist Front	–	–
15	Diredaua	City Command	Ethiopian Fascist Front	–	–
16	Harar	City Command	Ethiopian Fascist Front	–	–

City Command

Addis Abeba, Diredaua and Harar are managed by a City Command each: such Comamnds are unified entities which deal with functions otherwise entrusted to Awrajja Commands and to village militia units.

In the three Cities (Addis Abeba, Diredaua and Harar), where the Special Police Force is not present, the standing nucleus also includes some line units in order to provide support to the locally stationed Ethiopian Gendarmerie. All units of the Cities directly depend on the City Command without any intermediation.

Special Police Forces

Special Police Force legionnaires of the Tembien Province Fascist Guard Command during 2020 Covid-19 pandemic.

The Special Police Force (Ahmaric: ልዩ የፖሊስ ኃይል Liyu YePolīsi ḫayili, Italian: Forza Speciale di Polizia) is an armed contingents under the direct command of the Provincial Command of the Ethiopian Fascist Guard.

All 13 Provinces (but not the Cities) in Ethiopia have their own Special Police Force in order to perform counterterrorism and security operations, including operating checkpoints and patrolling border areas, as well as being used against demonstrations. Special police forces are not only responsible for fighting terrorism, but also for protecting external borders and for handling general security challenges in the region. A number of government actors are tasked with protecting the border, including the Ethiopian Gendarmerie, IENDF and Special police forces.

Special Police Forces are subject to the respective Fascist Guard Commander and relevant Governor. Numbers range according the security situations of the individual Province. Quiet provinces, such as Tigray, maintain a relatively small Special Police Force numbering around 5,000, while a strategic province such as Scioà maintains a large force totalling around 15,000 troops, also due to Addis Abeba security requirements. Every Special Police Forces has within its ranks at least a special intervention Battalion and a mounted unit.

Special police forces are organised light infantry forces. They are armed with automatic rifles and various types of assault weapons. Special police forces also have access to heavy weapons like machine guns, while vehicles are generally jeeps, pick-up trucks and technicals; both air and heavy support is provided by the Italian Army. Special police forces operate checkpoints, conduct ostensive and roving patrols in the streets and in the countryside and generally conduct military and security operations which involve decisive use of force.

The Special Police Forces recruit from a variety of sources: ordinary legionnaires, retired soldiers, former bandits or former militiamen and rebels. The pay is good, compared to the Ethiopian average pay, and members are allowed to keep «confiscated» valuables. In addition, families of Special Police members who are killed in service are compensated. Training of the special police forces is primarily of a military nature. After the completion of a 6-month of basic military and guerrilla tactics training, recruits are graduated during a ceremony dense of patriotic rethoric.
Officers of the Special Police Forces mostly come from other armed corps, in order to ease the interoperability between Ethiopian Imperial National Guard, the Gendarmerie and the Special Police itself.

Awrajja Command

Within each Province, the traditionally-established ruling families and polities of all types are recognized and protected; where lordships and other polities are too small, they are grouped into Regions (Awrajja). Currently, there are 93 Awrajja (35 lordships and other polities and 58 Regions); the three Autonomous Cities are unitarily considered.

The Awrajja Command is subordinated to the relevant Provincial Command. The Awrajja Command operationally coordinates the subordinated village militas and executes the relevant security operations. In the 32 lordships and other polities which are not Cities but stand as a individual entities, the Awrajja Command handles affairs assigned to village militia units. Each Awrajja Command has a standing command, some standing units under its own command (security units but also communications, signals and engineering units), as well as a military hospital.

Village militia

The basic unit of the Fascist Guard is the village militia unit. All local communities, including not only free villages but also local lorships and Italian settlements, are expected to organise and arm themselves in local village militias framed within the Fascist Guard. Village militias are tasked with security duties, fighting against organised crime and bandits, and with police tasks, handling petty crimes where the Gendarmerie is not immediately available. Each local Fascist Guard unit is financed partly by the local community and partly by the General Command. Standard equipment includes personal weapons, semiautomatic and automatic rifles, jeeps and pickups. Where needed, the General Command may provide heavier weaponry, especially to Italian settlements.

Each village militia is organised in order to ensure a standing nucleus, consisting of the commander, of the command and at least of some subofficers, proportionally to the size of population and of the total of legionnaires enrolled) and two categories of legionnaires: rotationary units (ranging from squads to whole companies according to the location) which serve as a coherent unit for fixed periods, and legionnaires legionnaires who can be called to arms as needed. This second type of part-time legionnaires are also known as "Chitet" or "Muster" (Italian: Leva).

Local village militias are supported, according to the specific needs, by the Ethiopian National Imperial Guard or by the Ethiopian Gendarmerie. The political work in maintaining local security involves mainly consultation between the Ethiopian Fascist Front (and its ethnic-based branches) with local communities and helping them in organising and arming themselves under the umbrella of the Fascist Guard in order to fight back against threats.

Uniforms and insignia

Ethiopian Fascist Guard Legionnaires wear their own uniform: khaki jacket and trousers and a green and khaki cap. The blackshirt and the Fascist Eagle are common among all M.V.S.N. branches. Aside of uniform colours, both the cloths' cuts and rank insignia are the same across the Italian Empire.

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  Ethiopian Fascist Guard Ordinary Uniform (General officers).

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  Ethiopian Fascist Guard Operational Uniform (All ranks).

See also

• Ethiopian Gendarmerie (Italian Empire)
• Ethiopian National Imperial Guard (Italian Empire)
• M.V.S.N. (Kingdom of Italy)
• Empire of Ethiopia (Kingdom of Italy)