A battle has been stirring over the past few weeks between the residents of a small Italian town, Afile, which has taken the decision to honour one of the town's sons, and an ardent group of campaigners resisting the move. Inconveniently, the figure being honoured happens to be a convicted fascist and mass murderer of Ethiopians during that country's brief period of occupation.
Field Marshall Rodolfo Grazziani, a General in the Italian army during its invasion of Ethiopia, was one of Mussolini's key lieutenants and played a leading role in its attempt to conquer the region. The killings carried out under Grazziani's orders led to the death of thousands, if not millions of Ethiopians and Eritreans. This included mass exterminations, and according to one report, the murder of 3, 000 Ethiopian intellectuals in the most brutal reprisal for an attack on Grazziani's life by liberation fighters.
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