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and Non-Commissioned Officers, ex zaptié, would never have consented to resume service
with a lower rank than that already worn; while Inspectors and Sergeants of the Police -
who had obtained the stripes through regular courses, passing tests and exams - did not
intend to be overtaken by strangers of different origins, with different and partly outdated
technical preparation, of different and - it must be recognized - less advanced mentality.
Between the generous, weary survivors of the old body and the lively, intelligent “elite” of

the new, there was nothing in common: a forced “merging” would have been susceptible to
serious consequences and would have left everyone unhappy.
The problem, Brunero points out with great intellectual honesty, was sol-
ved outside the Carabinieri Group, within the Security Corps, by bringing
together the ex zaptié in good physical and intellectual efficiency under a company of
“Somali carabinieri” whose tasks within the Security corps - now well advanced on the road
to Somalisation - would have been those of the Military Police pertaining to the Arma, thus
replacing the national Carabinieri units that have already left or were about to leave.
What were the delicate tasks entrusted to this military police can be seen
(45)
in the “classified” report of April 28, 1953 by the C.S.S. : anti-propaganda
security service, to control and limit defeatist and anti-Italian propaganda, secu-
rity and counter-espionage service, to control the activity of civilian or mili-
tary elements hostile or enemies of the Administration, enforce discipline and ter-
ritorial service. In short, extremely peculiar tasks, for which the reliability of
the indigenous troops who had already proven their loyalty in the previous
decades were essential, not unlike what was done in other parts of Africa
with loyal indigenous units, even if not to a Trust Administrations but to
colonial powers, such as the “Flechas” in Angola or the “Sealous Scouts” in

Rhodesia.
In these cases too, it is a matter of testimonies that highlight the effort to
amalgamate, to resolve the oppositions, in a word to “create” “institutions”,
transcendent with respect to the tribe, to politics, to the favorable or on the
contrary sentiment expressed towards the Administration. In the first phase,
however, the organization of the Police, in addition to the problem of the relia-
bility of its members, had to focus simultaneously on several sectors such as the
following:
➣ training, to enlist new agents, also counting on the increased wages and
this time being able to select them for physical and moral requirements, with a

(45) Lettera n. 1/1634 di prot. datata 28 aprile 1953 del CSS - Sez. O.A.O. e diretta al IV Btg.
Somalo Scuola e alla Compagnia di Polizia Militare e, p.c., all’Amministratore dell’AFIS e a
SME, avente ad oggetto “Compiti della Compagnia di Polizia Militare Somala Motorizzata”,
ASMAE, f. A.F.I.S., busta 16 fasc. 66.

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