Jagamo Kello, middle, left home at just 15 to fight Italian invaders
By Martin PlautBBC Africa analyst
The 70th anniversary of World War II is being commemorated around the world, but the contribution of one group of soldiers is almost universally ignored. How many now recall the role of more than one million African troops?
Yet they fought in the deserts of North Africa, the jungles of Burma and over the skies of Germany. A shrinking band of veterans, many now living in poverty, bitterly resent being written out of history.
For Africa, World War II began not in 1939, but in 1935.
Italian Fascist troops, backed by thousands of Eritrean colonial forces, invaded Ethiopia.
Emperor Haile Selassie was forced to flee to the UK, but others, known as Patriots, fought on. Among them was Jagama Kello. Fifteen years old at the time, he left home and raised a guerrilla force that struck at the Italian invaders.
Freedom fighters
But for most Africans independence was still 15 years away.
In the meantime, the veterans had to get home and find a job.
Many found little gratitude for their years of service and no work.
In February 1948 veterans from Ghana, among them Kalimu Glover went to petition the governor.
But instead of receiving them, police opened fire. It sparked off an outpouring of anger on the streets of Accra.
“After the shooting, we said we should damage all British things in the city. We got stones, sticks to break down shops. We broke them all down. Those were wonderful days: February 1948, Saturday to Sunday.”
Mr Kebby is convinced that he and others like him helped end colonial rule.
“Every soldier who went to India got new ideas and learnt new things. We came back with improved ideas about life. We, the ex-servicemen, gave this country the freedom it’s enjoying today. We gave this freedom and handed it over to our country.”
Full story from BBC
No comments:
Post a Comment