The President of the Region of Lazio, Nicola Zingaretti, said in a statement released on Monday that he has asked the offices of the Regional Administration of Lazio to suspend financing to the Municipality of Affile for the erection of a monument to Rodolfo Graziani.

The President said the funding had originally been intended for the completion of a park and the erection of a monument to the "Unknown Soldier", which, the Municipality of Affile had then, improperly, decided to dedicate to Graziani.

He said his administration will never accept any attempt to distort or falsify the historical memory of a person like Graziani who had been the main engineer of acts of violence, the use of gas, indiscriminate bombing, reprisals against civilian, the construction of concentration camps and other atrocities during the colonial aggression against Ethiopia.

The regional President recalled Graziani's unwavering support to the fascist regime and his support for continuation of the war on the side of Nazi Germany and for continuation of civil war in Italy, for which he had received a 19 year jail sentence.

The President of the Region said his administration would be forced to suspend the provision of the funding unless the municipality made structural modifications to the monument and returned it to its original aim of a monument to the “Unknown Soldier".

Anything else was not only legally and administratively incorrect; it was also an unacceptable offence to liberty, democracy and to the memories of all Italians. 

Ethiopia Ministry of Foreign Affairs