Although it now lies in Ethiopia, the town of Gambella, not far from the Sudanese border, was established as a trading post by the British in 1904. The goal was to tap the riches of western Ethiopia, which were too far to be transported to the Red Sea by the French-sponsored Djibouti railway, and to incorporate the region into the capitalist world economy.
As it is the case with many other colonial enterprises, what remains of British Gambella is a handful of forgotten ruins. The old cemetery for whites is an overgrown lot, covered with rubbish and besieged by the huts of the Añuak, the indigenous population of the Baro valley. The once neat separation between local servants and foreign masters has disappeared under layers of dust and garbage.
 by Alfredo Gonzalez Ruibal
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more in absence, memory, monument |
