African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1709 Resistance Organization
"Antar, Tripoli right now is a living hell for us!"

Governor Massimi, his face grim, spoke to Antar about the documents that the French had deliberately left behind.

"We jumped in completely unaware of the situation. No wonder that guy Deponty said that. He's probably waiting to see us make a fool of ourselves later."

Governor Massimi's statement was not a joke; he genuinely did not know the situation in Tripoli, or rather, he was unfamiliar with the local customs and sentiments.

After all, Tripoli was a French colony before. Even if the Italians had designs on the area, the only ones truly concerned about the specific situation in Tripoli were probably neighboring Cyrenaica and Italy's foreign intelligence agencies.

Cyrenaica province is well aware of the situation in the Tripoli colony because, under Cyrenaica's past colonial policies, local resistance forces fled to Tripoli, which became a security threat to them and therefore had to be taken seriously.

Needless to say, the activities of Italian intelligence in Tripoli are extensive, covering almost the entire Mediterranean coast.

However, as a proper Italian official, Governor Massimi clearly had little dealings with intelligence agencies and had no experience working in Cyrenaica.

The following words from Deputy Governor-General Antal also explained this point.

"Your Excellency, this is the sluggishness of information transmission. After all, no one could have imagined that we would be able to easily extort a colony from the French through the Warsaw Conference."

"If we had known about this beforehand, we would have definitely gathered some intelligence on our home soil. But the fact that it happened so suddenly caught us off guard."

Ultimately, it was Italy that gained Tripoli; the event itself was a sudden occurrence.

Italy was completely unprepared for this, and now it's too late to make any preparations.

It was under these circumstances that Governor Massimi plunged headlong into this inferno.

If Italy had not sent a new governor to Tripoli, but instead placed the area under the direct administration of what was formerly Italian Libya, now Cyrenaica province, the situation might have been different.

It's like this: if you're from a Far Eastern empire, you're likely to know a lot about the situation in the surrounding countries, but if you're from a region or country outside of East Asia, you'll know very little.

It cannot be said that Governor Massimi did not collect relevant information before arriving in Tripoli, but the information he could collect in his home country in a hurry was limited and outdated.

Among those documents, Governor-General Massimi also needed to focus on data regarding Tripoli's geography, economy, population, and other aspects.

Governor Massimi said, "Now we're in trouble. It's certain that our popular support in Tripoli is almost zero."

“The Libyans have absolutely no goodwill toward us, but we know almost nothing about what’s going on inside their country.”

Antar suggested from the side, "Therefore, Your Excellency, our most important task now is to ensure our own safety. We should immediately have the army isolate us from the locals."

"Tripoli, as the capital of the Tripoli colony, is also a gathering place for various Libyan nationalists and resistance forces. In the past, under French rule, they were turned a blind eye to them. Now that we are here, they may resort to desperate measures."

Antar's first thought was his own safety; in his eyes, Tripoli had become a dangerous den of iniquity.

More importantly, they had no idea where their enemies were hiding.

Given the Libyans' animosity towards Italy, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that the entire Libyan colony of Tripoli could pose a threat to them.

Governor Massimi's expression grew increasingly grim; Antar's words had directly reminded him of this.

Tripoli is now not only a place of trouble, but even the safety of these colonial officials has become an issue that must be faced and resolved immediately.

He decisively said, "Bring all our people back immediately and don't let them scatter. Also, unless absolutely necessary, no one should go out alone."

"At the same time, immediately send a telegram to the home front requesting support, and urge the troops that were originally going to Tripoli to converge on Tripoli as soon as possible. We need more troops to prevent any accidents from happening."

Governor Massimi doesn't have many capable people under his command right now, after all, Italy has just taken over the area, and Governor Massimi was among the first wave to arrive.

There are also some Italian government-appointed military personnel, officials, and business personnel who are still in place.

After a moment's thought, Governor Massimi added, "At the same time, send a telegram to Cyrenaica province, asking their border troops to cooperate with us and to help us quell the rebellion should anything happen in Tripoli."

"And we should also have them send out professionals, especially those who are familiar with the various resistance organizations in Tripoli that were originally in exile in Cyrenaica, to help us obtain intelligence on the enemy and provide suggestions."

There is indeed a small number of troops between Cyrenaica province and the Tripoli colony. These troops belong to the former Italian Libyan colony and are currently stationed in outposts near the border of the former French Libya, now the Tripoli colony, until a new arrangement is made in Italy.

Therefore, Governor Massimi hoped to use the Cyrenaica troops stationed near the border to provide rapid support to them in case of an emergency.

In fact, the Italian troops deployed in Cyrenaica on the border with the former French Libya numbered only about a hundred. Their main purpose was to prevent resistance organizations and forces that had fled to French Libya from returning to Cyrenaica to cause sabotage.

Now that Governor Massimi is eyeing even this small amount of power, it shows his pessimistic assessment of the current situation, and he has clearly lost the composure and arrogance he displayed when bidding farewell to Deponty.

At this point, Antar added, "The province government of Cyrenaica must know the most about those resistance organizations. They have dealt with these forces for so long, they should have a lot of information on them."

"Therefore, Your Excellency, we should have the Cyrenaica province send us any information that is useful to us."

"At the same time, in the field of intelligence, the Military Intelligence Bureau is definitely the most professional, and we should apply to the local authorities for their involvement."

The Italian Military Intelligence Service, which is also the main agency responsible for Italy's foreign intelligence, is very active in North Africa.

After all, if Italy wanted to create a "new Rome," it would inevitably have to pay attention to intelligence work in North Africa, the former "homeland" of the Roman Empire.

Governor Massimi readily accepted Antar's additional suggestions: "Let's do as you say. We have no other way to do anything until the situation in Tripoli is completely stabilized."

...While the Italians in the Tripoli governor's palace were in a state of tension, the Libyans in Tripoli were also in a state of great confusion.

In a private café in a market on the west side of Tripoli, Samir, an informant planted by the Cyrenaica Restoration Army in Tripoli, is receiving a special guest.

This guest was Najjar, the contact person between the Cyrenaica Restoration Army and Samir.

The two sat on the carpet with two cups of Arabic coffee in front of them, but neither of them was in the mood to taste the coffee; instead, they were chatting anxiously.

"Samir, what's the situation in Tripoli lately? Why did the French suddenly withdraw and turn to the Italians?"

The Cyrenaica Revolutionary Army, a resistance organization, was clearly very concerned about the changes in Tripoli, especially after the city's new masters became their enemies, the Italians.

Samir, somewhat bewildered, said, "Mr. Najjar, we're not entirely sure what agreement the French and Italians reached either."

"However, based on our observations this morning, it is very likely that the two governments reached some agreement, so France handed this place over to the Italians."

"Just today, the sign of the former French governor's residence in Tripoli was changed to an Italian sign, and the French have withdrawn from the sea."

"They left in a hurry, so they didn't leave us any useful information. Now, the flag in Tripoli has changed from the French flag to the Italian flag."

The sudden fall of Tripoli to Italy caught not only the Italians somewhat off guard, but also the Cyrenaica resistance and Tripoli's national independence movement.

This is why Governor Massimi did not encounter any unexpected events upon his arrival.

If the Libyans had known the news beforehand, they would certainly have been prepared to give the Italians a big gift.

Najjar said, "These damned infidels, if we had gotten this information earlier, the Italians wouldn't have been able to enter Tripoli so easily."

The infidels he refers to here are not only Italians, but also French. In Najjar's view, the French were never good people to begin with, and now that they have handed Tripoli over to the Italians, it's only making things worse.

Samir then said, "Mr. Najjar, although we missed this opportunity to retaliate against Italy due to a lack of intelligence..."

"However, since Italy has acquired Tripoli from France through some unknown means, this is a tremendous opportunity for us."

Najjar stared at him with great suspicion, while Samir said unhurriedly, "Mr. Najjar, our Cyrenaica Restoration Army, along with other resistance organizations from Cyrenaica, have always been committed to fighting the Italians."

"But the local militias in Tripoli don't really consider us one of their own."

“Now that the Italians have colonized Tripoli, don’t we and these local armed groups have a common enemy? This is obviously extremely beneficial for our future recapture of our homeland.”

Although the Tripoli-based national independence organizations had some connections with the Cyrenaica resistance in the past, the two sides were never truly of one mind.

Because the two sides have different demands, the Tripoli National Independence Organization aims to liberate Tripoli from the French colonial order and achieve independence.

They weren't particularly interested in Cyrenaica, so they weren't interested in the resistance groups that had fled from Cyrenaica.

Now that the Italians have also colonized Tripoli, both sides have a single common enemy, which is extremely advantageous for the Cyrenaica resistance.

These resistance groups in Cyrenaica, to put it bluntly, were a bunch of stray dogs. Their hope of fighting Italy on their own and reclaiming their homeland was extremely slim.

After all, during the years of Italian colonization, Cyrenaica's original order had completely collapsed, and even the number of Libyans in Cyrenaica had decreased to an appalling level.

There are probably only 20,000 to 30,000 original Cyrenians in the world today, and they are mostly concentrated in present-day Tripoli.

In other words, they have completely lost the ground to oppose the Italians in Cyrenaica. After all, Cyrenaica is now completely dominated by the Italians, and it is difficult to find any trace of Cyrenaeans.

To make matters worse, these people who fled to Tripoli were already facing huge financial problems after losing their original land and property.

The lack of money meant that these resistance groups would have difficulty acquiring weapons and equipment. Without weapons and equipment, how could they possibly reclaim their homes? Did they expect to make the Italians back down with just words?
The situation was quite different for the local independence groups in Tripoli. Under French colonial rule, they were not exterminated; on the contrary, their living conditions were relatively relaxed.

Therefore, the national independence organizations in Tripoli were far stronger and more financially powerful than the resistance organizations in Cyrenaica.

However, the local powers in Tripoli in the past looked down on Cyrenaica and other "down-and-out" or "poor relatives," and disdained to cooperate with them.

However, without their support, the Cyrenaica resistance would have a hard time surviving, since apart from the local forces in Tripoli, they could not find any other foreign powers willing to provide assistance.

Cyrenaica's resistance had sought help from other foreign powers, including Britain, France, the Ottoman Empire, and East Africa.

Britain and France were originally powers surrounding Cyrenaica. If Italy could gain the support of these two countries, it would not have been so easy for Italy to colonize Cyrenaica.

However, Britain and France were clearly unwilling to offend the Italians at this time, as their previous tacit approval of the Italians' genocide in Cyrenaica had already demonstrated their attitude.

The Ottoman Empire was originally the suzerain state of Cyrenaica, but now it is an ally of Italy, so it is naturally unwilling to associate with the Cyrenaica resistance.

Finally, there is East Africa, which is an important border sphere of influence of Cyrenaica and is also the most powerful one. However, East Africa is obviously not going to cooperate with these "infidels". On the contrary, East Africa would love for Italy to completely wipe them out.

In short, no external country is willing to support the Cyrenaica resistance, so the local forces in Tripoli are their only lifeline.

Najjar pursed his lips and said, "Hmph, I get angry just thinking about these guys. We are all children of Allah, but they have their own selfish motives and ultimately let our compatriots be wiped out by the infidels in Italy."

"Now that the Italians have arrived in Tripoli, they can no longer find any reason to delay, and the Italians will most likely not let them go either. This is a case of asking for trouble."

(End of this chapter)