 In 1865, the newly unified Italy bought Asseb from a local Sultan (which became the colony of Eritrea in 1890), and led Sultan Mahammad to sign several treaties with that country.As a result, the Ethiopian Emperor Menelik II stationed an army near Aussa to "make sure the Sultan of Awsa would not honor his promise of full cooperation with Italy" during the First Italo–Ethiopian War.During the Second Italian-Ethiopian War, the Sultan Mahammad Yayyo (grand son of Mohammed Hanfade illalta) agreed to cooperate with the Italian invaders.