dejazmach gobana amedie had been given a land grant of 500 hectares near waja (12° 17’ n 39° 36’ e) for his service in fighting the italians between 1936 and 1941. he received this land after world war ii. nobility of this sort served to pacify the area for the central ethiopian government. however he took additional land from his farmer neighbors. he was taken to court by the neighbors. they won the case but the administration refused to enforce the ruling. at harvest time in 1971 when gobena went to the fields to take the grain from the area that he claimed, he was attacked and killed by a large group of local men. the response of the ministry of interior was to send the army to kobo to make it clear that the central government was in control. this can be seen as part of the tradition of the government of ethiopia to extend central control which took place throughout the 19th and 20th centuries under both the traditional governments and their successors.