The deposed "Lij" Iyasu was imprisoned in Ras Kassa's house until he escaped in 1931. W.E.D. Allen passed through Fiche in 1941, and describes the town as having "the usual character of Abyssinian country towns: an agglomeration of huts standing in rather dreary eucalyptus groves and dominated by a fort and the European villa of the Ras." He also noted that "Fiche has a certain strategic importance in the feudal politics of Abyssinia since it lies across the main line of communication between the capital and Gojjam; and in the period of "coup d'etats" in the '20s the lord of Salale was always in the position to intervene suddenly in the capital only 70 miles away."