Benito Mussolini had formed Italian East Africa in 1936 by merging recently conquered Ethiopia with the older colonies of Eritrea and Somaliland. On 10 June 1940, Mussolini declared war on Britain and France, which made Italian military forces in East Africa a danger to the bordering British and French colonies. The "Comando Supremo" (Italian General Staff) had planned for a war after 1942; in the summer of 1940 Italy was not ready for a long war or for the occupation of large areas of Africa.