While looking into French camel cavalry as discussed in another thread, I found mention Italy also had those patrolling the remote, dusty corners of Italian East Africa.
Called "Zaptie", companies consisted of Italian officers and NCOs who led native enlisted.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zapti%C3%A9
Looks like they were mostly issued Vetterlis, but I have a Steyr M.95 long rifle with AOI brand that is badly worn. It certainly could have been carried all over East Africa on a camel, but we will never know for sure.
Now to find a fez as shown!
I had never heard of these units before and will look for more pics. SW
0.cs1.jpg [ 78.75 KiB | Viewed 5760 times ]
0.cs2.jpg [ 74.44 KiB | Viewed 5760 times ]
0.cs3.jpg [ 14.01 KiB | Viewed 5760 times ]
0.cs4.jpg [ 235.7 KiB | Viewed 5760 times ]