Hamid Idris Awate, in the minds of the Eritreans: A

Transcription

Mr Kornelios Adolay Osman is only the chairman of the “Democtatic Movement for the
Liberation of the Kunama” (People), and not the “Kunama Organisation“ itself
By the teams of the two Kunama web-sites:
www.baden-kunama.com and kunama-agara.com
These days, there is a lot of writing and talking, by various and different Eritrean
organisations, groups of fellow-Eritrean individuals and single individuals, commenting on
the “statements”, made by the DMLK’s chairman, Mr. Kornelios Adolay Osman,
regarding Hamid Idris Awate.
The main organisations, very strongly reacting to the DMLK’s chairman and calling, for the
expulsion, from the “Eritren Democratic Alliance” (EDA), and from the “Bayto”, not only of
Mr. Kornelios Adolay Osman, but also, and even. of the“Kunama Organisation” itself, are:
1).- “The Gulf Centre for Media Services”;
2).- “The Eritrean Solidarity Front”;
3).-“Meskeren.net”;
4).- “Awate.com’s Team”, and some other individuals whom, the teams of the two Kunama
webs, would first like to contact them personally, before revealing their names and responding
to their“reactions” and “comments”.
Let us, first of all, clarify few points which, many of those organisations and individuals,
appear to be facing some difficulty, in knowing and differentiating, what the “Kunama
People’s Organisation, “DMLK”, is, and who, Mr. Kornelion Adolay Osman is.
“The Democratic Movement for the Liberation of the Kunama” (People), in the Kunama
language, “Kunama Koibisha Dimokratika Sungada”, (Ku-Ko-Di-Su), is an opposition
organisation, established in 1993, after, the then newly enthroned ruler, the “People’s
Front for Democracy and Justice”, (PFDJ), started resettling numberless of non-Kunama
Eritreans in the Kunama homeland, and committed untold crimes over the Kunama people,
killing, only in a short instance, more than seventy (70), Kunama in Barentu and in its
environs.
The founders and the prime leaders of that Kunama organisation were immediately chased
and eliminated, by the PFDJ’s regime and by its local authorities, in the Kunama land.
The organisation, after a short period of shock and disarray, was reorganising itself, when Mr.
Kornelios Adolay Osman and his now co-chairman,Mr. Tewelde Minase, who had initially
turned down, joining the movement, and were about to be expelled, like many other Eritreans,
from Ethiopia, managed to manipulate some Ethiopian authorities, who helped them take over
the charge of the Kunama organisation, and have been holding it ever since, and up to these
present days, conducting sprays of killings of their own fellow Kunama, falsely, accusing them,
either of being PFDJ regime’s agents, or individuals, trying to destroy the Kunama
organisation itself, or depose the two individuals and take over the leadership.
1 Mr. Kornelios Adolay Osman and his friend, Mr. Tewelde Minase dared even to change the
name itself of the organisation, calling it, the “Democratic Movement for the Liberation of
the –Eritrean- Kunama”, (DMLeK), with the sole purpose of expelling from the organisation,
as they had done, all the Ethiopian and Sudanese Kunama who had initially joined the
organisation and were wholeheartedly conducting it.
That very initial and arbitrarily taken actions of Mr. Kornelios Adolay Osman and of his friend,
Mr. Tewelde Minase, did already bring division within the organisation itself, with many of the
Ethiopian and of the Sudanese Kunama abandoning the organisation. There were already a lot
of Kunama people and voices, demanding for the two individuals to resign from, and even
abandon the organisation, but they used every means to resist, starting to eliminate all those
Kunama directly confronting them.
Through such criminal tactics, lies and corruption, they are today holding the “Kunama
Organisation”, prisoner of their own economic and political interest and survival.
Due to those criminals activities of the two individuals and of some of their fanatic
supporters, many Kunama people, including the leading members of the two Kunama websites, the entire leadership and members of the “Kunama Political Party/Kunama Politika
Buluka”, (KPP/KPB), have ever since been accusing, condemning and calling for the
immediate resignation of Mr. Kornelios Adolay Osman and of his friend/deputy, Mr. Tewelde
Minase, and also be brought to an Ethiopian court of justice.
Like any other dictator and criminal person, in this world, Mr. Kornelios Adolay Osman is
a “lone-going” and “lone acting” individual and dictator, non-consulting, apparently, even
his own close-friend, Mr. Tewelde Minase.
Whatever, Mr. Kornelios Adolay said, commented on, praised, or even insulted, Hamid Idris
Awate, was and is just a matter of his own choice and decision, which
the “DMLK”, the “Democratic Movement for the Liberation of the Kunama”, the Kunama
people, the Kunama Political Party-leaders, its supporters and many other neutral and
ordinary Kunama, are “not responsible of”, are not to be “accused of”, and their
organisation is not at all, to be either “asked to apologise” or, and never considered to
be “EXPELLED”, from any of the Eritrean Opposition Movement.
This would really mean, not only an open injustice and an insult to the entire Kunama people,
but, literally ”adding insult to injury”, to the entire Kunama people.
“Mr. Kornelios Adolay Osman” is the only one responsible for causing such an uproar; he,
and only he is responsible and the one to be asked to respond, to apologise, and even be
expelled from the opposition.
Concerning the person, the history and the activities of “Hamid Idris Awate”, in the Kunama
land and upon the Kunama people, everyone knows, including the “awate.com”, too,
(carrying his name), the team conducting it, and many leaders and members of the above
enumerated organisations, that, “no one knows”, Hamid Idris Awate, “like and better than
the Kunama people of the Kunama Tika region”, where he grew-up and was even a fellowco-herder of some Kunama individuals, still living among us and testifying about the sad
experiences, they had to make, after Hamid Idris Awate had suddenly changed his behaviour,
2 became, a “villain”, a “murderer”, a “thief”, and started killing the Kunama (male), infants,
men, women, young, old, and raided countless of their livestock.
This is “history”, and a very sad history for the Kunama people who, are still recounting their
family-members, relatives, friends and fellow-Kunama ethnic-members, murdered by and
fallen victims of that cruel man.
The teams of the two Kunama web-sites, speaking in the name of their fellow-Kunama, have
often reminded the“awate.com’s”, team, to stop bringing in connection, the past history of the
Kunama people with the name and history ofHamid Idris Awate, so as not to recall sad
memories, in the minds of the Kunama people, and rekindle emotions, violent thoughts of
retaliation and of hatred.
For us and for our Kunama people, the lives of our people are much more precious than
the “Eritrean Struggle”,( retained to have been started under the leadership of Hamid Idris
Awate) and the “Eritrean Independence” itself, put together, of which we are yet to see its
worth.
No Kunama is against, if and whenever those organisations, their leaders, members,
supporters and other fellow-Eritreans, who and which, though do very well know, the true
background history of Hamid Idris Awate and of his criminal activities upon the Kunama
people, are yet excited, exhilarated and “taken-high-up”, simply by his “shooting of the first
bullet” to “start the Eritrean Revolution”, do stand-up, and are standing-up
to “honour” Hamid Idris Awate as their hero and emblem of the Eritrean revolution, but the
Kunama people are not to be expected or even forced into forgetting his criminal activities
upon them, and start honouring him as their “national hero”.
This is humanly and morally inconceivable and irreconcilable expectation.
For the Kunama people, Hamid Idris Awate “was, is” and “remains”, one of the killers and
co-killers of the Kunama ethnic-members.
As said, many leaders of those opposition organisations, their members and many Eritrean
individuals, do know, the background history and the criminal activities of Hamid Idris
Awate, supposedly, up to the year, to the month, the day and the hour of his“first bullet
shooting”, but also the sufferings the Kunama people, specifically, the Kunama inhabitants of
the Kunama Tika region, had to undergo, caused by the homicidal activities and sprays of
killings of Hamid Idris Awate.
The stand, some of us Kunama are now taking, as regard to the present
diatribe, “Kunama People versus Hamid Idris Awate,”is not in defence of Mr. Kornelios
Adolay Osman, but of our Kunama people and of their past sufferings, because, though
differing only in quantity of their Kunama victims, Hamid Idris Awate and Mr. Kornelios
Adolay Osman are both enemies of the Kunama people, for, both are equally killers of the
Kunama people.
We are now asking:
a).- where were:
1. The members of the “Gulf Centre for Media Services”,
3 2. The “Eritrean Solidarity Front”,
3.
“Meskerem.net”,
“Awate.com” and the many groups and individuals, today coming out inunanimity, to call for
the expulsion of the Kunama people’s organisation from the opposition, when the Kunama
people were being slaughtered, like animals, by Hamid Idris Awate, in their own native and
ancestral land?
b).- Where were the above organisations and their leaders, when, the Jebha unit, led by the
individuals, like “Hamid Dinai”, and others, operating in the Kunama territory, in
the “1960s/70s”, and inheriting the very legacy of Hamid Idris Awate, had exchanged, the
Eritrean struggle for “hatred, revenge” and for an all-out “vendetta”, against the Kunama
people, and were carrying out all sorts of criminalities,, setting the Kunama villages ablaze,
burning some Kunama villagers alive, and inside their own houses; among them, the late
inhabitant of the Kunama village of Karkasha, “Amos, burnt alive” together with “seven”,
(7), of his own family members, in “1967”?
We have “eye-witnesses”, having live memories of those criminalities and condemning
the “Jebha” itself.
c).- Where were the above organisations and their leaders, when the so-called “leaders” of the
Eritrean independence struggle were condoning the systematic eliminations of many
prominent Kunama, both, within and outside of their own units, simply for being “Kunama”?
We have “witnesses” from both sides, recriminating those killings.
Starting in the “1990s”, the then newly enthroned power, and reigning up-to to-day,
the “People Front for Democracy andJustice”, the PFDJ’s regime, started resettling, in the
Kunama land, many non-Kunama refugees, returning to Eritrea and, today, it is resettling and
letting to resettle and settle, in the Kunama native land, itself and every Eritrean in search of
land; and, in order to silence many Kunama voices raising for complaints, it carried out, and it
is still carrying out many systematically conducted killings of the Kunama people, slowly
reaching the thresholds of “ethnic-cleansing” levels:
d) why then:
1).-The “Gulf Centre for Media Services”,
2).- The “Eritrean Solidarity Front”,
3).- “Meskerem.net”,
4).- Awate.com” and the many others, today and loudly raising their voices in condemnation
of the Kunama People’s organisation, for the simple statements, of a single Kunama individual,
who has spoken his own mind and, supposedly “insulted” their “national hero”, Hamid
Idris Awate, have never come out unanimously, to condemn, such injustices of the ruling
regime, in the first place,?
Can
such
organisations
legitimate “complaints?”
and
their
leaders,
4 distinguish
between “justice” and
Through its local authorities in the Kunama land, and through its military forces, and its other
criminal organs, the PFDJ’s regime, is today too, carrying out continuous killings of the
Kunama people, and, not so long ago, “26 Kunama prisoners were mass-poisoned, killed
and buried in a mass-grave”, and a lot of other Kunama are being detained, languishing,
tortured and killed in the regime’s prisons, around the country, but none of the above four
organisation, their leaders and members, have ever spent a single word of compassion, let
alone, come out in unanimity to condemn the regime for such atrocities.
Due to such on-going and systematic cleansing of the Kunama race, many Kunama people
today, and for the first time in their long-history, are being forced to flee their native and
ancestral land “en-mass”, and becoming long-time refugees, in the neighbouring and distant
countries.
Has anyone of the above named organisation, ever cared and said a single word, on such
unusual phenomenon , for the Kunama people? None!
Why then raise, in mass, such a massive uproar, for a single misplaced word, uttered by a
single Kunama?
The Kunama land today is being widely invaded, not only by the majority Eritrean-Tigrianethnic components, but also by many ethnic-members of those very organisations and
individuals, today “crying foul” to the Kunama people’s organisation, but they have never
mentioned of the ethnic and of the territorial injustices, being committed upon the Kunama
people, of which, many ethnic-members of those organisations too, are active allies and
therefore, do have their own share.
Are these organisations, therefore, condoning, and indirectly even supporting and approving
the PFDJ regime’s activities in the Kunama land and upon the Kunama people?.
Are they not showing, instead, that the Kunama must be “eliminated” at home , as well
abroad, in the opposition?
For these reasons, we wish that:
1).- The “Centre for Media Services”,
2).- The “Eritrean Solidarity Front”,
3).- The “Meskerem.net”,
4).- The “Awate.com” and the other organisations and individuals, repeatedly trying “to
bring into connection”, the past histories of the Kunama people, together with the name,
person and activities of Hamid Idris Awate, thus provoking also unnecessary worries and
sufferings to the Kunama people as a whole, were sensible enough to safe us Kunama, such
pains again;
a).- let the murdered Kunama “rest in peace”, and
b).- let the living Kunama populations find some peace, wherever they are living, and with the
desire and hope of returning back home, in the future.
5 Some of those organisations’ leaders are known to have always nurtured grudges against the
Kunama people, but we do not wish to go into details, unless those forces keep bringing up
such sensitive an issue, for the Kunama people, thus continuously, provoking us too.
Finally, we are reminding the above organisations, specifically. the “awate.com”, and all
others, to consider this firm stand of ours, before rushing to call for the expulsion of the
Kunama organisation from any of the Eritrean Opposition Camp, so as not to create more
problems in the Eritrean opposition camp itself, and consequently, among the Kunama people
and the settlers and the settling populations, in the Kunama land.
The Kunama people themselves
Awate’s criminalities, upon them.
will
have
to
settle
the
question
of Hamid
Idris
The K-ABIT: (AKA Pietro Ali-CC ENSF) (September 23, 2012).
Political Immaturity or Mental Disorder?
The Eritrean Opposition & Its Upcoming Congress
February 8, 2014
VKP
The Eritrean opposition organizations including the Eritrean Democratic Alliance (EDA), which
has been shedding member organizations since 2011, have agreed to come under one
umbrella.
Since August 2013, the opposition groups were engaged in discussion in a dialogue forum
created for the purpose.
On January 29, 2014 the EDA issued an initiative calling for an expanded umbrella group and
has been reaching out to former members to resume their membership in preparation for a
congress which will be convened by the Eritrean National Conference for Democratic Change
(ENCDC) in April.
The three organizations that split from the EDA, and the background for the rift, are as
follows:
1. Eritrean People’s Democratic Party (EPDP): The organization withdrew its membership in
January 2011 in large part to protest the timing, the structure and goals of the Eritrean
National Conference for Democratic Change (ENCDC), also known as “Bayto” or “Mejlis.” The
Bayto/Mejlis has been in a state of crisis since its formation. Now, the EDA and the EPDP are
in negotiations for the latter to resume its membership in EDA.
2. Eritrean National Salvation Front (ENSF): The organization withdrew its membership from
EDA in 2012. It had also argued that, with the formation of ENCDC, there was no longer
justification for the existence of EDA and the entire umbrella group should be disbanded. Now
the ENSF is renewing its membership with EDA.
3. Democratic Movement for the Liberation of Eritrean Kunama (DMLEK): The organization’s
membership with EDA was suspended when its leader, Qernelios Esman, chose September 1,
6 2012, the launch of Eritrea’s armed struggle, to attack the initiator of the revolution, Hamed
Idris Awate and then refused to apologize. EDA and DMLEK have reconciled and DMLEK’s
membership has been reinstated.
The strengthening and expansion of the opposition umbrella structure is in preparation for a
congress being convened by the Eritrean National Congress for Democratic Change in April
2014 in Ethiopia.
ENCDC has organized a 23-member preparatory committee to prepare for the congress.
Awate was a trigger happy ordinary outlaw (shifta): A hero of Fascist Benito Mussolini !!!
Monday, 15 October 2012 12:00 Ghirmay Yeibio
Awate was a trigger happy ordinary outlaw (shifta): A hero of Fascist Benito Mussolini !!!
In defense of the Kunama version of the history of Awate and free speech
In the month of September, 2012 following a statement made by Mr. Kernelious Osman of the
Kunama regarding Hamid Idris Awate, a lot of uproar has ensued. In the ensuing uproar
many organizations and individuals like the Gulf Centre for Media Services, the Eritrean
Solidarity Front, Meskerem.net, and other numerous individuals and news outlets have come
up with articles condemning and demonizing Mr. Kernelious.
Some have tried to tell Mr. Kernelious and by extension the Kunama people not to cross a red
line which they have put. Some of them even have gone to the extent of demanding the
expulsion of his organization from the so called “umbrella organization” Eritrean National
Alliance (ENA). Furthermore, ENA has taken the unprecedented and undemocratic decision of
suspending the organization led by Mr. Kernelious Osman, because he exercised his God given
right of freedom of expression.
These organizations and media outlets, in their attempt to create “an Awate which is beyond
reproach and criticism”, they deliberately have alienated the Kunamas of Eritrea and simply
told them that the pain and suffering imparted on them in the hands of Awate and his outlaw
(shifta) group is not worth mentioning.
They are simply telling these indigenous Eritrean people that they and their painful history do
not matter. The Kunamas which have been the victim of an aggressive persecution by the
Asmara regime through its ethnic cleansing policy have been conveniently forgotten by the
mainstream Eritrean opposition groups.
The persecution and suffering of this Ethnic group and the stories and sufferings of the tens of
thousands of Kunama refugees have not been reported by any of the so called “Eritrean
human right organizations” who have flourished these days in every conceivable corner of the
globe where the Eritrean Diaspora lives. These Human right organizations that go by fancy
names like “concern”, “organization”, “Gezana” etc. would rather deafen us day in and day out
with their copy and paste reports about the G-15, and the burial rights of one of the most
notorious Gestapo of Eritrea Naizghi Kiflu. None of them came forward to defend Kernelious’
right to hold opinions without interference and freedom of speech.
Again for these Eritrean Opposition and so called Human right organizations, the sufferings of
the Kunama people is not worth reporting and sadly enough the Kunamas are “subhuman
species” who do not deserve a mention. No wonder then that the Kunamas and other minority
7 people feel alienated not only by the Asmara regime but also by the main stream Eritrean
opposition groups and human right organizations. No wonder that they have incorporated in
their programs “the right for self determination up to and including secession”.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 19 clearly states that,
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to
hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas
through any media and regardless of frontiers.
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Article 19 also states that,
“Everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference. Everyone shall have the
right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart
information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in
the form of art, or through any other media of his choice.”
“To restrict anyone from expressing his views freely about any historical event directly
contradicts the above human right declarations and other similar regional and global laws
pertaining to civil liberties. Freedom of speech and the freedom to express one's beliefs are
essential to human dignity and liberty and as such Kernelious Osman and the Kunamas have
the right to express their version of the history of Awate without anyone censoring, or
curtailing them.”
Who was Hamid Idris Awate? What was his history? What was his motivation if any when he
led a band of his outlaws (shifta) to shoot the first bullet against an Ethiopian police post?
Hamid Idris Awate was born in 1910 in Gerset village located between Omhajer and Tessenei
in Gash Setit region of South Western Eritrea, from a Nara father and Beni Amer mother. In
1935, he was conscripted by the Italians to serve in the colonial army of the Eritrean Ascaris.
The Italians, impressed by Awate’s military performance and loyalty sent him to the Italian
African Police training school in Tivoli about 30 km north-east of Rome, for a course in Military
Intelligence. The Italian African Police force (Polizia dell'Africa Italiana or PAI) was a racially
mixed organization, made up of Italian agents and native Ascaris. It was located in police
headquarters of major cities like Tripoli, Benghazi, Asmara, Addis Ababa, Mogadishu, Gondar,
or in small commissariats elsewhere.
During the fascist era of Benito Mussolini (1922–1943), the Italian African Police (Polizia
dell'Africa Italiana or PAI) along with the Carabinieri were one of the police forces entrusted
with suppressing opposition in Italian East Africa (Africa Orientale Italiana, or AOI), mainly in
Eritrea, Somalia and Ethiopia.
8 The other role of Italian African Police (Polizia dell’Africa Italiana) along with the Carabinieri
was to set up machine gun posts to control the rear of attacking regiments and prevent
desertion. In the mid to late 1930s, the Italian African Police and the Carabinieri were
responsible for the atrocities committed in Eritrea and Ethiopia during the Second ItaloAbyssinian War.
Recruitment to the Italian African Police was contingent on the degree of loyalty one shows and
the ability to carry on instructions without question. Hamid Idris Awate was a proud and
loyal member of the Italian African Police and Carabinieri who committed untold crimes on
native Africans (Sudanese, Ethiopians and Eritreans) who were resisting the occupation of
their land by Italy.
For his loyal service to the Italian occupation force he was first appointed as security officer in
western Eritrea and later as deputy chief administrator of the city of Kassala, Sudan and its
surroundings during the brief Italian occupation of that city in early 1940s. As administrator
of Kassala he relentlessly worked to the political union of Kassala to Eritrea until the British
attack of January 1941 put an end to his dreams. He further has fought gallantly with his
Italian benefactors as a brave soldier in the battle of Keren.
As a loyal fascist soldier, the defeat of Italy by allied forces in East Africa disappointed Awate
bitterly. After the British army liberated Eritrea from the Italians in 1941 he continued to
wage guerilla warfare against the British for over a year, with the cavalrymen of Amedeo
Guillet.
Amedeo Guillet (February 7, 1909 – June 16, 2010) also known as the devil commander was
an officer of the Italian Army who commanded a band of cavalrymen "Gruppo Bande a Cavallo"
during the Italian guerrilla war in Ethiopia in 1941–42. Guillet commanded approximately
2,500 locally recruited cavalrymen who were recruited from all over Ethiopia and Eritrea with
Yemeni infantry men. They also consisted of some camel corps from Libya and were led with
six European officers and Eritrean NCOs all
hand-picked by Amedeo himself.
(N. B. Notice the similarity in attire between the
pictures of Amedeo Guillet here and Hamid
Idris Awate as cavalrymen above.)
(Photo: Amedeo
cavalryman)
Guillet
with
a
native
One of these handpicked Non Commissioned
Officers (NCOs) was Hamid Idris Awate who
was in charge of 100 Ascari cavalrymen with
another Eritrean officer of the Ascari named
Ali Gabre. Guillet tried to delay the advance of
the British Army when they crossed the Eritrean frontier in 1941. He fought the British army
at Cherù on the road to Amba Alagie and Agordat and his delaying actions enabled the Italian
army to regroup at Keren.
His actions saved the lives of thousands of Italians and Eritreans who withdrew from Amba
Alagie. After nearly two months the British broke through the defenses of the Italians and
Asmara was captured.
9 While most of the Italian army surrendered, Guillet refused to do so and began a private war
against the British. He continued to wage a guerrilla campaign, ambushing British convoys
and disrupting supply lines. For almost a year Guillet launched guerrilla actions against
British troops, plundering convoys and attacking isolated military posts, with his beautiful
gun-toting Ethiopian Muslim mistress Kedija by his side. She was the daughter of a chieftain
from Simien in Gondar. In 1942 realizing the futility of his actions, Guillet managed to escape
across the Red Sea to Yemen.
(Photo: Kedija – Mistress of Guillet the daughter of An Ethiopian Chieftain from
Simien, Gondar)
During this adventure one of the loyal subjects of Guillet was Hamid Idris
Awate who was fighting for the return of the Duce’s African Empire. It was
this guerilla experience which the ELF wanted to exploit when asking Awate to
start the Eritrean insurrection in 1961.
After the departure of Guillet in 1942, Hamid Idris Awate based himself in the
western lowlands of Eritrea in the vicinity of his tribal land with his army of approximately 50
men, and continued to fight the British, awaiting for the return of his commander Amedeo
Guillet with help and reinforcement from Rome. He continued his fight against the British
until 1945. After he realized that the empire of Fascist Italy was gone for good he continued
his outlaw (shifta) life, this time targeting innocent Eritrean civilians. He conducted raids into
Kunama villages and plundered cattle which he sold in the markets of Kassala, Sudan. He set
ablaze countless Kunama villages and looted them and engaged in indiscriminate killing of
Kunama women and children including infants.
Awate’s notoriety as a shifta and crimes against civilians was such that the then British
Military Administration set a price of £300 for information leading to “the arrest or capture of
Awate dead or alive”. He was a notorious outlaw (shifta) alongside other outlaws of the
time like Weldegebriel Mosazghi of Berakit Abay and Berhe Mosazghi of Berakit Abay, Hagos
Temnewo of Debri Adi Tsadek and Asresehenge Embaye of Areza, who were targeting
defenseless highlanders of Akeleguzay, Seraye and Hamasien and killed countless Jebertis,
Sahos and Kunama of South western lowlands of Eritrea. A 1949 British Military
Administration document enumerates 51 such outlaws (shiftas) with a bounty on their heads
with Awate at the top of the list and with the highest bounty of £300.
He was later pardoned by the British Administration in Eritrea in 1950 and given complete
amnesty for his past crimes and allowed to return to his hometown. He was also allowed to
retain his gun for personal protection. The restless and trigger happy Awate was living in his
native village when the ELF approached him to start the armed struggle. He still had some of
his band of outlaws with him. He was 50 years old at the time. Awate accepted the request
by the ELF and in September of 1961, fired the first shot declaring the start of the armed
struggle and was back in business again. He led the ELF armed wing for only about 20
months and died on May 28, 1962 presumably from food poisoning.
Thus the so called
“Eritrean war of independence” was launched by a criminal outlaw (shifta) and is still run by
another outlaw (shifta) Isayas.
Hamid Idris Awate was a simple outlaw (shifta). An ordinary soldier entrusted with
accomplishing a political goal charted out for him by ELF leadership in the Sudan. He never
interfered nor tried to influence the political decision of the front, nor did he have the
analyzing capacity of what he was doing. He was politically ignorant and was glad to do what
he was trained to do his whole life and which he knew best how to do i.e. killing and causing
mayhem.
10 He was a trigger happy fascist loyalist who worked against the interests of the Eritrean people
in particular and colonized Africans in General, who continued to fight the British forces,
alongside Amedeo Guillet, to bring back fascist Italian rule to Eritrea even after Mussolini’s
army had surrendered in East Africa to the allied forces.
He was a fascist loyalist who conducted a guerrilla war for 5 whole years for “a king, country
and a people whom he never saw or knew”. He was loyal Carabinieri who diligently worked to
keep Eritreans under the yoke of Italian colonialism. As a right hand man of the Italian
administration he approved and enforced the racist and oppressive policy of Italy which
confiscated around half of the land of Eritrea under the principles of state land “Terreno
Demaniale”, particularly around western lowlands of Eritrea during his tenure as
administrator. He wanted to reinstate the Italian Fascist rule that dehumanized Eritreans
using apartheid and segregation and continued to fight to bring back that system to East
Africa for five whole years, until the end of the Second World War.
What makes Awate different from the tens of thousands of Eritrean, Ethiopian, and Somali
Ascaris who fought alongside Italy is the fact that he conducted a guerilla war to reinstate the
fascist rule on Eritrea even after the demise of Duce Mussolini’s empire and even after all the
Italian soldiers and Ascaris have surrendered. He was more dedicated to fascism than the
fascists themselves.
He did not even have the slightest concept of freedom let alone be a freedom fighter or a
resistance fighter. The only resistance he showed was to resuscitate the dead empire of Benito
Mussolini in East Africa.
Therefore, Awate does not deserve to be given the honorable title of a freedom fighter. Trying
to glamorize and give Awate a face lift and give him a name which he does not deserve is not
only gross representation, but also an insult to his victims.
He was a gun, available for hire to the highest bidder, a “Billy the kid” of Eritrea, who availed
his services first to Benito Mussolini in 1935, next to Amedeo Guillet in 1941 out of love and
loyalty to fascist Italy and later in 1961 to Idris Mohammed Adem and the ELF leadership in
the Sudan, out of familial and ethnic loyalty.
When there was no one to hire him, he turned to cattle raiding and rustling for monetary
gains, burning down whole villages indiscriminately, killing and massacring innocent civilians
including infants, children and women. His primary victims were the Kunamas. Killing was
just a profession for him. That in short is who Hamid Idris Awate was, no more and no less.
The tragic irony is that even though Awate had no noble intention when he fired the first shot,
he is credited with starting the armed insurrection against the so called "Ethiopian colonizers"
because of a historical accident.
An interesting and weird twist to the story of Amedeo Guillet is that he visited Eritrea in 2000
upon the express invitation of Isayas Afeworki. Isayas must have taken a few pointers from
Italian rule about how to subjugate the Eritrean people. Like father like son, both Isayas and
Awate were worshipers of Fascists of Douche Mussolini. The love of Isayas for Guillet came to
light during his visit to Italy in 1999.
During his visit to Rome Isayas was asked whether there was any single Italian he would care
to meet. Amedeo Guillet, he replied promptly. The then 90 yrs old Guillet was immediately
summoned by Italian officials to meet the Eritrean head of state and was extended an
invitation to visit Eritrea by Isayas, which Guillet did in 2000.
11 (Photo: Isayas Afeworki welcomes Amedeo to his country.
The president’s Palace was very familiar to Amedeo.
It used to be the Italian army’s headquarters.
We also find another interesting twist to the story of Amedeo Guillet, who
died on June 16, 2010 at the age of 101. The official website of Amedeo
Guillet shows the picture of an Eritrean Greek by the name of Vassili
Kiriakakos at the funeral of Guillet.
The name Kiriakakos kind of rings a familiar bell for
Eritreans, and raises the question what the role of Eritrean
Greeks in general and “the Kiriakakos’’ in particular was
during the Italian occupation of Eritrea. How come one of
the Kiriakakos’ comes to pay homage and attend the funeral
of a well known Italian soldier of Benito Mussolini? Was
there any collaboration by them with the regime of Benito
Mussolini in East Africa? It makes one wonder. More
research needs to be done to know the extent of the role of
some of the Eritrean Greeks, if there was any, during the
fascist era.(Photo: Vassili Kiriakakos, a Greek Eritrean, and
Colonel Mongelli, who made a film documentary about Amedeo and was a devoted attendant
during the final years, with Major Ed Jeep, of the US marine corps at the funeral of Amedeo
Guillet.)
Ghirmay Yeibio
Winnipeg, MB.
Saleh Gadi Johar · Keren secondary school
Selam Ghirmay,
Honestly, when I glanced at your article and saw some archive photos, including the
bombastic sub-title you provided (not to mention the importance of the subject) I expected to
see serious (if not a researched) work. It seems most of your material are from this website:
http://www.amedeoguillet.com/funeral/, Wikipedia, some of which is awate.com's work, plus
a photo from shabait. That is not the issue though, I kindly ask you to educate me if you
would please by providing any reference or evidence on how out of tens of thousands of
Asakaris, you linked Awate to Amadeo's adventure. One more thing: the picture of the man on
the horse is not Awate by the way, according to someone who is related to the man in the
picture which he know before someone posted it on the Internet claiming it is Awate---and it
went viral....See more
15 October 2012 at 19:02
Teweldebrhan Kifle ·
Saleh,
You are fighting a war that you would never win. Eritrea will be fine less those individuals.
Take it easy and no offence is intended sir.
12 Robel Teklay · Santa Ana High School
kkkkk. The man in the picture is not awate according to someone related to the man.., you say
and accuss the write of doing a lame research. What a farce! What a joke! It is so sad. It was
not Kernelios who crossed the line, but you and your awate group and voila ...you have opened
a pandora's box. Now you are blubbering. Just disprove this writes claims, if you can, instead
of saying ...the man in the picture is not awate...hade zemedu iluni....kab kulom askaris kemei
geirka ni awate mis nai amadeo adventure korinikayo....blalblalbla. And for your info.
kernelios is the leader of one of the parties of kunama and he represents at least some
kunama if not all. Did you guys mean only Kernelios the individual when you unashamedly
called for the opposition to evict kernelios from the Eritrea oppostion movements membership?
You have faltered big time awates. It is human and professional to retract what you have said
and appologize. You are simply embarrassing yourselves even more by dragging this
arguement. What a shame.
16 October 2012 at 05:54
Ghirmay Cazanchis
Dear Saleh,
It is no wonder these days articles and writings are appearing which question the very premise
or precept on which the so called “Eritrean war of independence” was based, and the motives
of the so called “fathers of the movement” is starting to be questioned. This has set a panic in
some quarters (which I am sure you know who I am referring to). It is no wonder also that the
youth of Eritrea have persistently refused to identify themselves with both camps i.e. the
Asmara regime and the opposition which are on the opposite end of this debacle and have
chosen to get clear of these two destructive forces.
This young nation which appeared on the map of the world as a sovereign state only a couple
of decades ago has become synonymous with war, violence, tragedy and misery courtesy of the
so called liberators “Tegadel...See more
16 October 2012 at 06:06
Anghesom Mehari · Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Well done girmay now we knew this opposition groups their motives r they r standing for
nothing just power hungry the r worse than dia
15 October 2012 at 10:43
13 Fessaha Weri
Dear Girmay.
You said it right. It is saddening to observe the Opposition rush into condemning Cornelius
Osman, but so lazy and corrupt to do any effective work for the miserable country Eritrea.
Cornelius has the right to write what he thinks, and then instead of disproving him they
hastily condemned him.. Indeed Awate persecuted the Kunamas and in the fifties and sixties
we used to hear the same stories of persecution. In his time Awate did persecute many others
too. Those who suffered do not forget and the Kunamas do not forget. Who did not persecute
the Kunamas at one time or another? It is time for us Eritreans to ask the Kunamas for their
forgiveness for the way we looked down on them, expropriated their lands... which we continue
to do to this day. We despised them as "rat and snake eaters".
15 October 2012 at 17:00
Wad Haiget · Keren secondary school
another person defaming the father of the nation and this time from an ignorant species with
the name GHIRMAY YEIBIO.. dear ignorant the picture that's posted on your article is actually
not awate picture... you don't even know who awate is. your allegations are baseless..
15 October 2012 at 16:24
nd whats the story with asmarino.com anyways ?
15 October 2012 at 16:31
Deki Awate · Alsahel high school
Wad Haiget The only thing I can appreciate on his article is that he believes Awate the hero
starts our army struggle.The other things are all the propaganda of Haylesilase of
Ethiopia.This man needs to reread his article again and agan close reading! Mr. Ghirmay says
Awate stays for about 20 months from Sep.1-1961 to May 28-1962 I will give this home work
to my child KG-2 student to calculate.The article is full of mistakes. And he's trying to
compare Awate with DIA, better for him to write about DIA not Awate. Also he needs to Know
that Mr. Kernelious Osman is right freedom fighter or Shifta.
15 October 2012 at 23:19
Mohamed Kheir OmerGood that you have come at last to recognise the on-going ethnic
cleansing of the Kunama that have been going by the regime for quite a long time. Good also
14 that you support the freedom of speech. You fail like the DMLEK statement to substantiate
your claims that Awate was a shifta and committed atrocities against the Kunama which has
been denied by other Kunama groups. Your article seems to be sugar-coated to discredit
Awate. The Kunama have lived with their closest neighbours the Beni Amer and Nara for
centuries in peace and they will continue to do so in the future. There were cattle raids in
those areas and Awate is known to have defended the region from cattle raiders who came
from across Mereb. If there are any atrocities committed by any group against the other be it
in this area or other areas in Eritrea, it needs to be investigated and documented. We can not
have national reconciliation without such a process.
Most of all you fail to mention the real shiftas of the ‘Andnet party’ who under the slogan of
‘Ethiopia or death’ – they finally got both- and with the support of imperial Ethiopia then
committed a lot of destruction in the region and in various parts of Ethiopia. A book worth
reading is ‘Eritrea –Gli anni difficilli 1941-1951’ One can click on ‘avanti’ to go through the
book.
http://www.ilcornodafrica.it/st-sci01.htm
16 October 2012 at 08:21
Salih Awate
AFRIQUWAS, DURING OPEN COLONIALISTS GRAPING ERA ALMOST ALL WERE ''BANDAS''
OR ''ASHA'FI'QURAA'' FOR THEIR RESPECTIVE ''SUPERIORS''.HOWEVER SIMPLY ''UN FLAG''
,EVEN GHANDI'S uk 'BANDS' KNOW CAN NOT HAPPEN, simply Italia out..................AND all
questions followed after the real ''ASHA'FI'FITNAAAAAAA''neo IMPERIALISM.
16 October 2012 at 09:09
Salih Awate
YE'TINDED WA YETHREQ,,,,,,,,,,,ADUNIA KULHA DIB QERAQ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,''REBBI NOSU
LKREE LE HAQQ*************
16 October 2012 at 09:22
Fithi Yinges · Asmara university
Girmay targets not only Awate but all freedom loving veteran fighters from lowland, and he will
finaly unfold his hidden plan to crown only people like Weldeab Weldemariam were real
freedom fighters. The shifta from Eritrean higland and Tigray region committed unforgiveable
atrocities aganist Kunama and muslims generally in which Girmay smartly placed ''Awate" on
behalf of the real perpetrators. And today It is very true Kunama people are facing all form of
atrocities under Junta rule rule f Esayas Afwerki and his criminal cohorts like Tekle Manjus.
15 Therefore, It is on our responsibility to document each and every crime committed by tyrant
regime against innocent citizens because tomorow fake writers like Girmay appear on media
and may put Romadan Mohamed Nur on place of Esayas Afwerki and Romadan Awliyay
instead of Tekle Manjus in order to mislead newer generations and pardon their men . As
highlander '' Girmay'' It is noble job to write firstly about what the shiftas of highland and
Tigray have done on muslim communities in highland beacause you have a plenty of live
resources for that before you search to distorted information from British testimony.
16 October 2012 at 11:05
Samson Ghebre
Democracy 101, lesson #1: You have your views; the next person has his. If you want live in
peace don’t force your views upon him. Simple really!
Those who got so worked up about and did the flaring of the nostrils at Kernelious for his
statements on Awate, did a great disservice to themselves and to the ‘honour of their hero’ by
such a display of intolerance.
What do you imagine happening to him if these guys were in power? He would be declared
guilty of treason and other high crimes they can think of against the nation and its leaders. He
would have his ears chewed and most likely end up in Era-Ero with a missing ‘kulit’ to pay off
the guards.
This does not forebode well for the future of Eritrea, does it?
15 October 2012 at 22:28
Adulis Eritrea · Top commenter · Sawa
The future of Eritrea does not look promising with many in the would be opposition working
hard to muzzle the freedom of speech and the freedom of association. The many in the
opposition who never stop talking about "democracy, justices, free press ..." are themselves
ashamed to post and discuss news articles showing the Arab Bedouins and Rashaidas abusing
the enslaved young Eritreans in the Arab world.
16 October 2012 at 09:05
Teweldebrhan Kifle · Top commenter
It seems Eritreans have many small things under their fold to keep them in a perpetual war
with no winner in sight.
The fault lies in the act of crowning a single man to symbolize such intricate revolution big
enough to be fathered by an individual. How is that one gets a credit for a mere firing of a
bullet? Was not the Eritrean armed struggle a well thought venture as many of you use to
claim?
16 Take a lesson from the Tigray Revolution, if you will. It is quite possible that the Tigray
Weyane's bullet could be fired by an individual in February 19, 1975. But that individual fired
the bullet in the name of those who decided to face the enemy from the bush and in spirit of
the people whom they claim to set free. We rightly know the guys who started the "Mehiber
Gesgesti Biher Tigray" evolved first to "Tegadilo Harnet H'zbi Tig...See more
·15 October 2012 at 23:48
simon.kaleab (signed in using yahoo)
Ghirmay Yeibio, job well done!
All rational thinking people know that Awate was a glorified mercenary and later a bandit who
was bent on settling tribal scores against the Kunamas.
In the first instance, Awate could not be capable of thinking in nationalist terms. Why?
Because there was no Eritrean nation to speak of, other than disparate groups of different
tribes and regions, held by the glue of Italian boots. Based on his experience and level of
abstraction, an appropriate mode of thought for Awate would be: self, family, tribe and fascist
employer.
To make matters worse this man Awate is a Muslim. Freedom, democracy and human rights
are incompatible with Islam. Islam is total dictatorship and submission to barbaric 7th
century Bedouin Arab rules. If you do not believe me you only need to look at Islamic history
and stud...See more
16 October 2012 at 04:19
Mi Li · Asmara university
Simon.kaleab. Come on be civil! be mature. The whole religion has nothing to do with the
article, and you know yourself what you wrote is wrong,...so....
16 October 2012 at 07:06
Mo Yasin · Top commenter
No wonder that you are using a bogus profile. such a cheap behavviour.
I'am sure you ar eone of those hypocrets who keep singing hade lebi hade hezbi when ever EriMuslims are around.
Guhaf nay behaqi !!!
16 October 2012 at 15:30
17 Adulis Eritrea · Top commenter · Sawa
Thank you Ghirmay,
We need to defend the freedom of speech, thought and justice at any cost. We had already paid
so much in the lives of so many promising young who spoke up as in Falul, Sryet Addis,
Menkae, Yemin... and the poor ethnic Kunamas. It is about time we speak up and claim the
truth.
15 October 2012 at 14:15
Mahmoud Mohammed Omer · Khartoum, Sudan
Freedom of expression and speech does not mean that caused others without conclusive
evidence that is shame ato Ghirmay Yeibio .
16 October 2012 at 01:37
I am surprised that Salih Ghadi who had posted many times the same photograph of Awate on
his own web site, wearing the second World War Italian boots riding a horse, wrote "the picture
of the man on the horse is not Awate by the way". Ghirmay's response is very good: "You have
also mentioned that the picture is not that of Awate. That would not surprise me at all, after
all the whole Eritrean struggle was based on deception and a mountain of lies which has kept
the Eritrean people on a vicious circle of misery for half a century. It is time to propel to the
forefront and discuss the hitherto taboo topics and issues that have thrown the nation and its
people into such an abysmal situation.
I am sure more and more Eritreans would begin reexamining and further putting the Gedli
version of Eritrean history under the microscope. That would help us get our voice and what
we want to be as a people or else face a shameful demise and extinction both as a people and a
nation. It is time for an honest and genuine appraisal. I will try to make my very modest
contribution in this aspect, because I care as an Eritrean and because I have paid a very heavy
price because of the mistake of so called “Ghedli” and I do not want that to be repeated. "
16 October 2012 at 09:29
Because of Ghirmay’s article, Saleh Younis, his spare wheel Saleh Qadi and those on the
chorus line are feeling very hot under the collar. One only needs to look at the exchanges going
on at the ‘awate.com’ website. What Ghirmay's article has done is disturb a wasp’s nest.
Few weeks ago, Saleh Younis was cornered about the articles he was writing during the 19982000 Eritrea/Ethiopia war. These EPLF/PFDJ cadre style articles were egging on the Eritrean
18 government to continue the war efficiently. Saleh tried hard to wriggle free from the charges
with no success.
In his latest post related to the terrorist Idris Awate, Saleh Younis follows his usual blue print
which is to do one spin clockwise, then a half-turn anti-clockwise, then add a couple of standup comic routines for flavour to disguise his perpetual diversionary tact...See more
21 October 2012 at 10:54
Saleh Qadi said:
1) “Personally, I have no problem with people discussing, dissecting and challenges
perceptions and ideas.”
He then added,
2) “As long as people do not deny that Eritrea is a state of its own, and not some lost realestate that someone is claiming, or as long as Andnet sentiments are not presented in a new
garb (camouflaged as an advocacy of this or that minority, or as a modern globalist view when
primordial sentiments are the culprit) I see no problem.”.
Clearly, the above two statements are self-contradictory.
Saleh tries to give the impression being a democrat when he says he permits “discussing,
dissecting and challenges perceptions and ideas”. In fact, he was barely able to hide his
sinister and dictatorial tendencies when he said he will put limits on what topics he allows
people to discuss? By doin...See more
16 October 2012 at 15:23
Simon Kaleab: I could easily consider you Hafiz AlNuqsan... someone whose sole purpose is to
look for holes when there are non. When it comes to Andenet, Eritreans will fight back, like
they did in 1961, they will not debate it. If you live without redlines, it is fine. But don't expect
others to do the same. The law gives you a driving license but you have to observe traffic rule,
you can't say I have a license and violate a red light.
16 October 2012 at 20:1
Saleh Qadi said:
“When it comes to Andenet, Eritreans will fight back, like they did in 1961, they will not debate
it.”
How do you know Eritreans will fight back? Is this a logical assumption or your blind
statement of faith? What will you do if a section of the population chooses it, will you fight
back personally? What about if another section chooses to join the Islamic Paradise of Sudan
or secede?
19 Saleh also said:
“The law gives you a driving license but you have to observe traffic rule, you can't say I have a
license and violate a red light.”
Your analogy is poor. In the case of respecting the traffic laws, it is clear in a concrete and
physical way that violating these laws will bring mutual death and destruction. While in the
case of Eritrea, contrary to your assertion, it is using force to impose only one solution to fit all
that will bring failure.
How are you planning to create an artificial common bond between disparate groups of people
with different culture, religion, psychological make-up and aspiration other than by what was
already done by Italian boots and Isaias’ Congo shoes? A certain thinker defined Insanity as:
doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
16 October 2012 at 23:08
Stefanos Temelso · Top commenter · Harer TTI Ethiopia
I wonder why we Eritreans give more to side issues than the issue at hand. Dear countrymen,
our people are in suffering under unbearable conditions living a life of sub-humans or
animals. Peoples organs are being sold like tomatoes, thousands are rotting in underground
dungeons. Life in Eritrea has become so miserable because according to the information we
have the system is crumbling. Then, how could learned Eritreans debate about an issue that is
not critical at the moment. This shows that what is happening in Eritrea is of secondary
importance to you all, I mean th two antagonists. It is natural to debate about historical issues
and personalities. But, one should first be aware of the populace not wether Awate has started
the liberation struggle. You must undertsand that the debate is wether Awate carried the gun
to alleviate the suffering of the people or not. If Awate would rise from the grave and observe
the current situation, he would curse each and everyone of us for bickering among oueselves
about his role rather than struggle to remove the evil dictator. Therefore, let the dead rest
peacefully until such time our people have peace and tranquility and let us stand up together
and destroy the evil regime. MENGEDI GEDIFNA GWAL MENGEDI AYNHAZ. ISAYAS KEMZN
WEDZN SLE ZTEQMO ZELO IYU EDME SLTANU ANWIHU ZELO. BEJAKATKUM AB GUDAY
QALSI ATEKURU ZEREBAN KITIEN WAGA YEBLUN! TSEMI'U ENTE KONKUM IYU MECEM1.
· 16 October 2012 at 08:01
Beraki Yohannes
It is right people get on truck. stop been nonsense
5 November 2012 at 08:25
20 I am not quite sure why Salih Ghadi is writing statements with words like " as long as Andenet
sentiments are not presented in a new garb..." to muzzle people he sees as opponents? As far
as I know, no one has raised the issue of Salh Ghadi's father and mother who hail from Tigray
but were welcome by the people of Keren to settle in happily nor did anyone raise the issue of
Salih Ghadi's obsession with the status of the alien Arabic language and the issue of the "Arab
identity" of Eritrea and his several attempts to push it through our throats. Salih wrote: “As
long as people do not deny that Eritrea is a state of its own, and not some lost real-estate that
someone is claiming, or as long as “Andenet” sentiments are not presented in a new garb
(camouflaged as an advocacy of this or that minority...”.
16 October 2012 at 23:30
Beraki Yohannes
Is this throwing a ball among the Eritrean people so that we would exchange words rather
than focusing to our struggle. I think those the same people that they are writing this above
article know who was Awate since long time ago. This should be written 20 years ago. Why is
now, it looks changing the game or dimension of our struggle. At this point of time, we do not
need to search history about the past heroes. What we need is unity to face the challenge that
faced to our people. Then when we sorted out our primary problems, we can open this
discussion forum about all this documented history of awate as they are out lined. It is infect
well searched and studying document. But this will lead us in the wrong direction. Therefore,
we cannot be expediting to resolve the problems we have.
15 October 2012 at 12:19
Dear Ghirmay,
if you think there is panic, please consider it a challenge. This Awate bashing is not new, don't
be disappointed if I say you not breaking a taboo--the character assassination of Awate, and
anything he stood for has been going for too long--parallel to denying the statehood of Eritrea,
denying all the sacrifices of "deqna" as our people put it. Personally, I have no problem with
people discussing, dissecting and challenges perceptions and ideas. My problem is when
people cut-and-paste stuff and claim it is authoritative balanced and well sourced research.
Opinions cannot be deceitfully presented as a scholarly work. I hope you agree with me about
that. The second thing: I was hoping you would to reply the two questions that I posed on my
earlier post.
As long as people do not deny that Eritrea is a state of i...See more
16 October 2012 at 15:23
Ghirmay Cazanchis
Dear Saleh “As long as people do not deny that Eritrea is a state of its own, and not some lost
real-estate that someone is claiming, or as long as “Andenet” sentiments are not presented in a
21 new garb (camouflaged as an advocacy of this or that minority, or as a modern globalist view
when primordial sentiments are the culprit) I see no problem.”
There you go again by drawing the red line not to be crossed and just labeling people with
“Andenet Sentiments” because they disagree with you on issues. You are attempting to limit
the rights of individuals and organizations who have differing opinions by drawing a red line
which you want them not to cross. In so far as they limit themselves to your version of limited
democracy, then “you see no problem.” Well the Asmara regime also has a problem when
people disagree with its p...See more
16 October 2012 at 20:32
Some one is wriggling out from anwering questions directed to him.
17 October 2012 at 18:27
Salah Ejail
some people should be able to swallow the bitter pill that Awate has commenced the armed
struggle and if I was to call it a "damage" , it has already being done and to their bad luck , it
cannot be reversed!
· 18 October 2012 at 06:42
Fithi Yinges · Asmara university
Well said ustaz Salah Ejail !!
18 October 2012 at 13:12
Salah Ejail
Thanks fithi yinges
18 October 2012 at 21:39
22 Raphael Arefaine
In the following paragraph, which is about the 9th from the bottom, you meant
misrepresentation instead of representation; right?
" Therefore, Awate does not deserve to be given the honorable title of a freedom fighter. Trying
to glamorize and give Awate a face lift and give him a name which he does not deserve is not
only gross representation, but also an insult to his victims."
15 October 2012 at 11:05
Ghirmay Cazanchis
Selam Raphael,
It was a typing mistake. I meant misrepresentation I apologize. Thank you.
16 October 2012 at 06:11
Mi Li · Asmara university
Raph, you are right when it comes to grammar, However, you as a gifted man could have said
more on the whole article. Could have added something or criticized[ professionally] on the
subject. TY
Reply · 1 ·
16 October 2012 at 07:03
Do the two sides agree on the revolution after all?
· 16 October 2012 at 11:16
It is most likely that those who are obsessed with Awate bashing do that as a means to get at
the revolution and Eritrea's independence.
16 October 2012 at 15:18
23 Abdu Hamid · Top commenter · Addis Ababa University
All of our grandparents and our fathers were conscripted forcibly in the Italian colonial army
to fight illegal wars against Ethiopia, Libya and Somalia because the Italians made Eritrea
starting point for them to practice invasions and Hamid Idris Awake had been conscripted as a
Soldier to serve the Italian occupiers such as like all Eritrean grandparents, so this is not a
charge condemns Awate this on the one hand and on the other hand Awate was defending for
his tribes cattle in Barka and Gash-Setit region; therefore self-defense is a legitimate right, but
the misleading allegations fabricated by Qrnelios Osman Agar and other similar individuals are
groundless accusations , that all Eritreans citizens were and still oppressed and previously
Ethiopian colonial forces had practiced deliberate genocide crimes against Eritrean people. Do
you have any information about the genocide crimes of Ethiopian colonial forces? in Ad
Ibrahim around Tokumbia, Awna, Hergigo, Agordat, Omhajar, waki -duba, Besedera, Hazomo,
aylet etc. Hamid Awate didn't practice genocide crimes like Haile Selassie, Mengistu and Isias
ofwerki against the people of Eritrea as a whole and in particular against the Kunama ethnic
group.
17 October 2012 at 09:04
Abdu Hamid
We do not expect the arrival of the facts from the mouths and articles of conspirators with
external forces by pressing ahead to tarnish independent Eritrea and its national symbols,
those who have given their lives sacrificed for freedom and for full national independence,
certainly enemies can not say the facts and disclose truth as they were on the ground, such as
Qrnelios Osman Agar and Gihrmay Yeibio of and similar other traitors.
19 October 2012 at 02:43
Abdu Hamid
Thank you Mr. Adam Gurnt and Doctor Mohamed Kheir Omer supporting my comments in
Asmarino website which were in reply to the incorrect articles of so-called Ghirmay Yeibio who
published in Asmarino website aimed to mislead the Eritrean community and to tarnish a
national icon who challenged much for igniting the Eritrean armed struggle which was like a
dream at that time, because the Emperor Haile Selassie was considered sacred man and/or a
man has inspiration from God all were required for blind obedience to Haile Sellasie only
similar way of slaves, no body have had courageous attitudes for accepting the huge
challenges except our leader Hamid Idris Awate.
21 October 2012 at 13:04
Abdu Hamid Thank you so much for commentators in regard of the misleading articles
published in Asmarino website recently by individuals who have hatred spirits against our
unique leader Hamid Idris Awate, they should know history cannot repeat itself and its
24 impossible to changes in historical events which had elapsed before 53 years ago, are rooted in
our minds and hearts forever in life
22 October 2012 at 11:36
As far as Eritrea is concerned, there is no single and uniquely correct or valid position. There
should be no use of force and coercion.
All positions including the position of the Kunamas, the ‘Andnet’ and the ‘Al Rabita’, those who
want to join the Islamic paradise of Sudan should all be considered equally and decided upon
democratically by the relevant groups of people that will be affected.
16 October 2012 at 07:07
ermiasmak (signed in using yahoo)
Yes finally, the Eritrean intellectuals are awakening. Which is good. But a bit sad, if that could
have happened years ago and thus would have saved a lot of mess & misery.
· 17 October 2012 at 21:00
Adam Grint Mohamad
Why Ghirmay Yeibio and his likes join "mother Ethioipa" and leave us, Eritreans, alone.
16 October 2012 at 17:37
Abdu Hamid · Top commenter · Addis Ababa University
Hamid Idris Awate was not a bandit and a thief like those who were looting cattle of peaceful
people, your thoughts Dear Author of strange thoughts that indicates hatred spirit on Awate
without any concrete evidence and all your articles sayings are lies are not based on the facts
is not quite convincing for the Eritrean people which are in reality fabricated aimed to distort
the Eritrean armed struggle and the entity of Eritrean independent state in general, to your
knowledge when Awate fired the courageous spark of the armed struggle in the beginning of
the month of September 1961, when Hamid Idris awate fired the spark of armed struggle the
Ethiopian authorities Did not sleep and made several attempts and temptations to convince
Awate aimed to give up from the armed struggle by mediating the elders and leaders of the
pro...See more
16 October 2012 at 13:38
Salih Mohammed Ahmed · Hriqico
Dear : Ghirmay Cazanchis.
If we want to open Eritrean history we have and this is very good for the Eritrean people must
accept the facts on the ground. Date Andnit in Eritrea at the time of Emperor Haile Selassie of
who sold the country and abandon national unity, and also from which to pay the bill and he
bows to colonize Ethiopia and this is also a betrayal of the homeland and the Eritrean people
can not and any person to change the movement of history do you understand what I mean,
that real history the criminal I did the Popular Front for the Liberation of Eritrea “Hizbakbar “
of the Eritrean people from other tribes from the oppression and displacement and the
displacement of the other tribes. And control of the full authority of the government and the
25 marginalization and even became the rest of the languages and cultures of other forgotten and
thawing. This dark history and very shameful stain. We must remind him and write it for
posterity. Do you agree.Dear Ghirmay. Went a time of silence and time to recover lost rights. I
hope you understand me.
My question to you is,.
1 / Awate and if we assume that a criminal. It is a real revolution bomber?
2 / Why do we celebrate the Eritrean people "Mskrm" of September of every year 1961?
3 / How the start of the Glorious Revolution Eritrean 1961‫؟‬.
16 October 2012 at 15:24
Beraki Yohannes
I really don't want go back to Al-Rabita and Mahber Andnet era, they have all their negative
contribution on how this poor Nation should advance it's self-determination. By the way when
we said Mahber Andnet, I don't think it imply to the people of High lander only in case if you
mean this way. But my issue is why we are spending our time in the past history. Awate is
obviously a here father of the high lander and to law lander whether we like it or not. I don't
see a point now talking how he was during the Italian and English colony. The first shot was
fired by Awate and it blessed for our freedom. Period. The PFDJ are very smart. When they
been chocked and don't know their way out. They always create an issue where we can be
divided easily. The sad thing is, those intellectual group like Salih Gadi are spending their time
to respond to this nonsense people and their article rather than spending to mobilizing their
people in united way. Honestly, I am as Highlander or people from the lowland won’t solve our
problems by exchange in words leaving aside our priority. However, it would have been helpful
if we only focus on this mafia group of Sahil.
mchlbrh (signed in using yahoo)
This article has some very interesting if not surprising study of the History of Eritrea and
aspect of Nation building. None so far attempted to summarize the pro and con of it.
Awate must have been a human being, right? As a man of his age, he undertook shifta
activities? served the colonial and fascist invading rule? and committed crime against the
kunama and other Eritrean ethnic groups? and so on.
Shall we say that he should be judged by the ethical parameters of his time or ignore the
Amhara-Tigray agenda having idiotic design or redesign in post independence Eritrea or study
seriously our National history and recognise facts of history however painful to any part of the
people?
If we still read fact of the recent past, in this manner, it is due to our poor historiography, no
doubt about that.
22 October 2012 at 05:53
26 Brhane Woldu
The Ethiopian government under Emperor Haile Selassie began to undermine Eritrean
autonomy in 1956 by temporarily suspending its elected assembly. Eritrean political parties
were proscribed with many leaders jailed or forced into exile. Amharic, the language of the
Ethiopian centre, was established as the sole official language. On November 14, 1962, the
federation of Ethiopia and Eritrea was officially dissolved with Eritrea becoming Ethiopia’s
14th province.
Violence between Eritrea and the Ethiopian centre was, however, first sparked prior to this, in
1961, by Hamid Idris Awate, a tribal leader from the Beni Amir tribe, when he clashed with
Ethiopian police as they began rounding up potential troublemakers. Hamid Idris had been a
notorious raider since a blood feud was sparked over a cattle theft involving a rival tribe in
1942. In these acts of resistance, Hamid Idris garnered the support, largely due to tribal
connections, of the Eritrean Independence Movement (ELM) in Cairo, consisting of Muslim
leaders in exile, although Hamid Idris would die the following year.
"The current dismal state of affairs in Eritrea is due to nearly 30 years of constant warfare."
This article is the thirteenth in a series by Ambassador Akbar Ahmed, a former Pakistani high
commissioner to the UK,
17 October 2012 at 14:22
Eritrean Discourse: History or Politicizing History
October 15, 2012 Fessahaye Mebrahtu
In the heated debate on Eritrea’s political situation, there is also
deafening silences of Eritrean intellectuals, save a few. The sad thing is
that some Eritreans with impressive credentials have compromised their
intellectual integrity by blindly backing a rogue system of the PFDJ
regime. Eritrean intellectuals who challenge the PFDJ brutality and call
for justice also should refrain from being the cadres of the opposition
groups. Yet, they still can be activist scholars without compromising
their intellectual integrity. The purpose of this article is far elitist
discourse; rather focusing on objective and contextual analysis. My
main attempt is to bring an historical perspective to the endless and futile debates on Eritrea’s
past and present predicaments. In the process, I hope that Eritrean experts in various
disciplines will help clear the fogginess on Eritrean website monitors. Rehashing urban
legends, myths and political propaganda without an historical merit will not move us forward.
Allow me to revisit my earlier posting on Hamid Idris Awate’s legacy. It is to be remembered the
various editorials, comments and counter comments that poured like a torrential rain; some
saying “We are all Awate.” As a matter of fact I found this to be very catchy slogan that can be
applied in other situations. The vilification of Mr. Qornelios Esman went unabated while his
reaction to the reactions did not help the matter to calm down. I am sure his political persona
and other underlying political issues must be in play. However, we did not acknowledge the
suffering of the Kunama ethnic group and we failed to be in his shoes. Yes, we all failed to say,
“We are all Kunama.” Thanks to Assenna the “We are all Awate” slogan can be used as a
mantra for each of our ethnic groups, “We are all Saho, Bilin, Tigre, etc.” A mantra is a way of
27 interiorizing a virtue by continuously repeating it; by using it as a mantra hopefully the one
day we might understand our diversity as a value not a weakness.
Looking at more closely at the “Hamid Idris Awate” argument, we were repeating the Ethiopian
counter argument against Eritrea’s self-determination. Ethiopians use to say, “All Ethiopians
were oppressed under the feudal or Dergue system.” Though this argument could have to
solidarity, in reality it was minimizing the suffering of Eritreans under Ethiopian successive
regimes. Such rationalizations are normally is used by a majority group or those who have
political hegemony directly or by proxy. Therefore, our emotive reactions to Qernelios blurred
our vision to see what he saw in the suffering of his people. We hope this gave us a lesson not
to minimize the grievances of any Eritrean ethnic group or individuals when they expressed
their frustrations in a manner of not to our likings or sensibilities.
As we shift to the main thrust of this article, I will go with the inventory list myths and urban
legends circulated in websites. The inventory lists by and large are used as emotive reactions,
insults, stereotypes, etc. The political arguments spin if these inventory lists were at the roots
of current Eritrean predicaments. The following are the lists that I was able to come with
that often appear in Eritrean websites: “Mahber Andnet, Mahber Fiqri-Hager, Mahber-Rabita
Islamia, Kebessa vs. Metahit, Tigray-Tigrinyi agenda, Muslim vs. Christian, ethnicentrism,
regionalism, etc. These have become the linchpins of Eritrea’s vicious cycle political discourse.
Though these might seem casually thrown words and phrases; they are the classic
“boogeyman” of scare tactics. The purpose is to appeal our demons not to our better angels.
These names and phrases need to be understood in their historical context. Above all, we have
enough Eritrean intellectuals and historians who can shed light on them for us to have the
better perspective. I do not see myself as an expert on this matter but I will attempt to share
my insights from what I know. My ultimate goal, however, is to provoke Eritrean intellectuals
break their silence without compromising their credentials as cadres of one or another group.
My hope adding an intellectual discourse might bring some objectivity instead of tossing our
people back and forth in political winds or politicized history.
Let us address Mahber-Andnet in its historical context. First, its goals and objectives were
clear to unite Eritrea to Ethiopia. Was this initiated by Eritreans or orchestrated by Ethiopia, I
hope some of our scholars with chronological timeline at their disposal will help us understand
it better. However, we cannot understand Mahber-Andnet without linking it to Mahber-Fiqri
Hager (Ye’Hager Fiqir Mahber) which was founded in Ethiopia at the eve of Fascist invasion of
Ethiopia in 1935. Among the founders of Ye’Hager Fiqir Mahber were prominent Eritreans,
who left Italian occupied Eritrea for refuge or opportunity. These prominent Eritreans became
part and parcel of the Ethiopian resistance and later part of the post war reconstruction in
early 1940s. The Italians who were kicked out of Eritrea and Ethiopia in 1941, it was easy for
the Ye’Hager Fiqir Mahber to spill over to Eritrea translated into Tigrinya “Mahber Fiqri Hager”
becoming the seedling to the Maheber Andnet unity movement.
In proper historical context, neither Mahber Fiqri Hager nor Mahber Andnet should be
demonized; instead they should be seen as African resistance movements and aspiration for
self-determination. Though some might argue, “How can one see as self-determination uniting
back with Ethiopia?” Again we need to look at the historical context. Eritrea under the British
Protectorate and Ethiopia the only country free of European occupation, it was no brainer for
Eritreans who fought on the side of Ethiopia to see this as self-determination. Second, tens
and thousands of Eritreans who fought as Italian soldiers invading Ethiopia were integrated
into the Ethiopian society offering skilled labor in the post-war construction in the preFederation arrangement of Eritrea with Ethiopia. Taking the historical and cultural connection
into account, Eritreans who made Ethiopia their new home cannot be blamed for seeing union
28 with Ethiopia as a viable option. They realized that there was individual economic and political
benefit to gain.
In 1940s, where the Eritreans aspiring for independence as a nation state? I need credible
evidence that speaks to this fact if any. How many other African countries had liberation
movements for independence from colonial occupation? There were very few but not to the
point they could inspire Eritreans; especially considering the challenges of media information
circulation at the time. Therefore, looking at Ethiopia as a symbol of independence and
sovereignty was not out of the ordinary, taking the cultural and historical affinity into account.
I do not want to minimize the growing consciousness that culminated in the development of
“federation constitution” probably one of the most progressive constitutions of its time because
it came out of the UN idealistic vision. In1951, the federating Eritrea with Ethiopia might have
seemed doing a favor to Ethiopia, in reality it was also damage control so that other Africans
under colonial rule won’t aspire for self-determination.
The political consciousness of Eritreans began to evolve for self-determination as an
alternative option to federating with Ethiopia. The quest for independence in the late 1950s
was not unique to Eritrea; Africans, especially under the British and French rule were
revolting demanding self-determination. Were Eritreans satisfied with federation arrangement?
It seemed so until Emperor Haile-Selassie nullified the federation arrangement and annexed
Eritrea. The shock of losing their new founded identity as semi-independent state with own
constitution, elected assembly and flag might have not been uniform but it sow the seed of
Eritrean Liberation movements. The odds were stack against us from Western Bloc’s
geopolitical interest; Ethiopia needed to have access to sea, above all the Emperor did not want
a semi-independent province challenging his ‘divine authority’ while the rest of his 13
provinces were simply the “real estates” of his feudal lords and families. Therefore, the
continuous blame of certain entities, regions, and religious groups in their role of union with
Ethiopia has to be taken in proper historical perspective. These entities cannot be blamed in
perpetuity for the problems of Eritrea, most of which are of our own makings.
The “Tigray-Tigrinyi” conspiracy theory also needs its own historical perspective. Though it
was politicized and exploited so much as the nexus for full union with Ethiopia, there is
another aspect that has been overlooked. Primarily, Tigray-Tigrinyi was not about Kebessa vs.
Metahit; rather it was about bringing the Tigrinya speaking group challenging the power
hegemony of Amhara. The first Weyane rebellion of 1940s and 1950s squelched in southern
Tigray by Emperor Haile-Selassie with the help of the British has to be understood in this
light. For example, after the Weyane defeat, some family members of Emperor Yohannes had
to take refuge in Eritrea under British protection. This is not revisionist history but an
underlying issues overlooked by many of us because we were obsessed with “Tigray-Tigrnyi” as
a plot to dominate the other ethnic groups in Eritrea. The Kebessa vs. Metahit issue was
rather secondary, mostly heightened by the Mahber Andnet vs. Al Rabita Party rivalism.
Therefore, rehashing the Tigray-Tigrinyi as the central plot of Eritrean malady does not do
justice to the political history; it has politicization of history.
In reality, the Eritrean Kebessa and Metahit, with the exception of a couple distinct ethnic
groups, they have more in common with each other than with Tigray. For example, there are
several clans of Metahit that point their origin to Kebessa and there are also equal numbers of
them to claim their origin to the lowlands. Religion traditions might have put these geographic
groups from each other but religion was did not have divisive factor since Christianity and
Islam coexisted side by side since the beginning. I would like to quote a Ge’ez expression,
“በስመ ማሕደር ይጸዋE ሓዳሪ፣ በስመ ሓዳሪ ይጸዋE ማሕደር – a dweller is named by his dwelling; a
dwelling is named by its dweller.” Geographic/climatic conditions might have affected our lifestyles but we are not as separate and different as we have been made to believe. The hair
splitting of Kebessa vs. Metahit narrative after all is of recent of political construct. For
29 example, our grandparents were multilingual than we are. I remember my grandfathers and
granduncles speaking Tigre and Saho like their mother tongue with fluency. For them
“Kebessa Metahit” were geographic locations not political or cultural divisions. Their
perception of each other was simply the next door neighbor or the next of keen and treated
each other as such. The occasional conflicts cannot be elevated more than family feuds. We
cannot also ascribe the “Metahit-Kebessa” solely to religious divide because by and large Saho
ethnic groups and Jeberti, who are Moslems dwell in Kebessa.
Religious diversity in Eritrea has been there long before the creation of our boundaries and
given a new name by our colonizers. Long before Christianity, Judaism was practiced
alongside traditional African religions. Christianity was introduced since its beginning and so
was Islam. Each religious tradition was integrated into their indigenous cultures resisting
foreign influence shrouded as religious values. The current movements of religious extremists
who force their values on our people are cultural colonialists at the expense of our indigenous
values. The quest for reformation is present in every religious tradition but it has to take us to
higher enlightenment not back to a tunnel of darkness. Eritreans of all religious persuasions
should be vigilant of such extremism that belies our historical coexistence and tolerance.
Relating to communities across borderlines in our neighboring countries is no brainer. The
borders are artificially placed by outsiders irrespective of who lives on which side of the
imaginary line; keeping it as “sacra sanctum” to point of going to wars over them with
devastating consequences. No need more preaching about it. However, the internal and
external divide that we have been harping on for the last fifty years is more a “boogeyman”
syndrome than a reality. Yet, if we keep pocking this artificial construct one day we might
make it bleed; exposing it to external pathogens for infection.
In recent years, I have no doubt instigated by the PFDJ we have been witnessing
hypersensitivity of such artificial divides. If not Kebessa vs. Metahit it is regionalism within
Kebessa; sometimes going all the way to the lowest denominator, such as village vs. village. If
we cannot recognize such “divide and conquer” skims of PFdJ or other entities vying for
political power, we have not learned our lesson yet. The recent drive of PFDJ to arm men and
women up to age seventy is not for national defense, rather to exploit any internal fissures and
ditch us into intractable civil war and dismantle Eritrea. I am not discounting the
commendable articles that provoke dialogue and enlighten us. It is also disheartening to see
hatred and ignorance spewed like hot lava in Eritrean social media and our websites. When
outlandish lies and personal smears are tolerated without challenges, we lose teachable
moments and opportunities for sensible dialogue. If unchallenged, it is easy “making a
mountain out of an ant mole.”
Eritreans need focus on our communalities those unities us historically, culturally,
linguistically, genealogically, etc. Even some of us scorn my analysis, we have been bounded
by the boundaries, which I characterized as artificial and bonded by the common struggle we
paid dearly. We need to regain our vision and focus on the broad horizon, charting our
common destiny. I would like to conclude with a quote from the late Prime Minister Meles
Zenawi of Ethiopia addressing the youth, “We have no more enemies except ignorance and
poverty.” It is harder to overcome ignorance than poverty. Ignorance as a state of mind is hard
to tackle because it starts with me. I have open myself up and be vulnerable to change my long
held beliefs and world view most likely based on ignorance layered with decades of
misinformation and politicization of history.
30 Comments
Eritrean Discourse: History or Politicizing History — 23 Comments
said on October 17, 2012 at 10:58 am said:
Leaving Eritrean history aside. History. Here today. Gone tomorrow. The Urgent issue is
today’s Eritrea. And Future Eritrea history in making.
In today’s Eritrea a much deeper crises and deep malaise is affecting Eritrean society at large,
in which “bonds and tolerance have been broken, trust abused and lost” introduced by
indoctrination as political means and policy by Isaias regime, objective of no bond and miss
trust were regime strength dived and rule, By breaking the fundamental pillar of the
harmonious and tolerance society to same extent most Eritrea accepted to live by for century ,
the role and rules of the tradition, culture and religious moral values is value most Eritrea
adhere to .
In today’s Eritrea .Finally the truth, which everyone knew or must have known for the past 21
years, has come out .That The Isaias regime has upset and destroyed the traditional power
structure by tearing part what holds us together for generation as good caring neighbour. The
in last tow decade the vast majority of Eritreans took their cue, info and understanding from
Isaias regime that certain number of ethic group are and will not be represented in civilian
part of Eritrean government any form or shape, this new school of subjection ,oppression,
negative stereotyping and raciest indoctrination that Isaias regime brought with them
excludeness policy and mentality that totally excluded certain ethnic groups is well known
facts practiced openly . The Isaias regime has No consideration of any value or even the most
basic human rights consideration and respect. An effort for survival taken away in order to
break their backbone, to be squeezed by the hardship and economy, with no protective buffer,
or not even let left alone.
In today’s Eritrea .This cruel regime known for abuse of its innocent people at large, goes
much further by having denied the vast majority of people means of their daily provision and
means of life by confiscating their productive fertile agriculture land and all means of
productive life, the outright stealing of their basic substance sustenance livelihood and
destroying the moral values of a society and their unity of family fabric is a paramount worst
kind of crime to have being falling on our people.
In today’s Eritrea. As they contemplate and deeply felt sadness and soreness, they could not
understand why all this suffering bestowed on them? What crime have they done? , they never
betrayed their national causes. Is this their due and pay day for they have paid heavy price in
lives and material supporting Eritrean liberation movement for three decades unabated and
continue to paying high price simply for being undesired and unwanted second class Eritreans
for being in wrong race and geography from center of the power in Asmara. Indeed it is very
sad and cruel Isaias regime
In today’s Eritrea. Deliberate and intentional policy of hardships are felt and affected in by
majority Eritrean households at an unprecedented level. The dire pressing economic problem
facing the country, the growing impact of Eritrea ‘s deepening economic chaos and economic
mismanagement have brought financial hardship to the ordinary Eritreans. The total economic
collapse resulted in lives ruined due to a monumental failure by Isaias regime and wasting
resources.
31 In today’s Eritrea. This can be seen from a certain perspective as proof of how regime moral
values have been totally skewed as well as ingrained in their political indoctrination of
deprivation of basic need and rights.
In today’s Eritrea .I believed the purpose of our current dire crisis and deep malaise ,is to force
out our true humanity, to bring out of our best than simply artificial political affiliation or any
other orientation and its present political competitiveness , difference and scarcity-based
consciousness into our deeper understanding that our people who are really suffering in real
time by extinction our oun families and our humanity is one and the same, and that this is
time for unity of purpose as a harmonious, cooperative and interdependent whole, we can
create a change for better and start to strategize vision for better Eritrea of tomorrow of
abundance and well-being instead constantly experiencing war, starvation, stagnation,
backwardness, ignorance, scarcity, strife and so on .
In today’s Eritrea .What must change is not only our notion of others, but our notions about
us as well. If that process is now in motion as evidence of higher and deeper levels of
consciousness to move this new kind of relationship of unity and solidarity forward in the
direction of mutual understanding for better Eritrea.
In today’s Eritrea .We Eritrean desire and need for frank, honest and sincere open dialogue,
and recognize its importance in an increasingly interconnected fast paced world and not to be
totally left behind to Stone Age or trash of history and be a salve of Isaias regime without any
rights to speak off.
Upon this sincere and frank dialogue we hope to continue to build peaceful and friendly
relationships based upon mutual respect, exclusiveness and tolerance of each other for better
Eritrea.
In today’s Eritrea .It is high time to adhere democratic, rights and practice acceptances,
should be and is occurring in greater measure and in a good magnitude of good will people
that stands for tolerance, care, recognition and gratitude for all the people of Eritrea. We
should repel the evil, dark work totally inhuman deed and dictator policy of Isaias regime, with
one which is much better and reject all kind of oppression and the negative stereotype of self
and others.
In today’s Eritrea In the absence of any equal, fair, actable unity of purpose, cooperation,
tolerance and generosity of spirit takes its inevitable catastrophic political and human toll as
we experience today.
In today’s Eritrea .Huge majorities of people across the political spectrum strongly support
unity of purpose; they will win the heart and mind of our nation? for regime change.
In today’s Eritrea .In setting out our great justification for united Eritrean opposition and the
people coming together, and note against doing so lightly. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that.
In today’s Eritrea .Ultimately it is only the ruled and oppressed who can know when they have
had enough suffering, oppression and is not worth living any more as a slave and disgraced
with no end, and when they are ready to risk their precious lives and security to throw off the
tyranny, dictator cruel Isaias regime then change will come.
In future Eritrea .As so often we know, there is a higher truth, justices and a better way of
governing of Eritrea that is for coming generation that is not in today’s Eritrea.
32 In future Eritrea and in tomorrow’s Eritrea government priority. To get Eritrea economies and
education and health systems working again from ground zero up , and to help the future
formed new coalition of democratic Eritrean governments and to find future for the democratic
regime a feet and place in history and in the international fair system. In which our people in
parallels in our increased confidence in building state institutions such as the judiciary,
parliament and constitutional systems that we call our in future Eritrea.
In future Eritrea. Broadly speaking, the day regime changes come. Eritrean people across the
nation, when and where democratic transitions have started to occur will be more optimistic
than before about our country and ourselves.
In future Eritrea. We will expect that the change of regime or the collapse of the regime, which
ever come first, that will come and is inevitable and is under way, will eventually lead to a
better governance systems and improvements in our own sense of well-being.
In future Eritrea .Eritrean People will feel more empowered, in the sense that they feel they
have the ability to improve conditions when those conditions are totally suffocating and
unsatisfying to them as is case in today Eritrea.
In future Eritrea. Eritrean People’s have faith in their ability to bring about changes for the
better through peaceful and democratic means or necessary means will be increased broadly.
Hagherawi on October 17, 2012 at 5:37 am said
Although many Eritreans discuss history, and occasionally blame each other for events that
took place half a century ago, few of them would care about past, as long as that does not
affect their future interests. Mostly it’s because of worries for the future, that their collective
memory recalls painful historical events. Events of the last fifty years left behind a devastated
Eritrea, just like when a hurricane passes though an area, and yet we have not heard a word
of apology from elites of our southern neighbor. What is the use of having the same culture,
religion etc. if these are used as an excuse to impose themselves on us ?. As for
Kebesa/Metahit divide, in most part, it’s a product of direct Ethiopian rule and it’s divisive
colonial policies. They created a gap in every field, with the purpose of keeping Eritreans under
control permanently. The Kebesa/Metahit and differences in other parts of the country, such
as eastern Akeleguzai and Dancalia are wounds that future governments will cure with
appropriate development package, to bring the country to the same level in education and
government job opportunities. Justice and equal opportunity for all will solve most of the
problems. I don’t see any reason why all these issues cannot be solved once for all, when the
current mafia regime is removed from power.
xy on October 17, 2012 at 2:10 am said
Among the founders of Ye’Hager Fiqir Mahber were prominent Eritreans, who left Italian
occupied Eritrea for refuge or opportunity.
At this time Eritreans were not refugees, swallows Kebesaa man. They were Ethiopians.
It is up to you to be an eritrean.
author on October 17, 2012 at 8:32 am said:
XY,
33 Yes, they took refuge because Eritrea under colonial rule was not safe for them. You can call
them anything but once forced of their traditional place and have to look for shelter to save
their lives they were refugees. I don’t think they went for a picnic or just overstayed in their
uncles house. Please, read the information in its historical context not just cherry picking.
T. Kifle on October 17, 2012 at 11:44 am said:
He is telling you that they were in their country. Why do you reduced them to refugees?
Maclogos on October 16, 2012 at 11:53 pm said
Greetings everyone,
I like what I am reading here and I might have an opinion or two after a day of graduation that
saw me climb down from my Ashram for the last time. It is always on the road again when the
devil starts playing a new game:-). He pisses me off and I piss him off back just as bad if not
worse and he flees more than he makes a stand most of the time:-). Having said that, I would
like to introduce a summary of what I have written on the other pages earlier as the overall
content in the links and in my views are relevant to what is being discussed here. Thus, a
general summary of my notes follow below:
Having taken care of that, I am gonna put some Eritrea-101-cookie here and then leave the
page as soon as I mount this note to the net in case she catches me sneaking around here and
talking behind her back:-). The first cookie to pig-out on the way toward becoming an Eritrean
keddisa al-Hamra or, if you will, the Red Eritrean cat/kitten, may go thus:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Un4R4BBgnO4&feature=fvwrel
I would say that the EPRDF and the PFDJ are both Weyanes. In my “it is democracy, baby”
opinion, they are two sides of the same coin like cousin like cousin or, if you will, like Weyane
Nakfa and Weyane Dedebit now Weyane Asmara and Weyane Addis. They are both TuwiTuwai
with the only difference that Weyane Ethiopia is shrewd and wicked and runs a facade
democracy that pleases many and pisses off just as many while Weyane Eritrea rules our
people with a diabolical impunity and kills or pisses off everybody that stands on its downhill
ride to destruction.
Eritrean nationalism sowed and is harvesting the nationalism of DIA and his Shaebia or EPLF.
This was and is a nationalism vested on one man and his front who turned Eritrea into an
ungodly state and are devouring everything and everyone in it. A nationalism that mowed
down disabled veterans who made Eritrean Independence possible, to name just a quick
example, cannot stem out from Eritrean nationalism at all. Only evil can do that and Eritrea
has DIA and his PFJD cult of blood sucking savages who did just that.
As with the Diaspora Eritrean opposition to DIA’s rule in Eritrea, all I can say is that they have
done well in exposing DIA and his regime for what they are and what they were and still are is
a cult of liars, thieves, and murderers. However, their diversity is without the unity that can
bind them all into a dynamic sociopolitical force to be reckoned with. Diversity without unity
just survives or dies before it could get anywhere! The Eritrean opposition have neither a
common vision that they all can uphold as diverse groupings of sociopolitical and politico34 military forces striving to get rid off DIA’s demonic rule in Eritrea nor the clout to effect change
in the divided state they are in.
These Eritrean entities of sometimes mundane and strange groupings don’t have a common
vision to lead the Eritrean populace whose organic evolution have been arrested by many a
revolution from inside and colonization from outside to victory. They more often than not
undermine each other and themselves before they can even think of saving others from death.
Nothing much other than what is stated above seems to come into being out of these plethora
of religious, regional, ethnic, politico-military, sociopolitical and the like gatherings. It is all
about do or die and if nothing seems to happen, it is because death is relative. All are slowly
aging while Eritrea is dying fast under the rule of DIA and his PFDJ regime of brutes and
idiots. We are in an era of social revolutions and this revolution is the revolution of the citizen
of the computer age and the young may soon beat the competition and reach the promised
land before anybody does:-).
In closing, I dedicate to the age a link to a song and below it follows:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LR4jONn4Rg&feature=autoplay&list=PL9CCEFEC8F
C6CD0AF&index=37&playnext=3
Last but note list, I would like to include this :
“And if I may warn you here not to succumb to the mantra of PFDJ abusive languages such
as “Kedami”.___ TK Wedi Nisa or, if you will, Weyin Aba Treg:-).
I mostly of the time slug political entities and their leaders and not commoners unless they
come throwing cyber-stones while living in their mental and screen glass-houses:-).
“In effect your Eritrea is pulling us down to the extent of its limits.”____TK
You would better call it DIA’s Eritrea for my Eritrea was long high-jacked by the new
patriarchs and matriarchs of revolution and ideology who took the roll of fathering and
mothering our people and brought them to the state they are in now. The Red Dragons of
revolution coming in the guise of Jebha, her daughter Shaebia, its cousin Weyane, and the
rest of it have proved to be very bad parents and they ought to be taken to jail for negligence
and abuse of those they have set out to father and mother as children of their new toys. Well,
TK, that is all I have to say for now and stay well.
The End and I will be back after I come back from my Ashram graduation night-out and
victory dance and make some more noise or, perhaps, not:-).
Cheers and Peace!
1.
Fessaha on October 16, 2012 at 9:10 pm said:
In the fifties we used to observe our fathers and grandfathers in the Bilin and Tigre Tribes
visiting their original places in Kebesa.They felt then, unlike today, it was very important for
them to link with their origin which gave them a sense of pride.. It is a historical fact that all
Tigre people and most Blin (and especially the Neged Tribe of the Blin) came from Kebesa.In
35 times of tragedy the three ethnic groups: Blin,Tigre and Tigrignas converged to solve their
problems e.g settling death dispute (gar nefsi)
Why is it a big deal for some people when they hear the phrase “Tigray-Tigrigni: the Tigrigna
speakers of Eritrea and Tirigna speakers of Tigray that is? Are’nt both of the same origin? Are
not both of Geez origin? Ag’azian in another word? Same Religion and same culture, connected
by the Coptic Church? Which by the way originated in Eritrea, not In Tigray or Ethiopia.
Then let both Tigrigna speakers discover each other. By the same reasoning let the Beni’amir
of Eritrea discover their kins in the Sudan and so the other ethnic groups of Eritrea wherever
they come from. Wake up folks!It is a small world.
(Ag’azian comes from the word Gi’ze’ in Ge’ez….. ge’aze’ in Tigrigna ….ga’aza in Tigre). In all
three languages it has the same meaning: uprooted .I will leave the historical ethnic details for
the Eritrean intellectuals as Fessahaye Mebrahtu wrote.
Omar Idris on October 17, 2012 at 12:54 am said:
Exactly, we call this double oppression we Muslim Ethiopian. When we talk about Muslim
oppression in Ethiopia our christian friends tell us oh well forget this and struggle with us so
we can topple the Meles regime minimizing our suffering for just being a Muslim in addition to
the suffering that all other citizens of Ethiopia suffer from which is political. We have both
spiritual and political oppression in Ethiopia as Muslims that is double repression. Similarly
the Amhara were not discriminated for being Amhara as such they enjoyed full use of their
culture and their folkelors and language. Other ethnic including Eritreans were facing double
repession. Infact, most Muslims have trio repression considering that most are non Amhara.
Zeray deres the Ethiopia on October 17, 2012 at 2:03 am said
correction
If I am not mistaken, you were Eritrean a few days ago on one of your comments and now all
of a sudden you are mr “We Ethiopian”…Anyways, if you knew the true meaning of
oppression you would not have used it in relation to Ethiopian Muslims who tent to be on
loose-cannon just because they are allowed to..Even if we for argument sake pretend not to
know what’s behind your madness and say the government has pocked it’s nose in your
affair, how is that different to what they have done to the Orthodox Christians by imposing
their own patriarch, for better or worse..In fact most governments allover the world do
including the developed once…but it seems you guys want to sell your true identity in the
name of religion just like the Northen Sudanese and end up being a prostitute between Africa
and Arab…your case is just a case of Islam pushing it’s luck too far!
TamratTamrat on October 17, 2012 at 5:19 am said:
Hei Omar!
The worst mistake one can make is that instead of working together for irradiating or forcing
a change of policy of a brutal dictator government, some of us ridicule the majority’s struggle
by attacking one another. There is no enough time how the majority amhara has suffered
both in derg and tplf regime. But to show you how you sound ridiculous, there are millions
amharas who are Muslims. Imagine you are amhara-muslim from Wollo and for the last 38
years you would be told you are amhara and oppressor. How many amhara were killed for
36 opposing the late bishop Powlos, in Gojam and Gonder? This i mentioned only religion
related. When any amhara oppose the tplf government, oh, you want amhara leader.
Omar Idris on October 17, 2012 at 3:40 pmsaid:
I am not sure if you are talking to the same person. I am not Eritrean nor ever wrote Eritrean.
I believe Eritrea could be part of Ethiopia one day. But your accusation that we are Arabs if
we call ourselves Arabs so be it. We love our religion and we will be one on that. As to again
minimizing the suffering of Muslims in Ethiopia by comparing it to Ethiopian orthodox is a bit
too exaggeration. Yes, they remove the papas but the people were not forced to change their
belief. It is the same orthodox. But in Ethiopia like Yohannes IV wayane is choosing to convert
people by force, call fake election and put a Mejlis that is bankrupt in all its morality and
allow to vote christians for Muslim election. I have evidences to show if you require it. This is
a red line the government is crossing. Except with Derg all christian leaders were
systematically excluding Muslims from power even though we fought along side with them.
Simply, there is too much discrimination against Muslims. yes there is orthodox
discrimination but it is to little and minor compared to the 1400 years of repression Muslims
endured in that country. Period.
Dawit on October 16, 2012 at 7:42 pm said:
How do you reconcile two of the following argument of yours.
On one hand you said “In reality, the Eritrean Kebessa and Metahit, with the exception of a
couple distinct ethnic groups, they have more in common with each other than with Tigray. “
On the other hand you stated “Eritreans need focus on our communalities those unities us
historically, culturally, linguistically, genealogically, etc. “
Don’t you think Kebesa Eritreans have much in common linguistically with Tigryans not to
mention cultural ties, and genealogy than with people of metahit?. For example, hundreds of
thousands of people in Kebesa can easily chart their family tree genealogically. In comparison,
quite a few Eritreans in kebesa do trace family roots to “metahit”.
Your other hasty generalization is this:
You said “For example, there are several clans of Metahit that point their origin to Kebessa and
there are also equal numbers of them to claim their origin to the lowlands.
So, you are telling us that there are as many clans in metahit as there are in kebesa. This is
boloney!
Most of your arguments are not only inaccurate but draw conclusion based on small samples.
For example, you argued that the Majority of Eritreans are bilingual. To justify your argument
, your brought only two example, your grand father and your uncle.
Man, you should have done enough home work ..
Your article can be characterized as simply “Yekalat Gagata“
37 oauthor on October 16, 2012 at 10:46 pmsaid:
Dear Dawit,
The Tigray Tigrinyi relationship is a given but my argument is more on the Kebessa Metahit
to debank peoples wrong perception. However, if you want to address my contradiction, I
challenge you to state your argument with proper response since my hope is that we enter
into civilized and sensible dialogue. Without denigrating each other’s work.Show us what
you have instead of calling the article “yekalat gagata.”
Exciter on October 16, 2012 at 5:52 pm said:
Selam :- Brother Fessahaye Mebrahtu.
“My main attempt is to bring an historical perspective to the endless and futile debates on
Eritrea’s past and present predicaments.”
I don’t know if you noticed but in recent time I read about everything written in Awate.com but
I don’t comment because when ever you talk about a good cooperation with Ethiopia or about
starting a good neighborhood partnership then you risk to be blamed as an andinet
(federation)supporter. Doesn’t matter what ever you try, if good or bad, you just risk to be
decorated as an andinet stooge. Good luck with your attempt, but it seems to be senseless
because at first you have to get out the barrier that is located in the brains of our Eritrean old
generation. But you know that there has been no case of a brain transplantation ever in world
history. Therefore I understand what you say but unfortunately there are some compatriots
from the old generation who think different. They think that reconciliation means building
barriers and suspects but the truth is that there is no reconciliation if there is no peaceful
dialogue among people in a personal way. Just imagine whether the Bedouins in Sinai were
choosey about the origin of the organs, whether they came from the Eritrean highland or
lowland etc. It was a shame, the biggest debasement a nation can get after more than 30 years
of struggle for liberation. But it seems that for some people, the suffer of our brothers and
sisters is equal, instead of this they talk about andinet etc. It doesn’t make any sense. One can
only shake his head. History shouldn’t be used to cause fear, but you can use it as a learning
process. But the ultimative priority is the freedom of every single person.
Peace.
Sami on October 16, 2012 at 5:28 pm said:
Your points are well taken for the most part but you seem to forget that boundaries whether
we like’em or not are part of our history as is true in other african countries. Your
characterization of ignorance does not fly when in it comes at least to this very fact.
I also take issues with your last paragraph not for its content but for the simple fact that the
late PM is very much distrusted by the majority of the Eritrean people and thus makes you
insensitive to the feeling of the Eritrean people.
G. Gebru on October 16, 2012 at 3:37 pm said:
Dear Fessahaye,
38 It is a good attempt, but I have a question to you and other Eritrean elites, be it historians,
politicians and even religious people, because religion was a factor in the long history of the
land of the Hbeshas. In short why is that Eritreans do not go deep into the history of the land
and sea that as Eritreans are proud today to own it even though it has become very difficult to
tell what tomorrow holds for this troubled country.
For interested readers there is an article in Tigrigna at Ethiomedia.com titled ERITREA KEM
ADDEBO by Prof. Tesfasion Medhane which can give an insight about the political in-fight of
the recent history or better say colonial history of present day Eritrea.
Thanks.
Reply ↓ Horizon on October 16, 2012 at 12:30 pm said:
If what we see lately is a trend to bring Eritrea out of fifty years of ignorance, hate- and warmongering, and twenty years of solitude, with the aim to make her part of the change that is
taking place in the horn, kudos to such people who dare to stand against all types bigotry,
wherever it might come from. The people of Eritrea are much more important than the artificial
identity, delusional superiority complex and egoistic stubbornness of its elites that has
sacrificed two generations of Eritreans.
sara on October 16, 2012 at 7:32 am said:
the good thing, the article was short and i was able to read it between work and thank you for
that. the content has sensible arguments which i believe will be reasonable to commentators
at awate, however the last paragraph of the commentary had made it clear from whose
prospective it was written which made apprehensive to all what i initially thought.
Zeray deres the Ethiopia on October 16, 2012 at 5:34 am said:
great to see you enlightened, but in regards to the annexation you guys often sensationalize to
justify your lose or gains(if there is any) we ethiopians can also ask why you people felt you
deserved a special treatment than to the rest of ethiopia regardless of how good or bad the
system was…Had Haileselasie 60 years ago decided what Meles decided 20 years ago(never
bothering to claim Eritrea) you people would have known Eritrea at an early stage for what it
really is, rather than the distorted colonial image that led you to believe you deserved a better
treatment than the rest of Ethiopians, and the Kabessa Eritreans would have by now known a
different truth about their new family from alhazar Islamic university in cairo..By taking
Eritrea on, Haileselasie gave Eritreans and their Arab supporters time to galvanize a force
against ethiopia, while at the same time educating them in universities allover Ethiopia..
you people will be surprised by how little a common Ethiopian in Shewa knew your true
nature thanks to Haileselase’s and derg’s dishonest but understandable propaganda that only
preached how Eritreans are our proud citizens, while to the contrary all Eritrean family
preached their kids was to hate and hate Ethiopians, specially the amhara… it is only tigrians
who could have known the extent to which you people specially the Kabesa mind was damaged
beyond repair by colonial confusion followed by Shabia..hence it is safe to say Tigrians have
helped Ethiopia rid itself from a deadly tumor that shouldn’t have been there in the first
place…and many ethiopians have come to understand that and it would kind of make sense if
you guys can at least wait until you prove those old generation Ethiopians or those Eritrean
39 unionists wrong before you over-cherish your independence…ID just to end up begging a
foreign ID is not enough Saleh!
‘In reality, the Eritrean Kebessa and Metahit, with the exception of a couple distinct ethnic
groups, they have more in common with each other than with Tigray’. I am completely agree
with you on this one. When colonial powers or dictators parties or persons were free to make
boundaries this kind of obstacles are realities. The biggest looser for example are afar people
who divided in to two during the war of tplf-eplf (tigray-tigrinya)in 1998-2000. These people
were untouched by colonial powers or dictators. Not because they did not want. But they were
completely neglected. But that negligence may be did not bring roads, schools, clean water to
them but kept them to lead their life the way their ancestors used to do ie roaming freely on
their land and using the resource they have in hand. During the ‘slavery or freedom’ peculiar
referendum, nobody cared even to explain to them what the consequence will be, leave alone
they take part in the referendum. The important thing is tplf-and eplf won. That is good
enough for all. hmm. Except the scholars and the armed ones who were made vanished by
tplf-eplf during 1991-1994, the rest continued their life as usual. But 1998 for the first time in
the history of Afar, they must be divided in to two nations. Suddenly families needed special
tag: ERitrea-afar and Ethiopia-afar. This time not only title but they were divided into two with
physical boundaries protected by 200,000 well equipped tplf-eplf soldiers, some times some
foreigner’s military in between. To every one surprise it is tplf and eplf who indirectly recognize
the suffering and injustice against Afar people. Now tplf is helping the Eritrean-afar to be free
from Eritrea while eplf is helping Ethiopian-afar to be free from Ethiopia. One thing remaines
true. Afar people will be free, anyways. But the immediate task is a free movement for its own
people what ever tag is given. We don’t want to repeat the same mistakes what our dictators
has done.
Correction: Now tplf is helping the Eritrean-afar to be free from Ethiopia meant to be Now
tpld is helping the Eritrean-afar to be free from Eritrea..
Alem on October 16, 2012 at 1:40 am said:
Awate staff I beg you to open debate: why Issaias hates Tigrai & Eritrean people.
Hint: I read Issaias blood line is from Yohanes IV, so he might dream to conquer Ethiopia to
rivive “solomon dynasty” by incorporating both countries.
Issaias was sent first to distegrate ELF by HS I but fall in 1974 then he wants to continue the
royal family by blood of Eritrian.
The hate inherited in his heart , his family discriminated in Tigrai after Metema then his family
seek asaylum in Eritrea but discriminated more there.
Kokhob Selam on October 16, 2012 at 1:13 am said:
Wow, becoming more open minded, becoming part of solution, getting through strong wall and
watching in distance. All historical make up in one roof for better future.
40 Fessahaye, this will have hot suggestions and comments. and let’s also come near and near to
70′s and see how that old days affected and touched our national struggle. Great, great.
EDJE’s Response to Qernelios Esman’s statement
October 2, 2012October 2, 2012 EDJE
EDJE Communique in response to Qernelios Esman’s statement
against Martyr Hamid Idris Awate
On 1st September 2012, while patriotic Eritreans all over the world were
celebrating the 51st anniversary of the day the Eritrean armed struggle
for independence was launched, Qernelios Esman, the chairman of the
Democratic Movement for the Liberation of Eritrean Kunama (DMLEK)
issued a statement defaming the symbol of the event, Martyr Hamid Idris Awate.
Indisputably, Awate is a national hero as well as an icon by virtue of his unparalleled
contributions in launching and successfully leading the armed struggle that led to the
independence of Eritrea. Thus, no one could grant or deprive him of that honour and his
history does not need to be defended. His contribution speaks for itself and because of that he
is exalted and his image and status remains intact in spite of unsuccessful deprecating
attempts of a few, the most recent of which was that of Qernelios Esman.
Having said that, we find ourselves obliged to set the record straight by responding to the
distortions and unsubstantiated allegations levelled against the character of Awate by
Qernelios Esman and his ilk.
September1st is annually commemorated as a historical benchmark because it ushered the
era of armed struggle which culminated in the independence of Eritrea. That independence
cannot be appreciated without attributing the honour, and paying due respect to the
undisputed great role played by Awate as father and his colleagues as pioneers of the armed
struggle. It is in this historical context that Awate has been celebrated as a national hero and
any denial of that fact or denigration of his status is tantamount to disparaging the whole
struggle for liberation.
A controversy has been ignited concerning Awate’s role before he started the struggle for
independence. We believe that it is natural for people to entertain different opinions about
historical events depending on their backgrounds and perceptions; but the undisputed truth
cannot be attained until all claims have been objectively investigated by an independent and
professional fact finding committees that should be established during a transitional period.
And it should be formed for the purpose of healing and mending the damaged social fabrics of
our society and within a framework of national reconciliation process that has to seek the
truth, and execute transitional justice to rectify injustices committed by different parties
against individuals or national groups. Until such a time, all partners should refrain from
mudslinging and unnecessary provocations against each other.
To the best of our knowledge, the history of the region in the 1940s was a state of chaos where
plundering had run havoc across the region. This was exasperated by the power vacuum and
absence of an effective security system in the aftermath of the defeat of the Italian colonial
41 power and the reluctance of the British Authorities to put in place an acceptable system of law
and order, similar to their predecessors. Thus, the rule of jungle prevailed where the strongest
survived the looting raids and counter raids that raged all over the region and claimed an
untold toll in lives and properties.
It was in such a situation that Awate and his colleagues emerged at the scene in response to
an appeal made by a very influential social and religious leader, Sheikh Alamin Mustafa wad
Hassan who called on the youth of the society who were capable of carrying arms to defend
their society against attacks and to return their looted properties. The call was sparked by an
outrageous raid whose victims were women in a procession who were on their way to the
funeral to mourn the death of the revered Sheikh Mustafa wad Hassan; the women were
looted and abused.
The youth groups were primarily formed to defend their societies and protect them from raids
that prevailed in that era, and defend their society from attacks and to foil imminent threats;
they also successfully reclaimed looted properties from different raiders who roamed the area.
Understandably, the courage and leadership that Awate provided at the time earned him the
trust and confidence of the people; and that legacy helped him later on to take the role of a
leader of the revolution for national independence. Awate’s characteristic traits and the
popular support that he enjoyed coupled with his leadership and military skill contributed
much to the successful launching of the revolution.
The fragile revolution that Awate started was protected by a popular shield that enabled it to
survive the attempts of the Ethiopian army to suppress and abort the nascent movement.
In hindsight, it is now clear that those who initiated the ELF were farsighted when they took a
decision to choose Awate to lead the armed struggle; for he had the essential leadership
qualities to launch the revolution and lead it to success, particularly during the critical early
stages of the armed struggle. And only the naive and the irresponsible would deny or belittle
Awate’s role and choose to plunge into an unchartered political adventure.
The Ethiopian Colonial regimes had actively and mischievously followed in the path of the
notorious British policy of divide and rule and exasperated the minor contradictions among
Eritreans and further deepened them. By doing that they succeeded to certain extent to
temporarily alienate parts of our society and align them against the national struggle (as was
the case during the period of self-determination and later armed struggle era when they
formed local militias to fight alongside the Ethiopian army against the combatants for the
independence struggle. But even then there were exceptions where one cannot but remember
and admire the gallant Kunama fighters who fought alongside their compatriots for
independence, beginning with Awate and until the realization of independence. Many heroic
Kunama leaders and martyrs were part and parcel of the Eritrean Liberation struggle and they
played a remarkable role in maintaining social harmony and peace among the region’s people,
some of whom: Al Haj Mohammed Badumy, Musa Shully, Mahmoud Belay, Osman Longy and
many others. Those veteran leaders were very knowledgeable and of the history and interrelations between the people of the region than Qernelios Esman and his likes.
We unequivocally hold to our principled stand in supporting the rights of all national
constituents including the Kunama’s right to self determination that guarantees their fair
share of the national power and wealth. We believe in their right to locally rule and govern
42 themselves. WE also recognise their legitimate right to preserve their diverse cultural identity.
At the same time, we call upon Every Eritrean constituents to recognize and respect the values
and the rights of others. Only such spirit of cooperation, mutual respect of all national grouprights and interests will be the guarantee for success and establishment of justice and
democracy. No single group can singlehandedly, and in isolation from other partners, can
achieve total or partial gains be it for its own or joint goals. Thus, in order to preserve common
interests, it is necessary to maintain favourable environs for the struggle and refrain from
actions that create negative reactions such as the recent provocations made by Qernelios
Esman.
It is important to reiterate that we support the principle of right of self-determination for all
the national constituents out of the conviction and in pursuit of achieving justice and to avoid
exclusion or domination by anyone under any circumstance or pretext. But self-determination
is not in any way meant to deepen internal disputes between the different constituents or
divert the struggle for justice from its essence. There are serious concerns that Qernelios’
statement might unjustifiably be used to attack the basic principle of the right to self
determination. Such a step would be tantamount to supporting the notorious and erroneous
notion of Hade Hzbi Hade Lbbi. Durable and sustainable unity should be based on mutual
recognition and respect, and should be a voluntary unity in diversity.
Eternal Reverence to Awate and our martyrs.
Shame and disgrace to those who denigrate our martyrs.
Long live the struggle for Justice, Equality and Democracy in Eritrea
Shame and Defeat to the dictatorial regime of Isaias Afwerki and PFDJ
Comments
EDJE’s Response to Qernelios Esman’s statement — 1 Comment
1.
Kokhob Selam on October 2, 2012 at 3:32 pm said:
Now it is clear that during that era there were people among who were against freedom who try
to cover their crime some of their children were modified in that way or are shame of their
elders stand and are trying to cover it. Again some men were against our national question
during our national struggle days and had been warned by ELF or EPLF and sometime even
penalized (some time to death) and still leaving in revenge.
it is the same, we are witnessing some coward individuals supporting pfdj because they
thought that will cover their historical mistakes.
all this will not change the truth. Awate is our hero, and we will continue till his goals (free
and democratic Eritrea) are accomplished.
43 Eritrea: The Challenges Of Today And The Prospects Of Tomorrow
Saleh Gadi February 9, 2013
(This is the source of the speeches which I delivered in Melbourne on the 29th of
December 2012 and in Perth on December 21, 2013. I will present a
comprehensive report about my busy schedule in Australia, hopefully soon. I have
now returned home after my hosts in Australia fattened me like a cow to the
extent that I will eat one-meal a day for a few weeks. My tour was sponsored by
EAJP- Eritrean Australians For Justice And Peace.)
I am indebted to the Eritrean Australian community for their continuous support, and I thank you
on behalf of myself and my colleagues at awate.com.
I thank you for giving me this opportunity to
speak in front of you, in front of a patriotic
gathering that represents a microcosm of
Eritrea. I thank the administrators and
members of EAJP (Eritrean-Australians For
Justice And Peace) for making this event
happen, and for providing me with an
opportunity to visit Australia, which I always
wanted to visit but never managed to do so
for many reasons. Thank you for providing
me with an opportunity to connect with my
childhood friends, family, relatives and many
patriots I came to know over the years.
Since September of this year, Eritrean patriots have been facing serious provocations; certain
forces wanted to see if after all, Eritrean patriots have anything they hold dear. The test was
an alarm that shook the patriots and they showed what kind of mettle they were made of. The
September incident was deliberately triggered as a challenge, the onslaught on the person of
our hero Hamid Idris Awate has only hardened our resolve and once more it alerted us to the
fact that what is at stake is bigger than any of us could have imagined. The onslaught has
changed the way we see things, and the Eritrean resistance has changed for good: it is now
defined as pre and post-September 2012: the timid pre-September opposition and the postSeptember resistance. And that means, we have to change the way we conduct our
resistance.
With that as a background, my speech will be on the theme chosen by EAJP, “Eritrea of Today;
Eritrea of Tomorrow” but I will stretch it a little back and add a focused review of the past that
brought us to where we are. I will begin with the Eritrea of Yesterday, the foundational
Eritrea, the one handed down to us by our founding fathers, the one for which we all bled and
suffered, the one that we hold dearly in our hearts. I will begin with the Eritrea of yesterday,
(its history) because without that, there wouldn’t be an Eritrea to worry about. Also, since our
country suffers Today, and we wish to have a better Tomorrow for our people, it is relevant
that we talk about our history.
If you see and recognize a seed of a plant, you
would know what kind of tree it will become and
the fruit it will bear. Cicero, the great Roman
master rhetorician, said,“To remain ignorant of
things that happened before you were born is
to remain a child.” We refuse to remain
children. We refuse to watch silently while a few
44 are sullying our history. We refuse to let them strip us of who we are. We refuse to be
indifferent to the wicked, to the cursed,… and “cursed” is not only my word for the Christian
bible has defined them as such inDeuteronomy 27:17, “Cursed be he who removes his
neighbor’s landmark.” And that is the reason why we are not fixated by history for its own
sake, but for what results from tampering with and forging history.
In 1963, Penn Station, a landmark of New York City was demolished to make room for office
buildings and what we now know as Madison Square Garden. The demolishing of the original
building of Penn Station caused a public uproar that still continues. New Yorkers considered it
a landmark building that should be preserved, but the commercial interests won. At the time,
The New York Times editorial lamented over the destruction of Penn Station: “We will
probably be judged not by the monuments we build but by those we have destroyed.” In
ten-years, objection to such irresponsible treatment of landmarks resulted in the Grand
Central Station being protected by a statute, the Landmarks Preservation Act.
We have one major statue of Awate in our memories, a statue of a lone brave man raising a
gun to face Haile Sellassie’s mighty army that is imprinted in our minds. Now, the habitual
aggressors are after the memory of Awate that we hold dearly. Even that is not spared–what
then remains of our roots, our history, our pride and our inspiration? It is our right and
obligation to safeguard our memory, even if we have to go to passing an act that would prevent
the few symbols that are left for us. Unjust persons do not like history, but they love rewriting
it. The Eritrean government is a good example and it is good in erasing our history and in
rewriting it. I believe that all our current ills are caused by the reckless Eritrean regime; its
disregard for our history as a nation is beyond comprehension. That is why I like to emphasize
on what history means to me. And in the words of George
Santayana “a country without a memory is a country
of madmen.”
Eritrea was not a racial state, it was not of one section of
its people; it was a country where diverse people reside.
Eritrea was formed on an idea: freedom, equality, and
dignity of its residents. That idea of Eritrea was erected
on several pillars; the entire Eritrean people agreed on
the type and form of those pillars. That agreement was
our social contract, free Eritreans elected their
representatives who signed that covenant, and political forces of the time blessed it. Thus, we
laid what we call foundational pillars of the nation, Thewabit Wetenyain Arabic, or Hagerawi
Amde-meseret in Tigrnya. And in the words of George Santayana, “Those who cannot
remember the past are condemned to repeat it“
The traditional Eritrean abodes, the tukul and hdmo, stand on pillars that carry the weight of
the roof and support the walls. If any of the pillars is broken, the tukul as well as the hdmo
will crumble. The Eritrean regime of the PFDJ clique is relentlessly shaking the pillars of
Eritrea, and if the pillars are broken or damaged any further, Eritrea will crumble. And that is
why we need to protect the pillars that hold Eritrea together. And the shaking and damaging of
the pillars that is going on today under the command of the Eritrean regime, and other
chauvinistic and bigoted revisionists, those who use effigies as frontmen, are the eminent
danger. Ensuring the safety and wellbeing of the Eritrea of tomorrow requires fighting the
vandals who are defacing and stopping them from damaging our country. If those pillars were
properly maintained, preserved and protected, we wouldn’t have the suffering of today. And
there you have it: the connection of the yesterday, the today and the tomorrow of Eritrea
depending on the wellbeing of the pillars.
45 We all carry identities, layers upon layers of them, and we are not ashamed of our identities,
they are our pride. Our identities are not slurs akin to four-letter words. Our identities are us;
without them we are nothing.
Eritrea doesn’t belong to anyone alone, it belongs to
all those who carry its citizenship, those who believe
it is their country and are connected to it,
Eritreanism is based on a belonging, on a citizenship
which is not bestowed based on the whims of a
clique that hijacked the fate of our patient and
enduring people. Eritrea belongs to all its tribes,
clans and sub-clans, the enda, thebeit fulan and
bet fulan. It belongs to all religions, it belongs to all
regions. We are Hamasen, we are Barka, we are Sahil, we are Denkelis, we are Akeleguzai and
the rest. We are Mulsims, we are Christians and anything between. We are Beni Amer, we are
Serawetot, we are Hamasenetot, we are Senhitays, we are Kunamas, Baryas, we’re Almeda,
Asfeda, Mensa’e, Jeberti, and everything else. We are Kebessa and Metahit. We areAfer, we are
Barya and Baza. We speak Saho, we speak Bilen we speak Bdawyet, we speak Tigrayet, we
speak Tigrniya and yes, we speak Arabic. That is our diversity that we adore and pledge to
protect and maintain; we refuse to be diluted into a uni-cultural nation through proclamations
issued by Isaias or someone like him. These multi-layered identities are our diversity–it has
always been with us and it will remain so. But those who see Eritrea as their private property
are obsessed with remolding it according to their whims, and they are the cause of our present
suffering and anxiety. That is the challenge that we are facing today; and they require fierce
and resolute resistance, not wishy-washy attitudes and approaches.
But all of that is not meant to decrease Eritrea into its constituent parts, fragment and
disintegrate it, it is not meant to be understood as identifying the Eritrean peoples in the
plural. Nay, there is one nation called Eritrea and it is the home of the Eritrean people (in the
singular) and not Eritrean peoples, or Hzbtat Ertra or Sh’oub Eritrea, (in the plural), it is Hzbi
Ertra and Sha’ab Eritrea.
The challenges of today forces us to pose a question: How would Awate face today’s PFDJ had
he been alive and able bodied? How would he assess our present disunity and
compartmentalization? Would he be content with what has happened to his people?
It is to find inspired answers for such
questions that we need to protect our icons
so that we can be emboldened and be better
citizens, brave and responsible citizens.
Awate is not with us, but we have to be
careful not to betray his ideals and not
disappoint him down as if he was alive, still
carrying his rusty rifle. In every situation, it
would help to ask: what would Awate do if
he faced that situation. And we will find the
right answer. We wouldn’t indulge in greed,
selfishness, cowardice; instead we would be
inspired to be brave, to think along national lines, think about the entire Eritrea and consider
one of his erstwhile pronouncements: Eritrea will not find a solution unless all its children
strive to find one together.
Today we see youth movements, basically Internet social media movements, that are wailing
endlessly for every calamity that our country and people face. Yet, most of the youth, either
because of ignorance or because they carry some social prejudice, are the first to belittle their
46 history and the veterans of the struggle era. I will not say much here but only repeat what my
friend Saleh Younis wrote on this aspect:
I am not romanticizing just Ghedli: I am romanticizing the Ghedli generation (in much the same
way that [American journalist] Tom Brokaw wrote about America’s “greatest generation”–the
World War II generation.) I am 100% convinced that if what is happening in Sinai to Eritreans–
inhumane, cruel, degrading, offensive–happened while the Ghedli generation was in their 20s,
they wouldn’t have been writing petitions and saying, “Wey Gud! Eh! Anta Amlak!” The Ghedli
generation existed before the New Age values: they were an assertive, kick-ass generation and
somebody would have paid. What came after them, and what came before them, didn’t measure
up to them.
Often times we are disappointed by the actions of the revisionists among us, they are a bunch
of sadists who get pleasure when Eritreans hurt. These are people who believe they have a
divine mandate to rule the rest of us or at least decide on our behalf. Yet, they talk about
unity, though their envisioned unity is as seamless as the unity of a slave and his owner. They
preach justice, but it is always tilted. They forget that people struggle and pay with their lives
to better their lots. If citizens suffer from a national regime just like they do from a foreign
occupier, then they have to fight back with the same zeal. Oppressor may change but
oppression remains the same, and it has to be fiercely confronted and fought, it is all the same
and any oppression should face the same resistance. Changing the statuesque requires
sacrifices, and after all, life under oppression is not worth living, and sacrifice for the
betterment of the people becomes more glorious,.
Anyone has a name and our country has one, it is Eritrea that has marine and land
boundaries. Though it has been aggressively assaulted, it also has a flag, an emblem, a
constitution, regions, tribes, religions and many other attributes.
As I said earlier, the assault on Awate was not the beginning. There is a saying in English,
“give them an inch, they take a mile.” We watched silently as the regime scrapped our flag and
imposed another on our country. We watched silently as it parceled Eritrea among its
beneficiaries, each region being lorded by a corrupt general. We watched silently as the regime
instituted a uni-cultural state. We watched silently as it imposed agrarian values at the
expense of pastoral life style. We watched silently as it disowned our refugees who have been
languishing in the refugee camps in Sudan for decades. We watched silently as it snatched the
citizens’ properties, land of the refugees and distributed it among its functionaries and
beneficiaries. Eritreans watched silently as Isaias promoted himself to a Pharaoh. We watched
silently as he molded Eritrea in his image. As you know, the assault on the flag started in
1977, and today we see the result. Even those who were supposed to resist the rule and
symbolism of the Eritrean regime were shy to show the true Eritrean flag–they threw it away
for Isaias’ avatar. How come Isaias’ flag has now overwhelmed some forces that declare their
opposition to his regime? Have you seen that ugly flag carried by any opposition prior to 2000?
Nope. It pains me to see the Eritrean opposition carrying different flags as if Eritrea doesn’t
have one. Only a few organizations carry the real Eritrean flag (shyly) as if it is the flag of a
pirate force. Did you notice the meetings of some of the so-called opposition who are so eager
to be accepted by the PFDJ, or to attract what falls from its tree, that they make sure to carry
the flag of their oppressor? Do people want to fight Isaias using his personal avatar? What
happened? What is left to lose?
The regime has no mandate except the mandate of the gun. I believe, drastic measures deserve
drastic response. For instance, though it might seem an over-stretch, one can argue that the
Eritrean parliament of the fifties is still the legitimate one; it has never been replaced legally.
Why not when the regime proclaims a whimsical law and Eritreans are supposed to abide by
47 it? Again, Eritrean have a constitution, they never revoked the 1952 constitution, it was the
federal arrangement that they revoked. I say this only to show you how our state of affairs has
been changed, and how absurd it has become. I am reminding my listeners of an Arabic
saying, “Dawini blleti hia ‘da’oo” The medicine for a snake bite is made of snake venom. If the
regime is absurd, and it forces its resistance to be absurd, then it is absurdity throughout.
Our present is bad.
We need resolve. Only those with resolve can win a struggle; if we sell part of our principles,
our struggle will never produce complete results. I am afraid some are struggling for a partial
results; before 2000, we had clarity, but after that, confusion ensued in the resistance camp.
And all the problems that we see, the problems that are crippling us can be described as a tag
of war between those who struggle for a complete liberation of Eritrea and between those who
struggle for the reformation of the regime. Until we sort out this dilemma, we will be busy
going around an empty circle. But how serious is
this dilemma?
I believe some of us have begun to realize how grave
the situation is when Ethiopian officials finally
came out to take charge of our resistance, the
driver’s seat. The events of the last three years
indicate that Ethiopia prefers reformation of the
regime regardless of what the resistance want. It
seems Ethiopia finds it easier for its national
interest to have a reformed PFDJ, its erstwhile, not
a different system than what it knew throughout its
history with what is now Eritrea. In pursuit of this
strategy, Ethiopian officials have been empowering
nobodies and weakening the established resistance that has constituency who have been
Ethiopia’s honest allies during the last decade or so. To circumvent the constituency problem,
Ethiopia has been working very hard to create a force for its selected would-be group of
leaders, the one on which it wants to build its stakes and use it as a bargaining chip when
finally the inevitable happens in Eritrea.
This was seen in many ways: undermining the National Conference [ENCDC], empowering a
known group within the opposition, polishing a few individuals with the intention of giving the
new formations a manufactured semblance of diversity. As if that is not enough, as a key
speaker at the Debre Zeit congress that the Ethiopian officials organized, they invited as
keynote speaker a man who recognizes neither the Eritrean struggle nor its nationhood, a man
who thinks all our struggle was an empty circle, a man who thinks our freedom fighters were a
bunch of foolish killers, and they were mainly forcefully recruited “Habesha, who were duped
into an Islamist and Arabist cause.” This man was not only the keynote speaker, they gave him
the forum for a day and half to spew his hate and prejudice. This is the kind of opposition that
some Ethiopian officials want to replace the real resistance with.
There are many incidents that can only reinforce the suspicions of Ethiopian officials’ illthought strategy that are not yet brought to the open. But now, they are obviously sabotaging
the real struggle with one that is so timid it can’t move an inch without their blessing, and the
incident of last September is part of it. This is sad considering the fact that many in the
resistance simply treate their alliance with the Ethiopian authorities pragmatically, though old
wounds were not yet healed, no closure for the interference of the TPLF in the eighties that is
greatly responsible for what we are suffering from now.
48 The Eritrea of today is a country that is being emptied of its people, especially its youth. In the
Eritrea of today all the elements of our pride as a nation are being erased. We have begun to
doubt our resolute character, dedication and courage. These were our traits as a people and
that is how the world knew us until recently, and that gave us pride and confidence. Now we
are known as the most oppressed people whose country is unlivable, poor, insecure citizens of
a country with shameful infrastructure… be it in education, healthcare, shelter and road
network… and basic human rights. Eritrean institutions are a den of corruption; the security
forces are worse than the enemy of decades ago; and we have many sadistic persons who enjoy
the suffering of their people. Eritrea has the largest army, but it is so weak due to the corrupt
administration of the PFDJ that made it an uncaring, unprincipled force that cannot protect
its people. We have an army led by corrupt generals who are all too happy to sacrifice tens of
thousands of people on trivial wars, but can’t move a finger when the entire population,
including the enlisted members of the armed forces, are enslaved. All this has happened
because we betrayed our founding principles. We cowered, we loved ourselves, we feared
sacrifice, in all its forms, life, family and property. This is in stark contrast with what we as a
people really are; we are a people who fought “against all odds” and sustained the struggle
despite the big powers standing behind our enemies, despite being outnumbered and
outgunned, we prevailed because we were resolute. Our future can only be bright if we
summon the latent quality of an Eritrean that is buried under our feet.
George Orwell said, “He who controls the present, controls the past.” The PFDJ owns our
present and therefore owned our past. If we do not snatch our present from it, we will not own
our past, and if we do not own our past, we cannot own our future.
The problem we are facing is our history is fading because many people are stuck in the day to
day life (the present), “Maybe if people started to listen, history would stop repeating itself.”
There is lack of listening, an acute listening defect and that is why we keep repeating history.
If people would listen, we wouldn’t be harping on the same issues endlessly and maybe we
would have summoned peace to our present and made sure our future would be bright. But
educating and reeducating the doubters and the ignorant is our fate which we have to
embrace, however painful it is.
I mentioned earlier that Eritrea belongs to all. By ‘all’ I mean the diverse stakeholders of
Eritrea. Those diverse entities are not talking to each other; each entity has created a small
circle and is engaged in an endless group wailing or group bravado, depending on one’s
situation. We have the regimes’ supporters talking to each other and not willing to listen to
anyone but to the marching orders of the regime. The opposition that believes in diversity has
carried that belief to its extreme end and has become counter-productive, a recipe for warlordism, an example of which we saw in the person of “general Qernelios.” It is the Ethiopian
officials who inflate his ego, they have a pet-name for him, they call him “general Qernelios.” A
spoiled man, a warlord in the making. He thinks all our Kunama compatriots are his property
and he is the only one entitled to speak on their behalf. That is where we have arrived.
Now, major sections of our nation are sick, both the Muslim and Christian component of our
society. The Muslims are marred by tribal mistrust and rivalry, the Christians are marred by
regional mistrust and rivalry. Both Christians and Muslims fear each other, and the mistrust
is at its highest. Looking at it from a national perspective, one would be tempted to ask: how
on earth are we going to bring about the end of the totalitarian regime? But don’t despair, it
was done before and it will be done today. We have no other choice but to work together for the
betterment of our country, we have to always remember we are destined to live together, to
realize our common dreams of a prosperous, stable country where the citizen is respected, and
where the government serves the people, not the other way around. We dream of an Eritrea
whose young are not enslaved and perpetually forced to think of fleeing outside it boundaries.
A country where the people will live a normal life, in peace.
49 If we are going to remain in our secluded groupings (and I have suggestions for this later on),
then it is imperative that we strengthen our institution: what good is a grouping that cannot
change anything on the ground? Let’s be formidable, organize with national zeal and fervor…
and be effective, but we must not forget to have clarity. Whatever change we seek should be
able to accommodate all Eritreans, fairly. We must not be a replica of the PFDJ, where we
remain in our comfort zones, divided, yet we claim to be working to bring change for the
Eritrean citizen. The change we seek should be embraced by all Eritreans–and we have to
identify our enemies properly. Anyone who trashes our history, tampers with it, tries to deny
us the pride we take in our martyrs, in the collective suffering of our people and their
suffering, is our enemy. We do respect our martyrs, and we are jealous of our country, we will
not allow the forces that seek to divide us succeed. Of course they want us to be weak so that
we can be easy prey to their evil designs, to reinstate the system of rule that we fought for
decades to eradicate. Eritrea has pillars and its people will renovate those pillars. The Eritrea
that we as a people paid for dearly is not going to be the playground of the foolish among us…
or anyone else: those who never showed judgment or courtesy to our people; those who waited
in hiding to maul Eritrea thinking the nation’s resolve is dead.
On this occasion I would like to remind all Eritrean stakeholders that the Muslim grievance is
well articulated from the national perspective. It has been articulated in many forms but
particularly through the Eritrean Covenant issued by Mejlis Ibrahim Mukhtar, which I believe
has achieved an overwhelming support, a consensus. The Christian grievances is not
articulated at all. And it will be unfair to consider Isaias’ harangue of Nehnan Elamanan as
Christian grievance. It will also be an insult to Christians to characterize their real grievances
and fears based on the writings of some revisionist writers who deny the existence of Eritrea
and have nostalgic memories of unity with Ethiopia under Abyssinian leadership, a Habesha
lordship. It would be unfair to consider those chauvinist bigoted voices as representing the
views of Eritrean Christian patriots. Those are fringe ideas; and Muslims also have individuals
with similar fringe ideas.
Patriotic Christians love their country just like anyone else. They have sacrificed for their
country just like anyone else. They agonize for the situation of Eritrea just like anyone else.
And they are bearing the brunt of the refugees situation at this time. Any Eritrean who cares
for his country and the unity of its people should recognize these facts. By now, we have all
paid equal sacrifices and all patriotic Eritreans, regardless of their layers of identities, have a
common goal, a common aspiration and a common fate that begins with uprooting the
oppressive totalitarian regime in Eritrea.
Here I would like to make a few recommendations:
1. Our 2013 resolution should include: Get to know 4 Eritreans this year who are not from
your tribe, ethnicity, region, or religion but are in the Eritrean resistance movement.
Preferably in person, and if you can’t, have conversations with them through social media, by
phone, by skype, Paltalk, by whatever. I am talking about one-on-one personal conversations
where you LEARN what their grievances are. Call It Campaign 4. Then ask each one you
talked to, to reach out to 4 more and so on and so on.
2. Related to that, make an effort to reach out to 4 Eritreans who have completely accepted
their adopted identity (hyphenated citizenship) and forgot all about Eritrea. You know them:
they can tell you everything about their adopted homes—football teams, and the names of
princes and princess and entertainers, American pop culture—but are entirely clueless about
what is happening in Eritrea. Then ask each one to reach out to 4 more. I am coming back
next year to Australia and I will like to see what you have done on this!
50 3. Force the resistance organizations to have a united symbol that will reinforce a common
goal, a common destiny.
4. Show your support (with your time and your money) to the resistance forces so they don’t
become dependent on others and prone to blackmail. Their weakness is our weakness.
5. Force Eritrean resistance forces to develop a criteria to determine who is an organization
and who is not. The recent crisis has shown us how irrelevant three-person groups can cause
havoc. Political leadership is for organized political forces, not for part-timers who have no
constituency but act on their personal whims.
6. Push hard to realize the unification of the forces of resistance, particulary their armed
wings. Do not encourage their tendency to split, force them to explain why they are separate
entities.
7. Those of you who can, should work to impose a new reality on the situation of Eastern
Sudan. A region which is a historical backyard of Eritreans should not be controlled by Isaias.
8. Convince and encourage the “Youth” to be more assertive and stop wailing after any
calamity or bad news from home or about home. Convince them to take action to rectify things
so that they can be taken seriously. There are things that can be done beyond petitions and
demonstrations, the previous generation of fighters didn’t spend their time begging for
sympathy, they imposed their will, they influenced events.
Finally, we have to get out of our primordial prejudices and face those who are trying to undo
what we paid for dearly. We have to stay steadfast with the promise of our martyrs, yes, Hdri
Sewuatna, resalet alsuhada’a, and defeat the forces that are created only to be
defeated: the oppressors.
[email protected]
Youtube links of the events:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvkuhanpecA&feature=player_embedded (reception,
melbourne
airport)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YIOi2LAeW4 (part1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YePhjVvi_kY (part2)
EJAP
ICV
event)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GplBE58_bWM (joint
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RZvBoLYD94&feature=player_embedded (Eritrean
Community
Radio
Interview)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKLs9PVVePc&feature=player_embedded (ENCDCAustrlaia)
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Behind Isaias Afwerki’s Crocodile Tears About Human Trafficking
Comments
Eritrea: The Challenges Of Today And The Prospects Of Tomorrow — 13 Comments
Haben on February 10, 2013 at 12:16 am
said Dear Saleh,
51 HIGDEF will soon be nebre-nebre. The time is over to eliminate HIGDEF. Peace and Justice
will flourish in Eritrea.
Reply ↓
Haqi on February 9, 2013 at 11:25 pm said:
What’s up with title? Prespect or prospect of tomorrow. Nice article gadi
Reply ↓
Papillon on February 9, 2013 at 10:48 pm said:
Dear Saleh Gadi,
You’re an invaluable asset to our endearing Eritrea. I envy your energy and sense of
commitment to the ideals you believe in. I won’t be surprised to see you in a leadership in a
free and democratic Eritrea. Welcome back hawey.
Reply ↓
rodab on February 9, 2013 at 11:38 pm said:
Not to discourage anyone or anything but free and democratic Eritrea in the next 20-30
years is a tall order. I am assuming that’s your vision since you wish to see Ghadi in a
leadership role and I assume that has to happen before he hits 90 yrs old lol…no hard
feeling Ghadi! Just a combo of humor and reality!
Reply ↓
Neguse on February 9, 2013 at 9:52 pm said:
Salih you are not happy with higdef flag displayed by some of the opposition here i see you
delivering a speech and higdef flag behind you
Reply ↓
Saleh Gadi on February 9, 2013 at 10:36 pm said:
Haha, I can only air my views, I cannot force on people my view of decorating a room, that
part is bad taste:-)
Reply ↓
yohannes on February 9, 2013 at 8:09 pm said:
it doesnt make sence,going to australia,to ethiopia,and some where but not eritrean soil, you
look like you gave up your hope after your master MELESE died, you starting to critisize
52 weyane for not doing nothing against eritrea,its good to go some places to meet eritrean if you
have vacation time money,But your travel i think could be bear fruit if you go to sudan then
cross eritrean border then travel to,HAWASHAIT , MOGORAIB,HASHHASH,LOCAIB,etc, and
meet the local eritrean people,hadendwa,tigre, and have (seminar) meeting with them, and
have JEBENET with them,,,,,,
Reply ↓
Saleh Gadi on February 9, 2013 at 10:38 pm said:
Excellent idea Yohannes, could you be kind enough to tell me where I can get a visa to visit a
country held hostage by the PFDJ brigands? Your other points (points?) are educational.
thank you.
Reply ↓
haile on February 9, 2013 at 7:28 pm said:
Sal.G
Welcome back!
It seems well organized and warmly attended to activity. I have just started watching the
videos, an English subtitle in some of them would be great.
Thank you and welcome though.
Reply ↓
Efrem on February 9, 2013 at 5:43 pm said
Sir:
What is the meaning of EJAP? You didn’t specify in your first mention about what EJAP
means.
Efi
Reply ↓
Saleh Gadi on February 9, 2013 at 6:40 pm said
Appologies, it is EAJP (Eritrean Australians For Peace And Justice)
Reply ↓
karki on February 10, 2013 at 12:39 am said
53 Aslamay adi yeblu awdi yeblu! So for which country are you lamenting for. By the way, all the
delegates looks like seb jelebya who have pigmentation on their forheads. Most probably they
seemed from Pakistan medressas.
Gadi on February 10, 2013 at 12:51 am said:
Yes, little bigot, I had people like you when I wrote this, “…..And the shaking and damaging
of the pillars that is going on today under the command of the Eritrean regime, and other
chauvinistic and bigoted revisionists, those who use effigies as frontmen, are the eminent
danger.” You must be one of those effigies.
Fetsum: The Kebessian Byzantine Vs. DMLEK (Democratic Movement of the Eritrean
Kunamas)
By assenna on May 17, 2014
Fetsum: The Kebessian Byzantine Vs. DMLEK (Democratic
Movement of the Eritrean Kunamas)
As you know, I have been working on the opposition camp on
and off and this is a continuation of that forum. The DMLEK
is my eleventh guest from the list of 13 EDA members
although I am not sure if it still exists within EDA today
after the alliance controversially suspended its membership.
Please welcome the brothers and sisters in this political party!
Confession: We Eritreans obviously have had ethnic and religious based divisions like any
other similar societies in the world. This problem has been one of the main obstacles that
stood in the way of our unity. There is, for instance a justified reason for our Geberti people’s
grievance within the Tigrigna ethnic group to agitate some of them into forming a different
ethnic group distinct from its Tigrigna roots, although I don’t believe this is the solution to the
problem as I expressed my opinion on in my past related articles. I have not doubt that they
could have been dominated by the Christian Tigrigna speakers within the common ethnic
group in issues that concern both communities equally: I did not research on this to say with
authority but I have no problem entertaining the possibility that the Geberti community could
have had problems with few Christians at least in isolated circumstances. To be honest with
you, it does not matter whether the grievance is justified or not, I just accept it and walk
forward closing the issue instead of trying to challenge my people from that community on the
innocence of the Christians in this regard because of being born from a Christian family.
Aren’t the Kebessa Tigrigna speakers and the Christians in particular complicating the
Eritrean situation more than any other Eritrean ethnic group in the society?
In the flip of the coin, the spoilers of our equality and unity are few greedy individuals that do
not represent their communities, thus the Eritrean masses are innocent of the crimes imposed
on the society by these few dysfunctional elements. We Eritreans have no problem with each
other at the mass level of our society, only between the elites from different ethnic
backgrounds. Are not we all as a unit suffering under this self-destructive Kebessan
dictatorship? Should not this reality vindicate the Eritrean masses from being responsible for
the destructive consequences of the criminals and motivate them to unify their punch against
their common enemy irrespective of religion and ethnicity?
We Eritreans cannot deny that we sometimes discriminate each other on the basis of religion
and ethnicity since doing so would mean rejection of our humanness at large. Eritreans like
any other society in similar situation (Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia, the Arabs, etc) used to own
54 slaves from the darker or authentic African looking communities within their societies. People
in this category used to be called BARYAs in both Eritrea and Ethiopia while they called the
Southern Sudanese FELATAs in Sudan. The expression ABED probably implies the same thing
in Arabic; I don’t know what they called this in Somalia and elsewhere. We are not the only
society that went through this inhuman and extremely degrading experience, the whole world
did but we cannot deny our share of this experience pretending purity without the audacity to
materially prove it otherwise.
As reality states, the biggest threat to the Eritrean peaceful nationhood had been the Tigrigna
Speaking people or what I prefer to call the Kebessian Bizantine in this forum. They dominated
politics for a long time and they have been the most divided as well. The Moslems in our
society may have reasons to organize themselves in terms of ethnicity and religion for security
but I cannot understand why the Kebessa Tigrigna speakers have so much a problem to unite.
What makes one from Hamassien think in terms of his region discriminating other people from
Akeleguzai and Seraye or the vise versa? What would cause the division between the Geberties
and the Christians from the Tigrigna ethnic group? I sometimes think that they have been the
main problem for Eritreans from the other ethnic groups to peacefully leave in the country. We
are standing in the way of the peaceful coexistence of our family members from other ethnic
groups in the process of denying ourselves peace and tranquility. We have a strong urge to
lead without capacity, to dictate, isolate, envy or to stagnate, exaggerate, pretend; yet, divided
as well.
Checking out the political groups and civic organizations in the resistance tells me that most
of the division for power grab is accentuated from individuals within the Tigrigna Ethnic
group, which has become cancerous to the unity of the Eritrean people; the rest is paying the
price of this backward outlook of life. The Kebessans are stretching the country to its
maximum elasticity from opposite ends: The regime from inside and the scattered around
groups and individuals in the resistance from outside. The irony is that most of the kids on the
run from the Kebessan dictatorship to only stand in the death row of the deserts, the seas and
the trafficking criminals are Kebessans by ethnic orientation. Yet, the Diaspora resistance is
severely damaged mostly by political leaders and community organizers from the Tigrigna
speaking ethnic group, good for nothing so to say my dear people!
Now, can we deny the discrimination of our people from the KUNAMA ethnic group by our
Christian and Moslem family members from other ethnic groups? Can a divided ethnic group
within itself (Tigrigna) avoid discriminating others such as the KUNAMAs? Can an ethnic
group in extinction with selfish and divided leaders watching from distance for the sake of
power care about the survival of other ethnic groups? Can ethnic groups (Christians and
Moslems) that have the history of exercising slavery on people of darker complexion avoid
racially discriminating the Kunamas? I don’t think so. Although the time for directly
discriminating a human being on the open is over in most countries of the world, complete
mental freedom from this extraordinary spiritual decadence requires deep resentment on its
historical actuality free of denial and genuine commitment to eradicate it once and for all
through education and democracy which some of us, Eritreans are very much challenged on
because of ignorance and ego. We have the tendency to defend our religions and ethnicities
more than the truth itself or we sacrifice it by injecting religion and ethnicity into the motion of
life like many backward societies in the world.
Unfortunately racism and other forms of discrimination will exist till the end of time; all society
can do is guaranteeing equality through the law. Our Kunama family does not have to secede
from its other family members because of few rotten individuals that spoil our love for one
another as a result of their own insecurities. A person that discriminates others is certainly
sick upstairs and suffers from deep inferiority complex in relation to the target of
discrimination. You don’t discriminate if you are confident and secure about yourself. The
motivation for discriminating people emanates from the tendency to prove one’s importance or
55 betterment in the absence of essence; and this feeling cannot originate from confidence but
from negative opinion about the self. Discrimination is a cover for internal inferno, or
pretention for justifying a broken life style. It is indeed self-deception for survival when the
mind confronts the person in this darkness on one’s terrible internal conflict about the self in
view of the objective reality. We have people like this and they should not stop our Kunama
brothers and sisters from enjoying the resources of their country at equal paradigm of the
relationship. Democracy will control the spoilers by helping them suffer the consequence of
their prejudice because we Eritreans have no time for this decadence. We will protect our
Kunama family and recover their nationalistic confidence through democracy because when
they suffer we all suffer. The spoilers hurt us equally and they are our common enemy that
should be pacified through direct confrontation and democracy.
“DMLEK (the democratic movement of the Eritrean Kunamas), one of two organizations
which believes in “self-determination up to secession,” was a member of the Eritrean
umbrella group, the Eritrean Democratic Alliance (EDA), as well as the Eritrean National
Council for Democratic Change (ENCDC.) The EDA is the largest bloc of the ENCDC.”
Comment: This organization joined the EDA believing in working with the other twelve
Eritrean political parties to bring democracy in the country. Its vision includes selfdetermination up to secession from Eritrea should the society fail to guarantee equality based
peaceful coexistence of all ethnic groups within. This conditional position is based on the
experience of the Kunama people vis a vis the rest of the Eritrean society, thus correct in my
opinion. The only way Eritreans can secure the Kunama people within the society is by
installing democracy whereby every Eritrean is equally represented in the country’s political
life. The only way the Kunamas can justify their demand should be after experiencing
democracy in their country with their other Eritrean families minus this dictatorship.
Otherwise, I found the Kunama’s vision of an alternate solution in case the problem persists
as smart and strategically correct. They are saying that they will work in democratizing
their country with the rest of the family expecting to live in it equally and freely but
with the right to separate in the absence of reducing democratic values to practice that
would negatively affect the life of their community.
I believe this is a fair deal that can only be spoiled by the majority of Eritreans. The rest of
Eritreans specially the Kebessans are directly responsible for raising the comfort level and
confidence of this portion of the family through practical spirituality. We need to practically
attract our Kunama family through genuine love and compassion. We need to give in a lot in
order to gain the trust of our Kunama people damaged by years of mismanagement, neglect
and discrimination. Unfortunately the Kebessans have been the problem of our society for
being divided for no reason other than ego and rigidity. If they have no internal peace how can
they radiate piece in their environment? They couldn’t secure unity within themselves while
the society is disintegrating a bunch at a time through the exodus crisis that is consuming our
people in the deserts and seas everywhere.
“In September, when Qernelios [leader of the movement] refused to apologize for his
inflammatory statements, the EDA responded by expelling DMLEK from the umbrella
group. In its annual meeting in Addis Abeba, Eritrea’s National Council (aka Bayto or
Mejlis) has suspended the membership of the Democratic Movement for the Liberation
of the Eritrean Kunama (DMLEK) and its chairman, Qernelios Esman. The decision to
suspend the membership of DMLEK until the next congress was passed by majority vote.
Of the 101 delegates attending, there were only 9 nays (including Qernelios and DMLEK
members) and 6 abstentions. The majority of the delegation from North America either
abstained or voted nay.”
Question: Why?
56 “The move comes three months after Qernelios Esman took to the Internet to denounce
the leader of Eritrea’s revolution, Hamid Idris Awate, as a criminal. Qernelios issued the
statement on September 1, a day that has been celebrated by Eritreans as the
anniversary of the start of the armed struggle for 50 years and as an inspiration to
continue resisting the rule of Isaias Afwerki for the last 20 years. In subsequent
statements, he clarified that he was indeed speaking on behalf of his organization and
rebuffed all calls for an apology from Eritrea’s outraged opposition organizations.”
Comment: To me Idris Awate was the father of the Eritrean struggle for Independence and I
respect him as one of the most important figures of our collective socio-political experience. I
believe Awate will remain respected by Eritreans of all generations forever like Thomas
Jefferson will remain the founder father of American democracy although he was a slave owner
But does an Eritrean group or individual have the democratic right to think otherwise based
on experience? Can a person express personal or group opinion on a distinguished figure in
society based on one’s democratic right? Are blacks justified expressing their resentment on
Jefferson’s slave ownership? Should whites defend Jefferson on his slave ownership reality
through excuses because he was white? The situation boils down to all these speculations in
my opinion.
If a distinguished individual in society does a community wrong, should a person defend the
offender on the basis of common religion or ethnicity? No, this wrong! Justice is only served by
spiritually integrated individuals that have the consciousness quality to analyze
happenstances through detachment from their identities. One cannot serve justice from within
the circle of family, ethnicity and religion; only from outside the periphery of the circle. Ras
Tessema had to exit from attachment to his own family in giving the verdict of capital
punishment by hanging against his own son for killing a person. Can we modify our integrities
by picking about 10% of a lesson from this down to earth Eritrean?
I had to search for any available source of information that may help this situation for neutral
judgment and here are few that I found.
“The Eritrean Revolution: Born of a Shifta father, produced a Shifta system [Part 1]
Tekeste Negash in his book Eritrea and Ethiopia The Federal Experience briefly
mentioned that there were three type of shifta “The most notorious among these shifta
was Hamid Idris Awate of Beni Amer origin. Idris Awate began his career in early 1942
and by 1948 his army may have numbered about 50. His main activity was to raid the
Kunama and Baria people. In the middle of 1950, he participated in the clan feud
between the Beni Amer and the adjoining districts of Hamassien, namely Liben and
Anseba. Idris Awate was one of the three shifta leaders about whom the British were
most concerned. [Read more page 62]”
Comment: I don’t know the Author, have not read the book and I did not even know it existed.
I am not in a position to conclude anything based on this exposure but I cannot ignore the
information for this would be contradictory to transparent communication. For whatever
purpose it may serve, this information will live forever because books don’t die. Whether Idris
Awate was a Shifta or not immaterial I believe this man initiated the armed struggle for
Eritrean independence. But if what said Idris did to the Kunamas and Baryas was correct,
these people have the right to express resentment on his personality. I don’t see any problem
here as a person because their experience based grievance does not affect my attachment to
the icon revolutionary in view of one from an unaffected ethic group by his activities during
and before the struggle. Nor am I justified defending Awate in this case against the Kunamas
in the presence of historical facts that manifest the opposite and in the absence of material
evidence against their claim. I cannot judge against the collective grievant without researching
the cause of its position but I feel the kunamas have the right to have a feeling on what he did
57 to them given the allegation was correct like the black Americans have the right to denounce
Jefferson for what he did to their community of his time.
Another source of information: “What does Mr. Saleh Gadi Johar, know, like or more than the
Kunama people, about the background history of Hamid Idris Awate?” states the following:
This paper accuses an Eritrean elite stating that; “[] Mr. Saleh Gadi Johar, [] keeps writing,
very prolific articles, on and about Hamid Idris Awate, often totally lacking of
sensibility, about the Kunama people and the sufferings their ethnic-members had to
endure, because of the “ethnic-cleansing” attempts, Hamid Idris Awate had made, but
times and circumstances prevented him from achieving his aims.
This is history; a true history, which will remain as such for centuries.
To the Kunama people however, such very sad history, befallen their ethnic-members,
due to Hamid Idris Awate’s murderous activities upon them, and right in the middle of
their own native and ancestral land, is indelibly written in their minds, and therefore, it
can never be eradicated from their memories, whenever the name of Hamid Idris Awate
is mentioned and brought in connection with the Kunama people‘s past history, and
this, for the simple reason that the lives of their own ethnic-members were and are far
more precious than the start of the Eritrean revolution and of the Eritrean
independence too, of which we are yet to see its worth.
For us Kunama people, Hamid Idris Awate’s preceding murderous activities upon our
Kunama people cannot be compensated with his “launching of the Eritrean revolution.”
Comment: This is really sad and we can only learn from our mistakes and protect each other
in Democratic Eritrea. We Eritreans from other ethnic groups have no right to get agitated
against the grievance of the Kunamas because they know their experience better than all of us.
Their grievance should not depreciate the value of the father of the Eritrean struggle for
independence Awate but it is arrogant to argue that he was good to the Kunamas without
scholastic evidence for no Eritrean should assume closer relationship with Awate because of
religion or ethnicity. We gain a lot by listening to each other’s experience of pain and
apologizing for our mistakes and I feel this allegation deeply in my bones as an Eritrean. Awate
remains to be a hero to us Eritreans in relation to the Eritrean struggle for ever and his
treatment of the Kunamas before the start of the armed struggle will as well remain in the
minds of his victims forever. We should not have conflict of interest here if we listen to each
other without prejudice. Therefore, I have no problem with Saleh Gadi’s positive opinion on
Awate unless he tries to defend him on the accusation hitherto brought here by our Kunama
family without tangible evidence. Likewise, I have no problem with the Kunamas’ negative
opinion on this man’s relationship with their ethnic group and in fact want to learn more so
that I can feel their pain and work harder to avoid the problem in the future.
“If people like Mr. Saleh Gadi Johar, his “awate.com” and the leaders of many
organizations, cannot understand and sympathize with the feelings of the Kunama
people, they should at least refrain themselves from trying to provoke, forcing the
Kunama into forgetting their slain ethnic-members and exalt Hamid Idris Awate’s
“heroism,” for the only reason of the Eritrean revolution, he is retained to have
started.”
Comment: It is not clear so far where Gadi went wrong concerning this issue. If the writer is
accusing him for praising Awate as an individual, then I don’t see any problem with this. If he
defended Awate on the Kunama question though, I would say grave error in part of Gadi
because he has no right to contradict the Kunama story without evidence. I sympathize with
the Kunamas in this scenario because I cannot prove Awate’s innocence on the allegation. But
I also see the legacy of the icon of the struggle as everlasting in the Eritrean experience. I don’t
58 think praising Awate as a problem here and our Kunama family should not be aggravated with
the praise but they have full right to teach us what happened to them during his era and to
denounce him if necessary like they did openly recently.
“Let Hamid Idris Awate be and remain a “national hero” for those who accept and
believe in his “heroic first bullet-shooting”, but leave also the Kunama people, to dry
their tears, over their killed people, and in their conviction, not to exchange their
murderer for a hero.”
Comment: I feel comfortable with this expression and I agree given the grievance is genuine,
and I tend to believe it because I don’t see any reason for the accusers to accuse Awate
without substance. They are talking about their history and experience: therefore I have to
listen to them without any resistance and in fact sympathize as well as a humanitarian activist
fighting for freedom and justice in Eritrea.
“Mr. Saleh Gadi Johar, his “awate.com” and its runners and supporters, do please,
refrain yourselves from beating again, on those scars of the Kunama people and cause
new and profound wounds. Mr. Saleh Gadi Johar, in his article, titled, “Qernelios : Arte
Mailam’s Political Recklessness, S.g. Johar, Sept. 10, 2012”, recounts that, “ironically,
on Sept. first of this year, the Democratic Movement for the Liberation of the Eritrean
Kunama chose to issue a provocative statement defaming Awate. “ To our view, Mr. S.
G.Johar has totally gone out of his initial statement, thus jumping from “Qernelios Arte
Mailam’s Political Recklessness” into accusing the “DMLEK”, the Kunama organization,
of having “issued a provocative statement defaming Awate”.
Comment: I am sorry but nothing is provocative in a text or speech of an oppressed
community openly criticizing his oppressor in this argument. I am sharing my neutral opinion
not as an Eritrean but as a universal individual here without any knowledge whether the
accusation was formally answered or ignored by the accused. What I mean is the accuser
deserves the benefit of the doubt here in the absence of response from the accused. I believe
Mr. Saleh Gadi crossed the line of fairness in this situation by labeling the DMLEK
provocative for its leader’s subjective grievance on Awate’s misdeed to the Kunama
people once upon an era in the Eritrean experience.
It is said that Mr. Qernelios’ “was indeed speaking on behalf of his organization and
rebuffed all calls for an apology from Eritrea’s outraged opposition organizations.” Gadi
could have taken this as the voice of the party and I don’t blame him because I would have
taken it too. To me, it is not about Qernelios or DMLEK at the fundamental level of the
argument: it is about why Gadi personalized this to the extent of finding it a provocative
danger to the Eritrean unity. What motivated this brother to go as far as adversely
antagonizing with Qernelios or DMLEK for the sake of Awate?
It appears like Mr. Gadi personalized the issue without genuine provocation. This was none of
his business in my opinion, with all respect to the brother, was thus biased. I have no
justification to reject the grievance of our Geberty family on the Christians because I was born
a Christian or the vise versa. I would do good service to the society respecting the Geberties
and sympathizing with their grievances and in fact apologizing in the name of my community
as well for the sake of love, brotherhood and harmony , whether I was mandated to do that or
not, and irrespective of the validity of the allegation.
I can use my individual right to assume representing my community apologizing in public for
something that is not perfectly personal, may be partially communal and even never been
done. What does it hurt to do this? let me do it right now: I apologize for what happened to our
Geberties by the Christian Tigrigna speakers. Don’t blame me for this and deal with your ego
yourself because my mandate to represent the Christian Tigrigna speakers is an imaginary
idea that does not concern you. It remains being my objective opinion irrespective of how I
59 understand my imagination. This, however, brings peace and love into the society and it is
spiritually gratifying as well.
“To our view, Mr. S. G.Johar has totally gone out of his initial statement, thus jumping
from “Qernelios Arte Mailam’s Political Recklessness” into accusing the “DMLEK”, the
Kunama organization, of having “issued a provocative statement defaming Awate”.”
“Has, Mr. S. G. Johar, found out whether, “Qernelios: Arte Mailam’s Political
Recklessness”, was a “statement” made only and solely by “Qernelios” himself or by the
“DMLEK”, i.e, was it “a provocative statement” of the “DMLEK”, as such? Please, do not
bring up the reason that “Qernelios”, being, “DMLEK’s” Chairman, he is also “DMLEK”
itself.”
Comment: Why not? Gadi is clean here assuming that the Chairman of the party represents
the party specially when saying he did in this scenario. What is he supposed to assume then?
But I don’t see any political recklessness on the Chairman’s opinion because he has the right
to express his opinion freely in view of democracy. He used his freedom of speech that the EDA
in principle supports to say what he had to say about his community’s experience with Awate.
“To our judgment, Mr. S. G. Johar, has totally failed in his journalistic duty and
launched the initial idea of “suspending” and even of “kicking-out” of the “DMLEK”
from the EDA, which immediately followed. As we have been following, “Qernelios Arte
Mailam’s Political Recklessness”, from the very beginning, S. G. Johar and his
“awate.com” were the first ones and the most vociferous forces, who and which had
mobilized and rallied the organs, such as…….. That Saleh Gadi Johar, and
his awate.com, had mobilized and rallied”, the above mentioned news-outlets and
organizations and exercised a very heavy “pressure upon EDA’s leadership and memberorganizations” into taking that drastic and severe measure of expelling the DMLEK from
it.”
Comment: Wow, to that extent? I wonder why the EDA took such an anti-democratic step
against the party of our Kunama family to begin with and why Gadi suggested the suspense of
the party from EDA in this scenario, if the allegation was correct. If this allegation is correct,
Gadi should have been biased of something to personalize the issue to this extent. What was
more terrible was that he politicized the issue beyond its significance as well. He didn’t have to
take this issue this far because of probably running AWATE WEBSITE (I am not sure if he
does) for there is no conflict of interest in the situation. The bias could not have been ethnical
either (assuming brother Gadi was from the Geberti community) but may be religious in my
frank opinion. By the same sensation, the EDA practically violated the right of the Chairman
to express his grievance on Awate against the principle of “freedom of speech” and democratic
values.
“The Kunama communities, around the world are being shocked by such decision of the
EDA, which is yet to give, to the Kunama people, its official reason of its verdict.”
Comment: I am shocked as well as a neutral Eritrean who does not have the whole picture of
what happened. I am really shocked and disappointed about what the EDA did to our Kunama
family members and even more shocked about the unprovoked negative interference of brother
Gadi in this situation. We need to be careful on how we treat each other and must be
consistent on a concept to claim integrity. Gadi should have sympathized with the Kunamas
instead of defending their abuser and cause the party’s suspension from EDA because I
assume he came from a minority group (Geberti) within the Tigrigna speaking ethnic group
that has few human rights issues with the Christians. Please don’t take this assumption out of
proportion because I am talking a straight language that is easy to understand here.
Criticizing or denouncing an iconic figure of society by any member of the society is not
political recklessness at all and suspending an individual or group from a DEMOCRATIC
umbrella on this excuse is anti-democratic and dictatorial as well. I would love to see the
60 respond to this allegations from the accused in order to be balanced, needless to say ignoring
the allegation is arrogance and uncivilized in my opinion. I feel sorry for wrong action the EDA
took against our Kunama family in this situation.
In conclusion; we will fight for justice everywhere in Eritrea and so will we this time to defend
the rights of our Kunama family to freely express its unique experience in the Eritrean diary. I
sympathize with this family for the wrong deeds of our icon of struggle Idris Awate on; and
criticize him for the mistakes he did in this regard without depreciating my respect of him. I
also humbly remind our Kunama family not to exasperate this situation to the point of hurting
our unity and the resistance over all. I want to remind this group of the family that we love you
and we will fix any problem in your community together in this fight for freedom and
democracy in our country. No one can trespass your right to equally enjoy your country from
now on for no Eritrean deserves his/her right without defending the rights of all of us as unit.
Defending the rights of our Kunama family is a prerequisite for securing my individual freedom
in Eritrea. Therefore, I condemn EDA’s undemocratic violation in suspending DMLEK out of its
umbrella.
Down with ethnic and religious chauvinism in our society: Long live our unity and the genuine
struggle of the Kunama people for freedom & democracy in Eritrea!
Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)
Rating: +2 (from 2 votes)
Comments
Fetsum: The Kebessian Byzantine Vs. DMLEK (Democratic Movement of the Eritrean
Kunamas) — 11 Comments
1.
Yohannes Zemichael on May 18, 2014 at 2:00 am said:
Hey Illuminati:
You happen to be one of the duped intellectual prostitute. I hope you have the guts to wake up
and have this strong delusion rooted out of your mind and sprit once and for all. The Kebessa
people brought the independence. Kebessa is the soul, heart and strength of Eritrea. Don’t try
to open the Pandora box and you need to zip your mouth.
Rating: -2 (from 6 votes)
Reply ↓
2. Tes on May 18, 2014 at 4:19 am said:
Dear brother Fetsum,
What a very courageous and wise man! My hat off brother. When I read you I feel courage and
sense a brighter future albeit far away. It is not yet the spirit of our ancestors not decimated
by HGDEf not to revive but shows your courage there are still out there true Eritreans who
really care. What you are displaying here is our true culture behavior who were confident and
free to express when they see injustice. Ageb, Ajgdin, Newry hidie bel were our far fathers word
61 when they see unjust whoever was the victim. we inherited from our ancestors invaluable
manners which lately shocked from its core by evil Isseyas stooges. You are not only bless with
knowledge of our contemporary world but blessed with wisdom and sense of justice. I just one
word please keep up fighting don’t be intimidated by supporters and opposition who lost their
direction and confused.
Kunama issue is national issue and fair request. It needs to be handled with great care.
Otherwise it might out off control and they are really have a point to feel intimidate by the
Christine majority. As christian highlander I don’t have any problem my government or the so
called opposition to listen to graveness of the minority. Whether we like it or not they are equal
stakeholders of the country and it is our obligation to make them feel they are included in all
the affair of the country. I am completely in agreement with you brother with all specially if
they have graveness with Idris awate well there is a say in Amharic Yemeta biresa Yetemeta
Iyresam. If they feel not comfortable about Idris then so be it, it is definitely their right.
As for Awate team I think they are unclear they allegiance whether narrowly to their religion
and tribe or the entire country. They lost it long ago and their main contribution now days is
full time an actors of spoilers. Picking small issue and exaggerate it by million times to make
maximum damage to the opposition. The have perceived fear of Christians which is
unfounded. It is better ignoring them. Their website is slightly going from heyday to its slow
death. they are insignificant.
I like very much those wise words of yours “A person that discriminates others is certainly sick
upstairs and suffers from deep inferiority complex in relation to the target of discrimination.
You don’t discriminate if you are confident and secure about yourself. The motivation for
discriminating people emanates from the tendency to prove one’s importance or betterment in
the absence of essence; and this feeling cannot originate from confidence but from negative
opinion about the self. Discrimination is a cover for internal inferno, or pretention for
justifying a broken life style. It is indeed self-deception for survival when the mind confronts
the person in this darkness on one’s terrible internal conflict about the self in view of the
objective reality.” it really hit home. This is exactly what is happening in Eritrea. Those in
diaspora the most vocal and staunch supporters of the regime are the best example in hand.
They fear if Isseyas left power then they will be regarded outsiders. The same is true those at
the top of the governments. They are consumed by inferiority complex. Lack of confidence and
being living in perceived fear. What if!
Rating: 5.0/5 (1 vote cast)
Rating: +2 (from 2 votes)
Reply ↓
3. selamawit2 on May 18, 2014 at 1:55 pm said:
Dear Fetsum,
i just started reading you articel and i am very curious to read obout our kuname brothers and
sisters as i don’t know by far enough about them.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH AND GOD BLESS YOU FOR YOUR for your unresting dedication!!!!
And there is one point in the articel i’d like to comment. You write:
62 “Eritreans like any other society in similar situation (Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia, the Arabs, etc)
used to own slaves from the darker or authentic African looking communities within their
societies.” This is right but not complete. Also other african societies with relatively “darker”
skin had slaves.
Furthemore in the other black-african countries there were “castes”/groups that were slaves
and groups that were not – similar to the caste system in Asia. But it had nothing to do with
the color of the skin.
Here i strongly commend to read the books by Cheikh Anta Diop (a former african historian,
anthropologist, physicist etc.)…They are very interesting and written from an absolutely
african point of view.
Reply ↓
4. haqiyesar on May 18, 2014 at 10:40 pm said:
The title of the article is about Eritrean Kunama but rather when I read it, it is almost about
Gadi’s article that was written 19 months ago. I don’t understand why the author had to revive
an almost two years old article and go after Gadi from the starting till the end of his article,
with the bold written for more attention. Those you have ability to write please be
EDUCATORS.
Rating: 0 (from 2 votes)
Reply ↓
Tes on May 19, 2014 at 3:23 am said:
Haqiyesar,
Yes the article is about Kunama and Gadi was the most vocal defender of Idris at that time. I
don’t see the author is after Gadi but it was amuse to see how aggressively attacked Kornelous
for just expressing the organization right unless you are one of those who believe we are all
suffered together under HGDEF.
Rating: -1 (from 1 vote)
Reply ↓
haqiyesar on May 19, 2014 at 11:31 am said:
Tes,
63 My understanding the leader of kunama stands against Jeberti and Qadi is from Jeberti, and
may be Qadi among his strong believe on Hamid Awate got an appropriate time to hit and
square the leader of Kunama aggressively, but then the leader of Kunama responded to Qadi
the case has been closed, BUT why is the author revive the two year article and renew the
friction, what is the motive?
Due to the length of our struggle be it during revolution and post independence, the true color
of Eritrean outlook came out to surface and most of it ugly. Unlike our ancestors, we don’t
learn from each other, we don’t respect each other, we do not tolerate each other, we don’t
accommodate each, we don’t reconcile to each other … we became certified to insult each
other, to disrespect each other, to put down to each other, to disunite each other to label each
other, to judge each other… And no wonder why we are failing to repair our damage, it is SAD!
There is one thing we should understand Eritrea is for all Eritrean no group is above the other
group, no group has the right above other group and the list goes on…, let us take the right
paved avenue, let us learn from the past, and let us use the power of our present wisely, so
that we may have a future Eritrea.
Rating: +1 (from 1 vote)
Reply ↓
Tes on May 19, 2014 at 2:20 pm said:
I accept your intention was positive move and impressed with your words. There is always
misunderstanding I got it now. Ta!!!
Reply ↓
5. GidistiEritrawit on May 19, 2014 at 12:56 am said:
Brother Fesume,
You nailed it on the head. The majority of Kebessa people hail first from their Adi, then
Aweraja, followed by religion and the their last identity is Eritrean.
I am not trying to categorize all people from Kebessa as regionalist, but the whole independent
struggle (EPLF) was shaped by rivalry among Hamassien, Akeleguzai and Seraye. Since most
Seraye were member of ELF, they were not a threat to Hamassien and Akeleguzai. The
Hamassien meticulously exploited the Seraye to squash the Akeleguzai and has become the
absolute ruler of the failed state of Eritrea.
I don’t understand why we have been circling rounds for almost half a century to address our
fundamental weakness. We should be able to call a spade is a spade.
I really appreciated Fesume your courage for publishing this article out for Eritrean to examine
ourselves and help come together to root out the current Eritrean regime.
64 Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)
Reply ↓
6.
oromay on May 19, 2014 at 2:41 am said:
My group, my books, theory, philosophy, agenda, vision, formula, strategy, scenario,
consensus, mission statement, road map, forum, guidelines, symposium, conference,
workshop, meeting, conflict resolution, dialogue, assembly, civic society movement bottom up
approach, caucuses, resistance group, vacaroian movement, focal point, Accra Peace Accord,
low land league,kabessian Byzantine etc etc.Sometimes,the philosopher sounds frustrated
with the general situation and grumbles about his personal affairs. Griped with fear and
uncertainty, he seems to be a prophet of doom about what may happen in the future. He also
sounds that he already finished cutting and pasting the Accra Peace Accord to apply to Eritrea
regardless of the social fabric. Don’t you think such one man ideas tend to be delusions of
grandeur?. Strange classification of change forces into Vacaroian movement, resistance group,
parties doe snot make sense if someone is talking about unity.Another newly invented
categorization is Kebessian/Christian Byzantine. As far as we know in history, there was no a
such regime domination and power control over other by religion or topography but rather,
there were external colonizers alternatively.
Many customers may not enjoy reading valueless compiled comments unless it is for fun.
Transitional formula–transitional (interim) government…democratic government… resembles
simple mathematical formula that assumes everything is constant. Unfortunately, it doesn’t
work in social dynamics.
Last but not least, there is no avail to shade crocodile tears for DMLEK for things that
happened far past.
Tere is nothing to personalize the remark after all, it is a national issue and everybody is a
stakeholder.
Rating: 0 (from 2 votes)
Reply ↓
7. Kifle Nerayo on May 19, 2014 at 11:25 am said:
Mr. Fitsum: I thank you but not appreciate raising the case of our brothers, the Kunamas.
This is a very sensitive issue. they have grievance against Awate, the hero of our struggle
against colonialism. This is indeed a sensitive issue, which can hardly be solved with disunited
people as we are now. In my opinion, such issue must be weighed with due balance, which is
the united and liberated Eritrean People. It is an issue solvable fairly by the Eritrean
government of the people in peace time. It is unfair for any other group to force the Kunama
community to air their grievances at any occasion. However, The Kunama Community also
must know the right time to get an amendment for their past suffering under the leadership of
Awate. There is no one who can legally address this issue before the victory of the opposition
65 over the present dictatorial government. I therefore beseech the opposition to focus in our
urgent priorities, dislodging the dictator the earliest we can.
KIfle Nerayo
Emsil: [email protected]
Reply ↓
8. FITHI on May 19, 2014 at 11:30 am said:
Undeveloped society exploited by politcal-mad-men who will lead them to be drown alive. A
lesson we learned not to be taken lightly, we will be judged on our character and the impact
we have on others. Beware from irresponsible obsession with politicians and individuals at
this time because they are not representatives elected by people but doesn’t mean to discredit
their presence.
Issayas doesn’t represent nobody but only his ruling party, Qernelious and others also speak
for their party advancement. People are suffering from unbalanced efforts of incapable
power hungry politicians .
From harennet.org
DMLEK's Suspension in a Democratic Context!
Written by By Goitom Emam Friday, 07 December 2012 10:55
I have been following sparingly the squabble between the Democratic Movement for the
Liberation of the Eritrean Kunama (DMLEK) and the Eritrean Democratic Alliance (EDA) or the
Eritrea’s National Council (ENC). The disagreement has to do over DMELK’s Chairman, Mr.
Kornelios Adolay Osman's so called controversial comment denigrating Hamid Idris Awate and
his perceived heroism. Whether Idris Awate is a hero or not is not the essence and my
motivation for writing. On the contrary, it is the reaction and the undemocratic nature of
those who have suspended DMLEK's membership without any legal basis or their
constitutional reference that I was driven to speak up against. I am being puzzled by the
reaction and decision over such issue to the point of suspending DMLEK’s membership in EDA
and ENC due to Kornelious's refusal to apologize and failing to satisfy or appease them by
being true to his beliefs. It is amazing to observe such kind of opposition coming from the
EDA/ENC leaders with tenacity against one organization’s opinion over Hamid Awate. It is
ironic because the suspension decision is coming from those who claim to struggle against
dictatorship in search of realizing respect of human rights and one’s opinion.
Eleanor Roosevelt once said, "Do what you feel in your heart to be right, for you'll be
criticized anyway. You'll be damned if you do and damned if you don't." I could have
been silent like anyone else and do my other mundane things, but I would not be honest about
my true feelings while such kind or wrong deeds by EDA/ENC leaders are unchecked and not
being challenged. You know, the easiest path in life is to say "politically correct" things
publicly and go with the flow by agreeing with the majority to avoid massive criticism coming
from many angles. But, the question is - are you being true to yourself? I am not defending
the comments of Mr. Kornelios per say, but I would like to defend his right to express his true
feelings regardless how I feel about him and how I despise his comments.
66 In my opinion, Hamid Idirs Awate is an Eritrean hero because he is the first selfless individual
who volunteered to lead the Eritrean armed struggle and was ready to give and gave his life on
behalf of the very people and country he loved. That doesn’t mean, I happen to know him as a
perfect person in all aspects of life - free of other personal flaws and shortcomings. I haven’t
studied nor read a biography of Hamid Idris Awate. I also do not have the knowledge to go into
detail about what kind of person he really was other than what we hear from people and read
from the media. Pardon my ignorance on his background; I am not even sure whether he is
from the "BeniAmir" or "Nara" tribe for that matter. Regardless, understanding or knowing a
person’s background, true quality, character and integrity etc… demands more investigative
research that should be tackled by historians or biographers. I do not think our work in this
area has started and the majority of us are making opinions per hearsay or word of mouth. I
am also not in a position to know some individuals from the Kunama's relationship and
experience with Hamid Idris Awate either.
I do not agree with Kornelious Osman’s provocative statement on Hamid Awate nor do I agree
with its timing for bringing the issue at this juncture either. We in the opposition have many
other important issues that we need to tackle especially in saving our very people from
extinction, and the country we fought from losing its sovereignty or nationhood from the
illegitimate hand and irresponsible leader, Isaias Afwerki along with his cohorts. We all need
to understand and realize that Kornelious Osman’s statement is provocative in the eyes of
many of us and not all of us. We shouldn’t expect all of us to have the same perception and
knowledge to the truth. How a Kunama individual perceives Hamid Idris Awate, and how an
individual from the "BeniAmir" or any other tribe for that matter perceives him could be quite
different. I shouldn’t expect Kornelious Osman’s opinion and belief to agree with what I believe
and perceive to be true. We need to acknowledge that we are a country of diverse background
and set of values, that it is natural to have different opinions and historical perspectives. I
even read in www.awate.com, there are even some individuals from Kunama who are
condemning Kornelious's comments so we shouldn't generalize that all kunamas have the
same views about this issue either.
A good case point is what white Americans perceive of George Washington is different than
what African Americans perceive of him. Many white Americans see George Washington as
their American hero and admire his fatherly legacy he left while many African-American
perceive him as a slave-owner and reminds them of their past generation’s agony and suffering
during the slave trade era. Are we going to say that regardless the flaws of George
Washington, African Americans should have the same opinion and respect as of the majority of
the American people which happens to be of the white race? In retrospect, what I see in the
symbolism of Hamid Idris Awate riding a white horse may be different in what a person from
the Kunama race sees Awate riding on the same horse. Realizing and acknowledging diversity
of perceptions is a first step towards opening up a healthy discussion in understanding the
source of our perceptions and reasoning. Without exploring that venue, how could you know
what the other person is feeling and thinking?
One of the flaws of people in general is we tend to understand our own perceptions, but we
ignore other people’s perceptions. We make the judgment over others' dissenting opinions from
that self-perceived narrow view of ours. The Eritrean opposition is a victim of its own making
for being shortsighted and for taking the road of, “My way is the highway” attitude for a long
time. The Eritrean National Congress for Democratic Change (ENCDC) own making or
existence is the result of that journey or outcome which I was not surprised to see suspending
DMLEK’s membership from the EDA/ENC. Are the EDA and surrogate ENC leaders wanted all
people or organizations have to abide by their own rules, convictions, beliefs, historical
perspective and aspirations? Don’t they know creating a long lasting trust and pursuing a
respectful dialogue starts by acknowledging and tolerating other people’s opinions and
perceptions in the first place?
67 One of the measuring sticks of having a democratic character or culture is respecting other
people’s opinion and being tolerant even for opinions that you despise. It seems EDA/ENC
leaders do not have the ability to disagree with civility while respecting anyone who differs
from them. Don’t you think, this is typical of a dictatorial character we all claim to despise
and fight against? There are many things you learn from dissenting opinions and from your
adversaries. The suspension decision speaks volumes about the EDA/ENC lack of leadership,
and failing to work with those who disagree with them. If you cannot tolerate such an issue of
less relevance, how do you think you will deal with paramount problems of complex nature,
and with more diverse opposing views on national scale? Great leaders learn from
controversies and from those who challenge them. They treat controversy as an opportunity
and not as a hindrance. I would like to respect a person who is true to his convictions and/or
who speaks up and challenges the majority against all odds when he believes inside his heart
he is righteous. For that, I need to be true to be myself and defend the right of Mr. Kornelious
Osman to speak his convictions and oppose those who abuse their power by suspending his
legal membership in the EDA/ENC. By implicit, I am not only defending the man, but in
general the individual's right to speak and to have beliefs even against all odds. In conclusion,
by being true to my feelings on this issue, I am not defending Mr. Kornelious, but myself as a
proponent fighter for individual liberty and justice for all. I do believe, the measuring stick of a
person's democratic character is how he or she treats minority or dissenting views that are not
in line with his/her own views. For that, I advice the EDA/ENC leaders to correct their wrong
doings and retract their unfortunate undemocratic decision suspending Mr. Kornelious Osman
and his organization DMLEK's membership.
May God/Allah protect the Eritrean people from the EDA/ENC like undemocratic leaders!
DMLEK’s Suspension in a Democratic Context! Written by By Goitom Emam….Friday, 07
December 2012 10:55
Breaking News Add comments
Dec072012
“I advice the EDA/ENC leaders to correct their wrong doings and retract their unfortunate
undemocratic decision suspending Mr. Kornelious Osman and his organization DMLEK’s
membership.”…
I have been following sparingly the squabble between the Democratic Movement for the
Liberation of the Eritrean Kunama (DMLEK) and the Eritrean Democratic Alliance (EDA) or the
Eritrea’s National Council (ENC). The disagreement has to do over DMELK’s Chairman, Mr.
Kornelios Adolay Osman’s so called controversial comment denigrating Hamid Idris Awate and
his perceived heroism. Whether Idris Awate is a hero or not is not the essence and my
motivation for writing. On the contrary, it is the reaction and the undemocratic nature of
those who have suspended DMLEK’s membership without any legal basis or their
constitutional reference that I was driven to speak up against. I am being puzzled by the
reaction and decision over such issue to the point of suspending DMLEK’s membership in EDA
and ENC due to Kornelious’s refusal to apologize and failing to satisfy or appease them by
being true to his beliefs. It is amazing to observe such kind of opposition coming from the
68 EDA/ENC leaders with tenacity against one organization’s opinion over Hamid Awate. It is
ironic because the suspension decision is coming from those who claim to struggle against
dictatorship in search of realizing respect of human rights and one’s opinion.
Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “Do what you feel in your heart to be right, for you’ll be
criticized anyway. You’ll be damned if you do and damned if you don’t.” I could have
been silent like anyone else and do my other mundane things, but I would not be honest about
my true feelings while such kind or wrong deeds by EDA/ENC leaders are unchecked and not
being challenged. You know, the easiest path in life is to say “politically correct” things
publicly and go with the flow by agreeing with the majority to avoid massive criticism coming
from many angles. But, the question is – are you being true to yourself? I am not defending
the comments of Mr. Kornelios per say, but I would like to defend his right to express his true
feelings regardless how I feel about him and how I despise his comments.
In my opinion, Hamid Idirs Awate is an Eritrean hero because he is the first selfless individual
who volunteered to lead the Eritrean armed struggle and was ready to give and gave his life on
behalf of the very people and country he loved. That doesn’t mean, I happen to know him as a
perfect person in all aspects of life – free of other personal flaws and shortcomings. I haven’t
studied nor read a biography of Hamid Idris Awate. I also do not have the knowledge to go into
detail about what kind of person he really was other than what we hear from people and read
from the media. Pardon my ignorance on his background; I am not even sure whether he is
from the “BeniAmir” or “Nara” tribe for that matter. Regardless, understanding or knowing a
person’s background, true quality, character and integrity etc… demands more investigative
research that should be tackled by historians or biographers. I do not think our work in this
area has started and the majority of us are making opinions per hearsay or word of mouth. I
am also not in a position to know some individuals from the Kunama’s relationship and
experience with Hamid Idris Awate either.
I do not agree with Kornelious Osman’s provocative statement on Hamid Awate nor do I agree
with its timing for bringing the issue at this juncture either. We in the opposition have many
other important issues that we need to tackle especially in saving our very people from
extinction, and the country we fought from losing its sovereignty or nationhood from the
illegitimate hand and irresponsible leader, Isaias Afwerki along with his cohorts. We all need
to understand and realize that Kornelious Osman’s statement is provocative in the eyes of
many of us and not all of us. We shouldn’t expect all of us to have the same perception and
knowledge to the truth. How a Kunama individual perceives Hamid Idris Awate , and how an
individual from the “BeniAmir” or any other tribe for that matter perceives him could be quite
69 different. I shouldn’t expect Kornelious Osman’s opinion and belief to agree with what I believe
and perceive to be true. We need to acknowledge that we are a country of diverse background
and set of values, that it is natural to have different opinions and historical perspectives. I
even read in www.awate.com, there are even some individuals from Kunama who are
condemning Kornelious ‘s comments so we shouldn’t generalize that all kunamas have the
same views about this issue either.
A good case point is what white Americans perceive of George Washington is different than
what African Americans perceive of him. Many white Americans see George Washington as
their American hero and admire his fatherly legacy he left while many African-American
perceive him as a slave-owner and reminds them of their past generation’s agony and suffering
during the slave trade era.
Are we going to say that regardless the flaws of George
Washington, African Americans should have the same opinion and respect as of the majority of
the American people which happens to be of the white race? In retrospect, what I see in the
symbolism of Hamid Idris Awate riding a white horse may be different in what a person from
the Kunama race sees Awate riding on the same horse. Realizing and acknowledging diversity
of perceptions is a first step towards opening up a healthy discussion in understanding the
source of our perceptions and reasoning. Without exploring that venue, how could you know
what the other person is feeling and thinking?
One of the flaws of people in general is we tend to understand our own perceptions, but we
ignore other people’s perceptions. We make the judgment over others’ dissenting opinions from
that self-perceived narrow view of ours. The Eritrean opposition is a victim of its own making
for being shortsighted and for taking the road of, “My way is the highway” attitude for a long
time. The Eritrean National Congress for Democratic Change (ENCDC) own making or
existence is the result of that journey or outcome which I was not surprised to see suspending
DMLEK’s membership from the EDA/ENC. Are the EDA and surrogate ENC leaders wanted all
people or organizations have to abide by their own rules, convictions, beliefs, historical
perspective and aspirations? Don’t they know creating a long lasting trust and pursuing a
respectful dialogue starts by acknowledging and tolerating other people’s opinions and
perceptions in the first place?
One of the measuring sticks of having a democratic character or culture is respecting other
people’s opinion and being tolerant even for opinions that you despise. It seems EDA/ENC
leaders do not have the ability to disagree with civility while respecting anyone who differs
from them. Don’t you think, this is typical of a dictatorial character we all claim to despise
and fight against? There are many things you learn from dissenting opinions and from your
70 adversaries. The suspension decision speaks volumes about the EDA/ENC lack of leadership,
and failing to work with those who disagree with them. If you cannot tolerate such an issue of
less relevance, how do you think you will deal with paramount problems of complex nature,
and with more diverse opposing views on national scale?
Great leaders learn from
controversies and from those who challenge them. They treat controversy as an opportunity
and not as a hindrance. I would like to respect a person who is true to his convictions and/or
who speaks up and challenges the majority against all odds when he believes inside his heart
he is righteous. For that, I need to be true to be myself and defend the right of Mr. Kornelious
Osman to speak his convictions and oppose those who abuse their power by suspending his
legal membership in the EDA/ENC. By implicit, I am not only defending the man, but in
general the individual’s right to speak and to have beliefs even against all odds. In conclusion,
by being true to my feelings on this issue, I am not defending Mr. Kornelious, but myself as a
proponent fighter for individual liberty and justice for all. I do believe, the measuring stick of a
person’s democratic character is how he or she treats minority or dissenting views that are not
in line with his/her own views. For that, I advice the EDA/ENC leaders to correct their wrong
doings and retract their unfortunate undemocratic decision suspending Mr. Kornelious Osman
and his organization DMLEK’s membership.
May God/Allah protect the Eritrean people from the EDA/ENC like undemocratic leaders!
“DMLEK’s Suspension in a Democratic Context! Written by By Goitom Emam….Friday,
07 December 2012 10:55”
1.
KB says:
December 8, 2012 at 4:12 am
Well argued, fair and constructive message!
Job well done Goitom!!
KB
2.
Spears says:
71 Goitom Emam
First of all if you are an Eritrean , which I doubt you are , there is no opposition in Eritrea .
There are some herds though , who are recruited , sell out that serve Woyanne’s interest in
sabotaging Eritrean progress and existence in a futile attempt , in regards to mr. Kronelious as
an individual person he has the right to express his feeling .
3.
Ghebrex says:
December 8, 2012 at 7:53 pm
The above context written by Goitom Emam is really well constructed idea for the people who
are struggling and working hard in behalf of their people but not for those who struggling by
tensional or intensional in behalf of their religion, province, tripe and segregate of our people.
If we are really struggling in behalf of our people and our country to released/ freed from
tremedously dectatore, prosecutor, torture and rackless government. 1st we have to cleans up
our understanding inorder to think freely from any disaster or tragedies which is doing direct
or indirect against our people, instead struggling by unity and solidarity and find quick
remedy to release our people from the current iniquity and darkness of the world. It is really
early-age topic to raised, So all Eritreans please we have to have health thinking in order to
think and give priority of our people democracy, right, justice, freedom, peace and love.
I really agreed with Goitom Emam’s context because it is really common truth and good
lessons for all eritrean people who has healthy mind. He wrote it without leaning on one side.
Thanks! God bless you wedi Emam!!!
o
Spears says:
The healthy mind should start with you mr. Ghebrex , this is a young nation that had
registered 14% GDP and maintained 8 % growth continually , a young nation that reached 21
st century Millinum of United Nation expectation progress , let alone African Countries , some
Western Countries have not reached, now you are preaching about people , I have no idea
who’s people are you trying to help , other than hiding behind , using people name to advance
your deep hatred and bankrupted political agendas .
4.
mzelo Tesfamariam says:
I really agreed wth your context wedi emam do your owen life dont mes with these peaple be
happy you are in a free worled god bless U S A
72 o
any it is my first time I just want say some thing becouse I look back on my child hood
5.
no thanks wedi make
6.
S. Gumma says:
Mr. Goitom Amam…..Kunama comment will follow, please read this. Thx
The Recent News From The Conference Of The “Eritrean National Council for Democratic
Change“, (ENCDC):
It has been reported that, for the last two or three days, the “ENCDC’s”, conference, in AddisAbaba, (Ethiopia) has been stalled, for sometime, by the crisis, reached by the leader and
leadership of the “Democratic Movement for the Liberation of the Eritrean Kunama”, (DMLEK),
following the accusation of the “provocative defamation of Hamid Idris Awate”, made by their
chairman, Mr. Kornelios Adolay Osman.
The leaders and the leadership of the “Eritrean Democratic Alliance”, (EDA), chaired and led by
“Al-Haj Hassan Kalifa”, had previously suspended and expelled from it, Mr. Kornelios Adolasy
Osman and his organisation.
These days, the “ENCDC’s”, leadership, chaired and led by “Dr. Yousuf Berhanu”, during their
conference, were faced with the ungrateful task of consequently deciding, to follow suit, and
expel, Mr. Kornelios and his organisation, from the “Bayto”, too.
After long argumentations and diatribe, it was reported that, not only Mr. Kornelios and his
group, but also some of those leaders and their civic societies, which were supporting and
73 arguing and wanting to still retain the DMLEK’s leader and his organisation, within the
“Bayto”,
have been expelled and cleared it of those very organisations and societies which were the
prime forces, hindering, the overall political growth and advancement of the “Hagerawi-Bayto”
itself.
With such powerful action, however, the ENCDC’s leadership has proven itself to be at the
hight and very worthy of the position it is now occupying.
Our heartfelt “THANK YOU”, in the name of our Kunama people, goes to “EDA’s” leadership, in
the first place, for taking the initial and courageous decision to punish the DMLEK’s
leadership, for its, up to that moment, contemptuous behaviour, terrorist-type of menacing
and undermining conduct and murderous activities;
Our second heartfelt “THANK YOU”, goes to the “ENCDC’s” leadership, for being very
consequential and completing the expulsion process.
It is our conviction that, civic societies and similar, non-governmental organisations, have no
place and no rights, to interfere in the political activities of the political parties and
organisations, engaged in the political matters of the Eritrean nation and society and
therefore, it was time that they be removed, from such political circles and told to attend solely
to their specific duties of safeguarding the rights of the citizens, and not either interfering,
supporting or promoting the interests of some political organisations, as it has been reported
to have been the case, regarding the DMLEK’s leadership.
As it is known and widely reported, for the last fourteen and plus, (14+) years, the DMLEK’s
leadership and its leader have been conducting criminal and murderous activities, upon their
own members, and upon all Kunama people in general, thus following a movement which had
completely derailed itself from the main objective which was to struggle and care for the
welfare and well-being of the Kunama people, at home and abroad.
The repetitive murderous activities of the DMLEK’s leadership and leader, should have already
been more than enough reasons for, not only suspending and expelling it from “EDA-Kidan”,
but that Mr. Kornelios Adolay Osman, his deputy, Mr. Tewelde Minase and all the other
members of their organisation, should have been detained, long time ago, and made appear in
some Ethiopian court of justice, for indiscriminately detaining, jailing, torturing and killing
many and innocent Kunama, within the Ethiopian territorial sovereignty.
Very unfortunately, they have been left free, for too long, to use their military power and
conduct such homicidal activities, which are retained to have exceeded “20” known killings
and more than other thirty-forty, (30-40), detained and jailed Kunama individuals, of whom
many are still unaccounted for.
We do hope that the present leadership of the “ENCDC-Bayto”, with its final decision of taking
a strong hand, and ridding the organisation, of the spoiler-types of political organisations and
civic societies, did send a very clear message and set a basic standard that it is not to tolerate
74 such kinds of “stumbling-blocks”, which have been, and are being, for too long, sowing
divisions, undermining efforts of unity and delaying the speedy success of the Eritrean
opposition movement, in trying to bring about “Democratic Changes”, in Eritrea. Long live, the
“ENCDC-Bayto!”
The K-ABIT: (December 4, 2012).
7.
S. Gumma says:
These individuals are.Kunama- KILLED BY ADOLAY KORNELIOS OSMAN AND TEWELDE
MINASE.
According to eye-witness account of many ex-prisoners who had managed to escape, up to
now, the following five (5) individuals were executed at the direct orders of the chairman, Mr.
Kornelios Adolay Osman:
1.
Adaggo Auka (The late Mr. Adaggo Awka Gagasi, killed by DMLEK on August, 19, 2002
per torturing.
2. Adum Osman……
3. Yakob Ashora (The late Mr. Yakob Ashora, killed on Monday, September 3, 2002 per
torturing.
4. Hussen Yousuf (The late Mr. and surveyor Hussen Yusuf, whom the chairman had
accused of being the “ring-leader” and therefore had killed him per hanging, on Sunday,
February 2, 2003.
5. Tukka Nuri (The late Nuri Tukka Kenna, shot dead by DMLEK on March, 14. 2004)
6. Anni Ammoda
7. Hajji Fufa
8. Ilarino Hamid
9. Yab Shilikko
10. Tomonai Lama
11. Pietro Jage Boshi
12. Hawa
13. Mara Ashkaba (killed in Eritrea by Adolay´s agents in his house)
14. -Addado Alibai (Killed by shooting recently by Adolay´s agents)
8.
Kidane says:
Spear
75 well said, your statements are clear, hit the target of these saleouts guys, the political
bankrupted groups, which always dream to see the suffer of eritrean people. again do your
best to write such statetments to let them get an idea how eritrea is moving very fast towards
development which is witnessed by the UN representative during the past few weeks.
9.
mereb says:
Bravo Goitom,
Here is an incompetent leadership of the Opposition, practicing undemocratic poletical game
for which this body of the opposition is claming to fight for a democratic Eritrea. The decesion
to suspend Mr. Kornelious Osman from the EDA/ENC membership is Unacceptable to the
principle of Democracy. first of all one should’t punish the whole DMLEK organization for one
person’s mistake/misjudgment. He Should be critiszised for what he said/did and the matter
should be left for the organization, in this matter to DMLEK to decide whether Mr K.O should
represent them or not. It is immature and undemocratic to suspend Kornelious Osman
becuase he doesn’t think Awate is his hero. I hope the EDA/ENC leadership come to their
senses and apologise to DMLEK and reinstate the orgaization.
10.
Yonus says:
Bravo goitom
I really appreciate you. It is a nice constructed article. Tolerance, respecting one another,
sharing ideas should be the lasting solution to our problem. Thanks again
Hamid Idris Awate: A Hero or Holy Man
October 8, 2012October 8, 2012 assenna
Fessahaye Mebrahtu
Since the beginning of September 2012, there has been an intense debate on Qernelous
Esman’s characterization of Hamid Idris Awate on the occasion of the 51st anniversary
commemoration of Eritrea’s armed struggle. Awate credited as the father of Eritrea’s armed
struggle; any Eritrean challenging his contribution is like pocking a hornet nest with your
fingers. The comments of Qernelios seem to have to done exactly that. The official and private
condemnations of his comments need some reflective assessment. My assessment will be
76 based on two aspects; first, on Hamid Idris Awate and the armed struggle he initiated for the
liberation of Eritrea; second, on the experience and perspective of the Kunama ethnic group.
Allow me to preface my assessment with a reflection on the Eritrea’s quest for liberation. The
creation of nation state is a 20th century phenomena in Africa, to which we cannot compare
except the concept of the European style nation state. Therefore, the identity base on nation
state, inclusive of multiple ethnic and language groups is unprecedented sense of identity the
Africans had to embrace based on European colonial boundaries. Awate’s armed struggle was
basically to uphold the identity crafted by colonial masters violated by Emperor Haile-Selassie
and his Western allies for geopolitical reasons.
The Eritrean armed struggle should be evaluated against its time and circumstances;
therefore, we cannot give it a “carte blanch” as the end justifies the means. It is in this light
that I would like to assess the armed struggle initiated Hamid Idris Awate. The armed struggle
did not start with a strategic plan, mapping clearly how to execute the plan for Eritrea’s
liberation. Rather, it was an abrupt reaction to the flagrant violation of Eritrea’s semisovereignty by Emperor Haile-Selassie of Ethiopia. The reaction was further intensified by the
examples of other African states that were getting their independence left and right while
Eritrea’s fate was heading opposite direction. In such reality, Eritrea’s armed struggle was
bound to make mistakes, inherent to any struggle that chose violence as its means.
The recent reactions seem to sanitize such messy realities and treat Awate as do no wrong
liberation fighter. I am not going to question Awate’s heroism and his vision of liberated Eritrea
but I am not going to relegate him to the realms of Ghandi and Martin Luther King, Jr.,
leaders of nonviolent struggle. He was the shepherd David, who had the audacity to fight the
“Goliath.” However, Awate was not a holy man nor was a believer in nonviolence struggle. With
hoisted gun in your waist, sooner or later some innocent person or group is to be hurt by you
or your followers will have their own interpretation and cause some abuses in your name.
Eritrean movements are not immune from such mistakes and abuses. Many of us have
witnessed or have been victimized by such abuses.
Qernelios’ grievances emanate from such abuses, especially when there were unsettled intraethnic squabbles, small mistakes can resurrect issues dormant for generations. The very fact
that there is a liberation movement of the Kunama ethnic group that has sizeable followers
attests to such overlooked issues that should be handled with level headed dialogue. However,
my problem with Qernelios is not that why he brought such an ugly problem of the past of
finger pointing, accusation and counter accusation. By the very fact of his office, as the leader
of Kunama Democratic Movement, his comments should have been diplomatic. If there are
unsettled issues as the legacy of that era, Qernelios has the responsibility to bring them to the
forefront for candid dialogue.
In Qernelios defense, (I am sure that I will receive the vented anger he received) he should have
the freedom to express his opinion. The only constraint he might have is because he is a leader
of a movement. Let me bring an analogy in the American experience – African Americans
cannot spare their criticism of the founding fathers, who were not only slave holders
themselves but made sure that enslaved Africans remain a such in spite of their idealistic
vision and declaration “that all men are created equal, endowed by their creator…” Even many
African Americans look at Abraham Lincoln, who emancipated them did not appreciate his
conciliatory approach to slave holding states until he realized that he could win the civil war
77 by enticing the enslaved Africans to his side. The prize was emancipation, a mule and 10 acres
of land, which the latter two never materialized. African American activists still challenge the
federal government for not keeping its promises, requesting for restitution 150 years later.
Their requests might never be realized but the US government or public does not consider
them as unpatriotic. For that matter nobody ostracizes them for expressing their grievances. It
is constitutional right. The same goes for many Native Americans, who consider 4th of July as
a chapter in their subjugation and genocide. No one challenges their plight or minimizes their
grievances. Can we at least give the benefit of the doubt to Qernelios grievances instead of
vilifying him or the ethnic group he is from or the movement he is leading?
In conclusion, I am against those who are calling to oust him from his leadership. It is the
Kunama movement that has to make a decision whether Qernelios continues to represent
them as their leader or not. As much as I admire Hamid Idris Awate, as an Eritrean hero, he
was not a “holy man;” therefore, there is misplaced outrage by many Eritreans, spearheaded
by Awate.com, trying to squelch Qernelios Esman’s freedom of expression. If there are
outstanding grievances that can affect the peaceful co-existence of Eritrean diverse ethnic and
religious groups; they should be dealt now. How we handle such sensitive issues is a litmus
test for post PDFJ Eritrea. In my personal opinion, we have failed the test miserably in
handling this particular case. The editorials, news releases and communiques that flooded
various Eritrean websites can be characterized by an old academic expression “a caravan of
camels that marched in file led by a donkey.” Our opinions lacked divergence of opinion other
than name calling and denigrating each other. Yet, I am optimistic that this is learning
process, eventually we will know how to tolerate each other’s view, even when it is not
flattering to our views.
Peace.
(II) The Circular Journey in Search of Eritrea: A “World Distance” that Never Was
Tuesday, 23 October 2012 12:02 Yosief Ghebrehiwet
(II) The Circular Journey in Search of Eritrea: A “World Distance” that Never Was
What makes the revolutionary journey that Eritreans have embarked on in the past 50 years a
March of Folly is that, after all the prohibitive human cost it required to reach the destination,
it turned out to be a circular one that ends exactly at the very point where it all started – and
that is, under best scenario. If not, the desperate attempt not go back to the starting point, by
prolonging the ghedli detour indefinitely, will be the end of Eritrea as a nation. Already that
quixotic fight against gravity has been the main cause for all the major disasters that has
befallen Eritrea in the last five decades. And the latest attempt by Shaebia to do just that (as
in the ghedli detour enforced in the National Service) is unraveling the nation at a dizzying
pace, as it is being hollowed out demographically, militarily, educationally, economically and
socially.
In Part I of this article,1 [(I) The Circular Journey in Search of Eritrea: Journey Identity], in the
process of describing the nature of the ghedli journey as escape route, I only glossed over the
nature of the circularity of that very route – which will be the subject matter of this part (Part
II) of the article.
When an escape route eventually takes one back to the very place that he/she has escaped
from, the futility of that journey is symbolized in its circularity; and the longer the circular
78 route happens to be, the greater the loss. And when there has been nothing to escape from in
the first place, the return to the starting point ought nevertheless to be celebrated; that is,
even as the entire circular journey has to be written off as a total loss. But if, unwilling to write
off the ghedli journey, one keeps marching on the escape route, away from the starting point,
the forward-looking road that one encounters in front is but an illusion; it simply being a
segmented linear stretch of a bigger circular route. Thus, the longer the circular journey, the
more one is convinced of its forward-looking nature – such is the power of the ghedli illusion
that has held most Eritreans captive up to this date. Pushed to its limit, the over-stretched
journey may reach a breaking point somewhere in the circle, where things would simply fall
apart – as it is currently taking place in Eritrea. If so, understanding the circular nature of the
ghedli journey is essential to understanding the Eritrean predicament at many levels.
There are two ways the circularity of the ghedli journey can be described:


Carried over problems: One way of looking at the futility of the ghedli journey is by
asking whether all the problems the ghedli generation associated with the “occupying
enemy” were actually their own too, given that both societies happened to have the
same underlying structure. What would make this circular is when, at the end of the
journey (independence), they end up owning all those problems they encountered at the
starting point.
Robust similarities: At a deeper level, the circularity would hold if the “new world” –
the way of living as practiced in the Eritrean people’s daily lives – that independence
ushered would look similar to the Habesha world the ghedli generation desperately
wanted to distance from in all robust ways imaginable; that is, if the similarity holds
even in the tseghatat (social capital as found in one’s language, culture, history,
religion, society, family, etc.) they wanted to preserve as a nation as its distinguishing
marks.
If at the end of the ghedli journey Eritrea would resemble strikingly similar to the Habesha
world it desperately wanted to escape from, then the questions that needed to be asked are:
What for was all the sacrifice paid if one is to end up with the same world one had
prior to the struggle, albeit a piece of that world? And if it is this ever-stretched
ghedli journey that is causing havoc to the nation, what is to be done to stop it once
and for all? We need to look at the two circularities mentioned above extensively to grasp the
gravity of these two questions; for the first question deals with that critical meeting place of the
circle (where the starting and ending points meet), and the second question deals with a
potential rapture of that circle, denying the convergence. But before I do that let me say a few
words on one concept – the term “Habesha” – that I am using in this article since some
readers, deliberately or not, have come with distorted versions of it.
I am using the term “Habesha” as a rough category for the various peoples that live in Eritrea
and Ethiopia. It is meant to exclude neither the Tigre of Eritrea nor the Agew of Ethiopia,
neither the Muslim nor the Christian. As such, like the categories of “Arab” and “Latin”, it is a
property ascribed to a larger community that is not confined to a single nation. I know that, in
its traditional sense, it is sometimes restrictively applied to certain populations within these
two nations, and whenever I have such a distinction in mind I will use “habesha” with the
lower “h” to distinguish it from the more encompassing “Habesha”. If we accept this
categorization, in the Eritrean case, if one was a Habesha under Ethiopian rule, one still
remains a Habesha under Eritrean rule – that has been my starting premise.
Given the above, when I am saying people should go back to the starting point, I am simply
advising Eritreans to reject the alien identities imposed on them by ghedli, and to be
themselves instead. If a Metahit elite is pining for Arabic identity and a Kebessa elite for ghedli
identity, then these alien identities will be the end of Eritrea as we know it; for both are
79 defensive identities created with permanent enemies primarily in their creators’ minds. If
they were meant to serve as bulwarks against Ethiopians, once the “occupying enemy” is gone,
they could easily be turned against one another –they are that multivariable! These alien
aspirations have been the main reason for the unnecessary detour taken by the ghedli
generation for the last five decades, with all its dire consequences; and, if not realized for what
they are, people will keep on living in the ghedli quagmire until the final demise arrives. So
when I am referring to the starting point, I am not advising people to go back to Ethiopia, but
to claim back their culture (call it “indigenous” culture if you don’t like the term “Habesha”)
that was stolen from them through a wanton revolution, devoid of any content. Neither
Eritreans nor Ethiopians want to revisit the past – case closed – but that doesn’t mean they
cannot coexist based on that rich common culture. So the worry is not that Eritrea will be
swallowed up by a bigger entity, but that it will simply disintegrate into irretrievable pieces
that the ghedli journey logically demands.
Having hopefully cleared this misunderstanding, if it was one to begin with, let me now go
back to explaining the circular nature of the ghedli journey – both in regard to attainable and
inherent attributes that the starting and ending points carry.
Carried over problems
Think of parents moving to a distant city for the sake of their son, whose allergy problem has
gone out of hand, believing that a different residence might do the trick. But if the place they
have moved to happens to have similar environmental condition to the one they have just left
behind, then they are in for bad lack. The problem is that they have confused a change in
city for a change in environment – of course, all said in regard to their son’s allergy. They
fail to realize that they have been carrying over the problems they have had in their old
residence to their new residence simply because they have been unable to make such an
important distinction. And if the parents have sacrificed a lot – selling their house, leaving life
time friends and family members behind, making difficult career changes, etc – to move to the
new city, then the choice would be catastrophic. The case of Eritrea is similar one. If so, one
way of looking at the circularity of the ghedli journey is by looking at the similarity of the
problems at the starting and ending points.
Given the enormity of the revolutionary task, with all the prohibitive sacrifice that was to be
paid, the right thing for the ghedli generation to ask would have been: If we succeed to
separate and have our own nation, would the problems that we associate with
Ethiopia be carried over to our new Eritrea? And if carried over, would they get better
or worse? I don’t think that the urban elite have ever entertained such troubling questions,
given that such awareness could have potentially aborted the revolutionary journey itself. In
their naivety, all that they dreamed of was acquiring their new map; after that, everything that
was associated with Ethiopia was supposed to miraculously disappear from the Eritrean
scene. If so, let’s ask the question now: what was the problem Eritreans had with Ethiopia, so
much so that they ended up clamoring for separation? We are trying to find out the “allergy”
they had while remaining part of Ethiopia.
Let us start with the usual complaints: “It dissolved federation”; “It aborted our democratic
system”; “It kept us backward”; etc. Or, to put it in the words of Saleh Younis, who approvingly
refers to the Eritrean Cause as propagated by the “founding fathers”: “… The other half
(Ibrhaim Sultan/Adulkadir Kebire at the UN and Woldeab Woldemariam in his writings)
argued that Ethiopia was more feudal, more primitive, less industrialized, less
developed, and less democratic than Eritrea and it would slow down Eritrea’s progress.”2
(emphasis mine) These “modernizing” aspects that the Independence Bloc made its rallying
points are properties that could either dissipate into thin air with time and stupidity, as has
been the case with Eritrea now (if they were ever there in the first place), or could be
80 progressively gained through time and hard work (currently, Ethiopia beats us in every
category). Only a generation that had a very poor understanding of what modernity was all
about would go to such a length to preserve remnants of modernity from its colonial legacy
that was crust-thin to begin with. The irony of it is that it is this very generation that, through
years of wanton armed struggle, destroyed that colonial legacy which it thought was part and
parcel of its “modern identity”. Thus, it is this “surface modernity” of the ghedli generation
that lies behind much of the undoing of Eritrea.
Well, it seems that now neither democratic nor developmental progress is to be found in
independent Eritrea. If so, these “problems of progress” the ghedli generation associated with
Ethiopia were problems that could be easily carried over to the new Eritrea. And the fact that
Ethiopia seems to be doing a better job on both counts, we can see that these problems were
also inherently surmountable. Given whatever colonial advantage we have had then, it
doesn’t seem that we were more disposed to democracy or progress than Ethiopians, even
though the ghedli generation used to exploit the “feudal card” to argue to the opposite effect.
As in the above mentioned example, where a change in city was taken for a change in
environment, the ghedli generation also thought that a change in nation would solve all their
problems; given their delusions of colonial grandeur, that the essentials of the underlying
environment would remain the same, or even get worse, was totally lost on them.
Only a revolution devoid of intellectual input, and with no vision whatsoever, would fail to ask
the hard questions that such a costly separation would demand. Anyone who would dare ask
any of these questions was taken as doubting the Cause – as doubting the very viability of
Eritrea as a nation – and hence his action taken akin to treasonous heresy never to be
trespassed. Among the many questions that the ghedli generation failed to ask regarding easily
transferable problems that could even get worse after separation are:
(a) On the logic of independence
Given the striking structural similarities between the two societies, would the logic of
our revolution – that is, the colonial question – come to haunt us after independence?
For instance, would any one ethnic group use the same argument for purposes of
seceding from the nation?
If the logic of independence was based on various deprivations attributed to the enemy – that
of democracy, progress, prosperity, identity, peace, etc – what prevents an ethnic group in
Eritrea from basing its quest for separation on similar deprivations under Shaebia’s rule,
everything else being more or less equal? I know that Eritrean nationalists love to remind us
that Shaebia is an equal opportunity oppressor. But so were Haile Selassie’s and Menghistu
Hailemariam’s rules. Whoever said that Gojjam or Tigray fared better than Eritrea under their
rule? To put it this way is to erase the colonial distance invoked by Eritreans to justify their
revolution to an inconsequential point. One need only turn the table on Eritrea to see what
exactly went wrong in the colonial argument. The case of Afar, where the insistence of “selfdetermination up to secession” is the loudest, would be a good example of this faulty logic
carried to its unsettling conclusion. For Afars of Danakil, Eritrea and Ethiopia (with their
habesha component) stand equidistant to their world, and hence the decision they want to
reach would be made through pragmatic reasons only; the border in between would have little
significance for them in reaching that decision. The ghedli generation, enamored as they were
with their newly acquired map, never imagined that their logic of independence could be
appropriated by an ethnic group from within to violate the sanctity of that very map they died
for in their tens of thousands. The logic is rather simple to understand: if the Afar case is that
of colonial dominance (vis-à-vis Eritrea), so was Eritrea’s (vis-à-vis Ethiopia); and if not (and I
happen to concur with this), logic demands of us that we be consistent enough to admit that
Eritrea’s case too was not a colonial question. In the ghedli generation’s eyes though, logic
81 retains its consistency so far as it respects colonial drawn lines only. – as in everything else in
the Eritrean cause, the map subverts the reality on the ground!
(b) On ethnic problems
Would the ethnic problem we have within Ethiopia be carried over to independent
Eritrea, given that it too has nine ethnic groups squeezed into that small space?
Absent a common enemy, would it even get worse?
All that we have to look at is the number of opposition movements – Afar, Saho, Kunama,
Jeberti, Islamic, regional, wudib, etc – to see how this hydra’s head of a problem has come
back to haunt Eritrea with vengeance. There is not a single viable opposition movement whose
base is not ethnic, religious, regional or wudib (Jebha- and Shaebia-based opposition camps,
with their various splinter groups). The common but nebulous objective they had while
fighting the enemy, secondary as it was to their main identity goals (alien ones for that), is now
gone for good. What has remained resilient is identity, pure and simple. Even when it takes
the form of wudib, the followers have no ideology that distinguishes them from one another;
rather, it is their Jebha and Shaebia filial loyalties (doubled or tripled with other loyalties –
religious, ethnic, regional, etc) that determine their following. That is to say, as in the thought
experiment and religious example I provided in Part I, the most determinant factor why one is
a follower of one movement than another is not ideology, but his/her belonging – where
he/she hails from. In the end, the revolutionary journey has gotten this atavistic! Given these
deep-seated sub-national loyalties, one wonders where this “Eritrea” that all rhetorically pay
allegiance to is to be found in post-independence era. Thus, the sad story of Eritrea is that
Eritreans either adopt alien identities (when they seek “hadinetna”, be it of half or whole
nation) or fall back to sub-national identities whenever an external or internal threat is felt;
what is invariably bypassed is Eritrean identity – ah, the irony of misguided nationalism!
The claustrophobia that independence brought into tiny Eritrea, and the defensive identities it
brought along to the surface, was something that the ghedli generation never paid any
attention to when they launched their much-vaunted revolution. Thus, the idea that in
absence of Ethiopian rule, all the ethnicities would live in harmony was unwarranted. That is,
whatever ethnic problems Eritreans had with the larger Habesha world, and the kind of
misrule that went with it, has been easily carried over to a piece of that very world; and for
that, at intensified level.
(b) On preserving one’s identity
Will the different groups in Eritrea be able to maintain their respective identities in
independent Eritrea?
If one of the main grievances of the ghedli generation was that Ethiopia had been threatening
their identity, one would expect the preservation of local identities would be their primary
mission. But the fact that ghedli identity and Arab identity are still commanding a great
allegiance among the Tigrigna and Muslim elite respectively means that whatever mission
these alien identities were meant to accomplish in the fight against Ethiopia are not given up
after independence. The “enemy” that motivated the emergence of these alien identities is now
to be found inside Eritrea. Given the defensive nature of these alien identities, they can be
easily wielded against the “inside enemy” as they have been against the “outside enemy”. Since
these alien identities are worn as armor that would protect them from the other's world, they
don’t want to give them up as that world is still to be found within Eritrea. Neither the Muslim
elite, who feel that it is only under Islam and Arabism that various Muslim population groups
could be united as separate and distinct group, nor the Kebessa elite, who think that it is only
under a brand-new ghedli identity that the nation could be held together, are willing to give
them up and replace them with Eritrean identity. The former want to adopt an alien identity
82 (Arab identity) for its unifying value against the other, and in the process are willing to give up
their various local identities. The latter too wants to adopt an alien identity (ghedli identity) for
its unifying value, only this time all other local identities are to give way for this mieda
manufactured identity. Notice that in both instances the aspiration is not simply for “unity”,
but for “unity against”; that is, such unities are sought with internal enemies in mind. And the
result has been predictably catastrophic. A good example of this would be how the ghedli
identity that emerged in mieda in 30 years of fighting is now being used to victimize ghebar, in
general, and the young generation in particular.
(d) On religious grievances
Would the religious grievance that the Muslim elite had with Ethiopia be carried over
to independent Eritrea? And given the dual nature of the society, would it even get
worse?
The main reason why the Muslim elite wanted separation was because they felt as Muslims
they would fare badly under “Christian dominated Ethiopia”. That was a legitimate grievance;
the problem was in the proposed solution. How did they arrive to the idea that the religious
problem had a better chance of being resolved within Eritrea than within Ethiopia? With
separation, that grievance still remains, and the divide between the two societies seems to
have grown larger. What, indeed, happened? With independence, that Eritrea is moving
towards a dual society, squaring off with one another, is being witnessed from the way the
Great Divide between Muslim and Christian Eritrea is emerging, as displayed in the
recalcitrant “lowlander-highlander” politics of the opposition that goes all the way back to the
40s. This religious divide is buttressed by the fact that ethnic (Tigrigna vs the rest), geographic
(highland vs lowland), linguistic (Tigrigna vs the rest/Arabic), cultural (sedentary peasantry vs
pastoral) and historical (habesha vs the rest) divides neatly fall along it to render it a
formidable six-decked divide. Given this, the idea that it would be easier to solve the religious
problem within Eritrea than within Ethiopia was unwarranted. Defensive identities do not
aspire for resolution, but for domination. Such drives for domination are less likely to take
place in larger societies because of the various alliance possibilities that the larger space
provides; that is, within a plural society, defensive identities lose their appeal for lack of a
singular enemy. That the religious problem associated with Ethiopia would remain with Eritrea
because of similar demographics, or that it could even get worse because of the conflicting
alien identities the two societies were seeking, was entirely lost on the ghedli generation.
(e) On language grievance
Would the grievance of language dominance come to an end with independent Eritrea?
Undeniably, the Amharization program has been one of the main grievances in Eritrea, as it
has been in many parts of Ethiopia. The question is: how do you resolve it? Would it have been
resolved short of independence, as the rest of Ethiopia has done? And what is more: has the
new Eritrea resolved it? To the contrary, the language issue in Eritrea has never been this
loud. The fact that “Arabic” and “Tigrigna” have been perceived as a threat to each others’
identities tells us the language problem has less chance of being resolved in a dual society
rather than in a plural society, simply because in a larger society the burden of identity
comes in its diffused form. This too was lost on the ghedli generation, which was incapable
of imagining possible scenarios. When languages are needed for “defensive” purposes, even
one’s mother tongue is to be looked at through that lens; if one feels his/her language is not
powerful enough to accomplish its designed defensive task, then he/she will be willing to give
it up for a more robust alien language. Even among foreign languages, the one quality sought
is not progress but defense. For instance, even though English as a national language, as it is
83 the case in many African nations, would have a tremendous value in regional regroupings
(with East Africa and the Horn in mind) and in catapulting the nation into the post-modern
world of the 21st century, it has never been entertained as choice simply because it lacks the
defensive quality sought within Eritrea. That tells us that the language squabble in Eritrea had
nothing to do with progress, but with defensive identity.
(f) On security and peace
Given the internal divisions and the geopolitical position of the nation, would we ever
be able to defend ourselves? Would the conflicting loyalties of various population
groups within Eritrea be a cause for perpetual insecurity? Would we ever feel secure,
wedged as we are in between the giants of the neighborhood? Would independent
Eritrea ever be able to protect its weak?
If “security” or “peace” of the Eritrean people was one of the main goals of the revolution, one
of the great disappointments is that the insecurity the ghedli generation used to associate with
Ethiopia still persists with Shaebia’s occupation, and at a much worse level. Eritrea happens
to be a land entirely patched up of peripheries: Kebessa is the periphery of the Tigrigna
domain (or habesha domain); Danakil is at the periphery of the Afar domain; Metahit is the
periphery of East Sudan Beja domain. This peripheral nature of the nation has been a reason
for various cross-border loyalties witnessed in its short history. This is exacerbated by the fact
that the geopolitical fault line between the Arab and African (or Habesha) world passes right
along its borders. Now if we add the Great Divide mentioned above which wants to drag that
regional fault line inside Eritrea, we can easily see how deep this national anxiety could turn
out to be. The ghedli generation, obsessed as they were with internal variables only, never took
outside variables into consideration; but it is when internal variables fall on the same
tectonic plates with external variables that they cause deep rifts hard to bridge. Typical
of their shortsightedness, the ghedli generation never imagined that with independence cross
border loyalties would increase (as the Afar case clearly shows) and the Great Divide would
solidify by drawing the regional geopolitical divide within Eritrea. As for ghedli identity, which
was meant to be a remedy for all these divided loyalties, has not only been the primary reason
for all the confrontations with the neighborhood, but also for all the pain inflicted on the
Eritrean masses. Eritrea is literally falling apart in the process of “protecting itself”. The
internal and external insecurity of Eritreans had never been this bad; all that we need is look
at the horrors that the young are facing in Era-Ero and Sinai to see how independent Eritrea
has failed dismally in protecting its most vulnerable citizens from inside and outside vultures.
Thus, that the Eritrean people will feel more secure within tiny Eritrea than larger Ethiopia
had no foundation whatsoever.
(g) On economic progress
Would the economic problem we associate with Ethiopia be overcome in independent
Eritrea? Or would it even get worse?
There is often this naïve idea that had it not been for Isaias, Eritrea would have prospered. But
Isaias went to war with Ethiopia precisely because he saw no such prospect without the
cooperation of Ethiopia; it is only that he wanted to enforce that “cooperation” with guns. As
the EPRDF became more entrenched in its power in Ethiopia, it began to slowly but surely
withdraw its “economic cooperation”. Isaias knew where this trajectory was heading to and
meant to quickly abort it through armed pressure. Given that for market, resources and even
employment (given the large number of Eritreans that resided in Ethiopia then) Eritrea was
disproportionately dependent on Ethiopia, he realized that the Eritrean economy would
collapse in absence of that support. And more importantly, he also realized that if Ethiopia as
84 a market was to be rendered off limits to Eritrea, future economic development in the nation
would be drastically curtailed. It is those hundreds of thousands of youth who would have
found no employment in independent Eritrea that are now to be found either in National
Service or in refugee camps and beyond, thereby effectively solving the unemployment
problem Shaebia-style. Ironically, Isaias has kept the “Eritrean dream” alive by postponing
the reality the Eritreans would have faced soon after independence. Having attributed all the
ills of the nation to Isaias, the nationalists don’t want to face the fact that the economy
problem, given its inherent weaknesses, is going to stay with us after Isaias is gone. That the
economic prospect of Eritrea was very much interlinked with that of Ethiopia was lost on the
ghedli generation that confused political independence for economic independence.
(h) On democratic grievances
Would it be easier for democracy to take roots in Eritrean rather than Ethiopian soil?
Since one of the major grievances registered by the ghedli generation was that Ethiopia had
dismantled their democratic system, one would expect it would have been a question they
would have entertained the most. But, besides having shown not a trace of democracy in their
movements, the new Eritrea has turned out to be a nightmare for human rights. But what
bodes ill for future Eritrea is its dual nature, and the claustrophobic world it has created,
hardly allows tolerance towards one another. Democracy doesn’t thrive in a dual society with
defensive identities, because the primary concern in such societies is their collective
identities and not individual rights. Besides the fact that democracy could be had short of
independence, the idea that democracy had a better chance to thrive in Eritrea than in
Ethiopia had no evidence whatsoever to support it. Entirely confined to their urban enclaves,
the Eritrean elite failed to notice that the “backward, feudal system” they attributed to
Ethiopia was also typical of Eritrea. In Kebessa, except for few urban enclaves the Italians
built, the rural area remained the same habesha world of the old. As for Metahit, with its
entrenched Shimaghile/Tigre caste system only abolished by the British latecomers, it was
even more feudal than Kebessa. Typical of this generation, whatever was grafted on them from
outside (be it the appearance of modernity inherited from colonial Italy or the constitution
provided by the UN) was taken as something inherent in them. Eritrea’s “democratic heritage”
boils down to that brief federal experience, and Eritreans had nothing to show for it
throughout its duration. During its brief stay on Eritrean soil, democracy was propped up
more by the supervision of the British Military Administration and the vigilance of the
Supreme Court that was led by a British judge than by anything that Eritreans did on their
own.3 Left on their own, as independent nation, they would have regressed into the dictatorial
form typical of other African nations; the present case in Eritrea is but the belated realization
of that fact.
(i)
On federal grievances
Would it be easier to introduce federalism in Eritrea than in Ethiopia?
Since another one of the major grievances registered by the ghedli generation was that
Ethiopia had violated the federal arrangement, one would also expect this would have been the
question they would seriously look at in regard to Eritrea itself. As it turned out though,
federalism happens to be a double edged sword. For many Eritreans, that the federal question
they made a rallying point to separate from Ethiopia would come to haunt them after
independence from inside Eritrea is totally unexpected. And as for those ethnic groups now
clamoring for federalism, they don’t realize that there are certain things that only large nations
can afford. Given the shortsightedness of the Eritrean movements, that the logic of their quest
for independence as applied to federalism could easily be appropriated by sectors of the society
within the nation was totally lost on them. For instance, one can imagine that the Ras Ghez
85 (self-administration) for Metahit and Danakil entertained under the Derg, and getting traction
among their elite, would have been carried out to its logical conclusion under federal Ethiopia.
It is almost impossible to entertain this kind of neat division within independent Eritrea,
without raising the specter of dominance or separatism; for it is in smaller nations that
opposing regional forces tend to disproportionately influence inside variables. This
collective amnesia on the federal question is not without rationale, for to begin with neither of
the two major camps – the Unionists and Muslim League followers – saw federalism in its
progressive, democratic aspect. While the Unionists saw federalism as an obstacle that
prevented them from coming closer to Ethiopia,4 the Muslim League followers saw it as a
means of keeping Ethiopia at a safe distance. That is both of them saw it only in terms of
distance from Ethiopia; and if that distance could be bridged (as the Unionists wanted) or
could be maintained (as the Muslim League wanted) short of democracy, none of them would
care.
So far, we have been examining a number of carried over problems so as to look at the striking
similarities between the starting and ending points of the ghedli journey, thereby exploring the
circularity phenomenon under one particular perspective. In the process, we have found out
that not only are all the major problems that the ghedli generation associated with Ethiopia
happen to be Eritrea’s too, as the aftermath of independence has clearly shown, but also that
there was more probability of resolving most of these problems within larger Ethiopia than
within tiny Eritrea. And what bodes ill for future Eritrea is that, in absence of any willingness
to give up defensive identities, many of these problems will stay with us and possibly lead to
the disintegration of the nation.
Back to the starting point
Above, degradable or upgradable qualities like democracy, peace, economy and development
have been mentioned to show similarities that hold between the two societies. But these are
qualities that can be appropriated by any society; and, hence, neither separation nor unity
could be justified based on them only. They matter so far as their prospects depend on deeper
structural similarities. And it is when we see these similarities at this deeper level – identified
through robust characteristics like culture, language, history, religion, family, race, way of life,
etc – that we notice how circular the revolutionary journey has been. Already, we have seen
how some of these deeper problems have been carried over to the new Eritrea – religious,
ethnic and language problems, for instance. But deeper similarities are also required on their
own merit, not only as markers of one’s identity but also as determinants of the way of life that
the masses lead. That is, we want to see the similarities in positive rather than in negative
terms only. In that regard, the more important question that ought to have been asked by the
ghedli generation is: how distant will the new Eritrean world we want to usher through
the struggle be from the Habesha world that we desperately want to dissociate from?
This, and only this, should have been the measurement by which the generation’s political
decision ought to be made. But this was not meant to be. As a result, not only did the ghedli
generation carry over all the problems it had with Ethiopia to the new Eritrea, but it also
ended its circular journey exactly where it started from in this deeper sense.
Let me now provide an example to elucidate this similarity phenomenon at a deeper level:
Searching for “Eritrea” in the cutting
Think of a whole cake that someone holds on a tray, and asks you to taste it. You dip in your
forefinger into the cake and put it in your mouth. You wince – obviously you don’t like the
taste. Then, surprisingly, you say, “Please cut a piece for me, that might do the trick.” If the
cake doesn’t taste good while it was whole, to expect that its taste will change for the better by
86 cutting it would be attributing the taste not to its ingredients and the baking (the deeper
qualities) but to the cutting (the separation). Such was the Eritrean case. The ghedli
generation, given their misguided modernist misgivings, didn’t like the taste of the Habesha
world in its totality. So they thought that if they could get a cut of it, its taste would change for
the better. That Eritrea would remain a piece of that Habesha world they were attempting to
escape from, with all the additional problems such a “smallness” entails, was totally lost on
them. And worse, they were unable to see that the cutting logic would, in time, be easily driven
to its logical conclusion by some population groups from inside the new nation, that may not
like the taste of the whole Eritrea and predictably decide all their problems would go away only
if they could get their cut from that piece of cake, and so on – eventually leading to total
disintegration. Such an infinite regress could be stopped only with the realization that the
cutting logic was wrong in the first place; that is, only if they realize that they have embarked
on a circular journey will they save themselves from additional problems – that is, from
additional “cuttings”.
For the nationalists though this is a hard fact to swallow; their search for “Eritrea” (for “the
real taste”) from the “cutting” still goes on, with all the dire consequences that such a suicidal
search for alien identities entails. They know that only if they superimpose alien ingredients on
that piece of cake would it be made to taste different from the former whole cake, thereby
justifying the revolution by a fabricated difference that were never there in the first place. How
did this foolish circular journey actually start? Why did a whole generation embark on such a
long and difficult journey, with all the sacrifices that such a journey entailed, in search of
what they already had in their possession?
The problem with the ghedli generation was that, when they set out in search of their “Eritrea”,
they had no clue what it stood for; all the essence they attributed to their “Eritrea” derived
from a superficial modernist reading. Running away as they were from “backward, feudal
Habesha”, they thought that Eritrea would be the modernist haven that they were seeking. But
modernity that sees one’s culture as hindrance can never get off the ground, let alone
thrive. What their ghedli experience shows is that, hard as they tried, they were never able to
fully escape their Habesha roots. And even after independence, to their surprise, they found
out that Habesha (or indigenous) identity is the default position from which everything starts,
even their much vaunted modernity. With that, the realization sinks in that the whole ghedli
journey might in fact have been a circular journey that takes them back to the starting point;
that, in fact, the ghedli journey has all been about running away from themselves. Let me
invoke the concept of “world distance” to show how circular the ghedli journey has been in
terms of measurable “content”.
World distance that never was
What is most notable about the Eritrean Revolution is that, unlike many African revolutions
that struggled against colonial rule, it lacked a clear vision of what it set out to achieve. And
this is not because of lack of visionaries; there were none because the nature of the revolution
itself won’t allow any vision. When a whole generation embarks on a difficult and long journey
without realizing that it was mainly motivated by running away from itself, what kind of vision
could possibly be extracted from such a futile mission? That genocidal criminals like Awate
and Isaias led the revolution is but a natural consequence of a movement devoid of any
content, and not the other way round. Thus, to be a visionary at that time would require that
one totally rejects the revolution itself, but not many in that conformist society were willing to
take that road.
The ghedli generation always, and rather instinctively, avoided asking questions that might
reveal to them the absurd nature of their mission. The level and scope of the self-deception
was astounding. The most critical question that they totally avoided was: With ‘Eritrea’,
87 what kind of world are we trying to bring into existence? And how different will it be
from the Habesha world that we are distancing from? “World distance”, as I am using it
here, is a distance that is found between two peoples in robust ways – culture, religion,
language, race, history, family, etc – such that one people would claim their way of life is so
distant as to be totally unbridgeable, so much so as to warrant complete separation from the
other. And such a separation is meant to eventually redress the discrepancy in the quality of
life caused by that distance. And, accordingly, the sacrifice that has to be paid will have to
be proportional to that distance: the greater the world distance, the higher the price
that one is willing to pay.
A clear example of such instance would be the independence movements in Africa. If, at the
time of uprisings, a black kid in South Africa was to be asked what was the aim of the
revolution, he would have a clear vision of a post-apartheid South Africa; for he was fully
aware what apartheid meant in his everyday life. The distance between Apartheid South Africa
and Post-Apartheid Africa was as clear to him as the difference between day and night. Even
as a small kid, given the gaping distance between the worlds of the dominators and
dominated, he would realize that his people were ready to pay any price to achieve freedom.
Such transparency was gained not because the kid was a genius, but because the world
distance was so huge that even a fool would not miss it. So was it with all the other colonial
cases – Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, Guinea Bissau, etc. – however they turned out to be
after independence. How about the Eritrean case? What was the distance between the world
they wanted to escape from and the world they wanted to bring into existence? And was the
sacrifice they were willing to pay proportional to that distance?
If we look at the robust attributes that differentiate Eritreans from the rest of the Habesha
world, one would be hard pressed to find enough distance in between to warrant the kind of
sacrifice the revolution demanded. In its societal make up – be it historical, cultural, religious,
ethnic, linguistic, racial, geographic, etc – Eritrea happens to be a good sample of the rest of
the Habesha world. One need only look at Kebessa Eritrea and Tigray (or the Afars on both
sides of the border) to bring that perceived difference (that world distance) to a disappearing
point. Even for those population groups that do not consider themselves part of the habesha
world, everything has remained the same. Their ethnic and religious grievances still persist
because Eritrea happens to be a piece of that world. That is, the chances of resolving their
grievances would more or less remain the same; and that is at best. At worst, the very size of
the piece of cake makes it even more difficult to resolve those issues.
One of the marks of colonialism is that the world distance between the colonizer and the
colonized is to be seen not only in the world distance in between the two, but also in the in the
huge discrepancy in the quality life brought by that distance. For instance, the Italians were
not only different in all the robust attributes – history, culture, language, religion, bloodline,
color, geography, etc – to render their world distant to the colonized, they also meant to keep
that distance unbridgeable by denying the natives the rich quality of life reserved only for
themselves. While the Italian masters built their “bella Asmara” for their living quarters, the
natives were confined to the ghettos at the periphery (Aba-Shawul, Gheza-Berhanu, HadishAdi, etc.); while all the respectable jobs were reserved for the Italian settlers, the natives were
confined to do all the dirty jobs: ascaris, low-level clerks, menial jobs, maids, prostitutes, etc;
while the white children of the new masters could get all the education available in their new
colony, the natives were allowed only up to 4th grade of education; and so on. This was indeed
the typical picture of the colonial era as enacted throughout the colonized world. In regard to
those colonizers that practiced democracy in their motherland (Ex: England and France), the
denial to the native included that of democratic institution. A good example of that would be
Apartheid South Africa where democracy was allowed to be practiced among the whites only.
Thus, the rule of thumb of the colonial policy would be: deny the natives not only their own
riches (land, minerals, culture, etc), but also whatever riches the colonizers brought to the
88 colonized land for themselves (progress, education, democracy, etc). What is sad about the
ghedli generation is that they inverted this colonial logic on its head to justify their
revolution. How so?
The Eritrean elite were mad not because there was a large gap in quality of life between
Ethiopians and Eritreans caused by an unbridgeable world distance, as in between the
colonizer and the colonized noted above, but precisely because they could find none. What
caught them off surprise when they met the Ethiopians was that Ethiopia was for most a
backward feudal nation. Instead of seeing at the robust legacies that both cultures shared and
the vast potential for resources, market and place to work, all they saw was, in the famous
words of Saleh Younis, “that Ethiopia was more feudal, more primitive, less industrialized, less
developed, and less democratic than Eritrea and it would slow down Eritrea’s progress.” The
idea that they would be administrated by a nation less advanced than Eritrea, even though the
vantaggio they claimed to be having was crust-thin, was unbearable to the ghedli generation.
The colonial legacy of such a state of mind is obvious; it was as if they were looking for a better
master, and the closest they could come to emulating the Italian past was by anointing
themselves for that job. Offended that they were led by “backward Ethiopians”, all the Eritrean
urban elite could think of was how they would do a better job of administrating the masses.
Notice what they felt sorry for was not the masses, but themselves. That the Yikealo’s reign
took a colonial turn now is not an accident, but a logical conclusion of a generation’s dream to
be at the position where other masters had been – they had no other models.
As for the world distance itself, the ghedli generation was repelled because the Ethiopian world
was too close for comfort. Running away as they were from the habesha in them, they were
unwilling to take any more of it; and for that, in large doses. It reminded them too much of the
haghereseb, the whole past and their fathers that they did their best to disown throughout
their ghedli journey.5 [look at my article Eritrea: Fathers and Sons and the Grammar of
Independence for more on this subject matter]
Let’s now revisit the critical question: when the ghedli generation embarked on its
revolutionary journey, what was the vision they had regarding the new Eritrea – all said and
done in terms of its distance from the Habesha world? Of course, when one has the “future
Eritrea” in mind, one also has to have a view of “future Ethiopia” to compare it with, or the
comparison wouldn’t be fair. And that is exactly where they failed because they confused
attainable attributes for inherent ones, and totally ignored the inherent ones upon which the
attainable ones could only be built. That is why in fact that, when it comes to “world distance”,
it is what remains constant (not the surface modernity that disappeared so easily) that is
important: the robust identifiers. Given that modernity requires a solid culture to flourish, the
similarity of robust attributes would in fact signify equal chance of progress; thereby taking
away the only reason on which the ghedli generation based its revolution.
Conclusion
Let me now resort to the geometric parlance of circularity and linearity adopted in this article
to sum up what I have been trying to do so far. In the first part of this article, I tried to
describe the nature of the “escape route” of the ghedli journey. As an escape route, all that it
matters is that it takes the ghedli generation away from the starting point. To serve as an
escape route, it doesn’t have to take any particular shape or form, so far as it doesn’t lead
them back to the starting point. Nor does it have to be an only route; one can imagine various
escape routes serving the same purpose – again, so far as none of them leads back to the
starting point. But that is exactly what all of these routes do; and, hence, the utter futility of it
all.
89 In the second part, I have tried to describe the nature of the circularity of the escape route.
Whatever the alien identity seekers do, the gravity on the ground keeps pulling them back to
the starting point. That is why, both in its weaknesses and its strengths Eritrea remains the
same Habesha world it desperately wanted to escape from. Despite Shaebia’s effort to impose
ghedli identity on the nation, the masses are clinging to the normal world of theirs and their
forefathers’ making. That doesn’t mean though that Shaebia hasn’t made some headway; in its
relentless assault against their history, culture, religion, education, economy, family, ‘adi, etc –
that is, against their entire way of living – its attempt to break the circle and replace it with a
linear form so as to stretch the ghedli journey indefinitely has borne some fruits. But these are
bitter fruits; even though they happen to stretch Shaebia’s political life, they are coming at a
huge cost to the masses and, as a result, the nation is unraveling at a dizzying pace.
If there was no world distance to justify a revolution to begin with, the Fronts had to
invent it; and therein lies Eritrea’s predicament. The alien identities that they made their goal
were meant to create that distance. In Part III, we will see how that distance was invented and
its consequences. This primordial battle against gravity is now being fought everywhere in
Eritrea. The choice is simple and stark: The people will be saved if the journey takes them
back to the starting point; and the sooner, the better, long before a point of no return is
reached. Shaebia, as an entity, can only exist if the ghedli journey is stretched indefinitely in
its linear form; giving in to the circular nature of this journey would be tantamount to its
death. That is why we are now witnessing Shaebia locked in a deathbed struggle against the
people; it instinctively knows that is either them or it. There is no doubt that Shaebia’s death
is imminent. The question is: will it take the nation down the drain with it? If the attempt to
stretch the ghedli journey even for a few more years succeeds, then it will be the end of Eritrea
as we know it – hence, the need for sense of urgency now!
In the end, let me say a few words regarding those who, predictably, will keep howling,
“andnet!” First, even if I wanted to, given the reality on the ground, it would be a quixotic
venture to attempt that; and I don’t think I am that stupid to attempt it. Second, Eritreans
should stop flattering themselves that the Ethiopians still want them. Except for some from
the old generation who still have a vision of the old map intact and are more than anything
fighting for their memories, the rest of Ethiopia has gotten over Eritrea. True, there are some
Ethiopian elite that are still eying Assab, but that is about all; they don’t want to deal with the
rest of Eritrea. So, whether we like it or not, the mess called Eritrea is our own, and it will be
entirely up to us to deal with that mess.
Put in terms of the geometric parlance, there is even a more substantive reason why I wouldn’t
venture the “andnet” road. To go back to Ethiopia would require another circular journey: if
the journey from the starting point to the ending point has been considered futile, so would be
the converse – that is, given the prohibitive price it would take to again venture through that
circular journey. Given the similarity of the two worlds, whatever we do from now on should be
done through pragmatic means only. Eritrea has gone through horrendous 50 years journey,
paying an unnecessary sacrifice along the way, to reach a strikingly similar world it wanted
desperately to escape from. Now, there is no need to pay a bloody price to reverse all this to
reach to a similar end. But there have been additional problems that come with the
“smallness” of our piece of cake, and those have to be pragmatically addressed. For instance,
defusing the tension within Eritrea and addressing its security and economic problems won’t
be possible by manipulating internal variables only. The region, in general, and Ethiopia, in
particular, will have to play a great role in “stabilizing” Eritrea based on mutual interest that
our “world proximity” demands – but this is a subject matter for another time.
Footnotes
90 [1] Ghebrehiwet, Yosief; (I) The Circular Journey in Search of Eritrea: Journey Identity; Sep 29,
2012. [(I) The Circular Journey in Search of Eritrea: Journey Identity]
[2] Younis, Saleh; De-Romanticizing Ghedli: Serving A Toxic Brew To The Young And The
Disillusioned;
June
24,
2009
[3] Negash, Tekeste; Eritrea and Ethiopia: The Federal Experience; 1997; esp. pp 115-119 and
pp143-147.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ghebrehiwet, Yosief; Fathers and Sons and the Grammar of Independence, May 25, 2010.
[Eritrea: Fathers and Sons and the Grammar of Independence]
26 comments
Top of Form

Abraham G. Ghiorgis · The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy
Excellent. This is extremely refreshing. You have adequately addressed the tribal politics in
Eritrea. It reads like Fukuyama's book (The origin of political power) applied to Eritrea. It is
also
good
that
you
tackled
the
issue
of
labeling.
When people run out of fresh ideas or when they are confronted with inconvertible truths they
start labeling. The autocrats of the PFDJ regime are experts in this labeling, they futilely think
they can silence people from voicing their opinions and speaking and writing their minds that
way.
Lately the Awate Team is acting as an autocrat and has taken a page from the playbook of the
PFDJ regime and is labeling Eritreans who have different views than it as Neo Andenet and
anti Eritrea. It is doubtful that the Awate Team fully respects the principles of the freedom of
expression, the freed...See more
Reply · 5 ·
· 24 October 2012 at 15:56
o
Galbasie Ebay · Top commenter · College at Student
I can't agree more.
Reply ·
91 · 25 October 2012 at 07:51
yebiow (signed in using yahoo)
It is a must read piece but reading it as such with preconceived notions or with the mentally
still hooked to the Defensive Identities YG described eloquently will not serve any purpose. It is
only by relaxing our guards and consciously revisiting the journey that the ghedli undertook
will genuine Eritrea emerge; Eritrea not threatened by Arabic language espoused by Muslims,
revering the calendar invented by Africans in Axum, celebrating the interaction of Eritrean
Dankalis with their Afar brethren across the border, eating mulukia etc. This well explained
thesis by YG put rest to those who cry andnet-andent-andnet. The thrust of his thesis and as
well as his intention is to help many of us see the reality of things and forestall the crumbling
of the tiny nation into its smaller constituents. The disintegration of the yet to be established
state is to the determent of the common people in Eritrea and to an extent Ethiopia and the
region as a whole. What better way to show Eritrea’s predicament to the most disenfranchised
and compartmentalized people than this piece of work. Tell me? Well done YG.
Reply · 4 ·
· 23 October 2012 at 10:22

This is indeed a bitter pill of truth that every Eritrean needs to swallow. The best part of Yosief
Ghebrehiwet's articles is that he will never shy away to confront any political issue of the land
head on. YG is not only a high caliber intellectual but also a very brave man. Here, Yg dissects
and lays down Eritrea's most enduring problems, one after the other for every one to see. No
one has examined Eritrea's predicament inside out, the way YG does. Lets see if there are any
yet breathing Ghedli Romantics out there who can dare to challenge Yosief Ghebrehiwet.
Reply · 4 ·
· 23 October 2012 at 22:08
o
Yerhewo Amlak · 196 subscribers
I can't agree more .
Reply · 1 ·
· 27 October 2012 at 14:37
92 
r.dachuben (signed in using yahoo)
A Mirage in the Desert.
I brought to the attention of a relative Part II of The Circular Journey in Search of Eritrea: A
“World Distance” that Never Was” by Mr. Yosief Ghebrehiwot. Here is the reaction of the
reader:
“Amazing! Obviously, it is well written and addresses all the issues that you and I, and no
doubt many, by now, grapple with on the issue of Eritrean separation from Ethiopia. What
amazed me the most is that this article, with its bold arguments, is published publicly exactly
51 years and 53 days later, after the day known as BaHti Meskerem of 1961, which,
supposedly, heralded by a first gunshot fired to signal the beginning of ghedli for the
‘independence’ of Eritrea. What a nation! This is what one calls ‘shoot first and ask later’
(literally!)
At the end YG concluded: "So, whether we like it or not, the mess ...See more
Reply · 3 ·
· 2 November 2012 at 21:23

Eritreans have been hoping for the best, but did not prepare for the worst. Blind optimism,
that is!
There is a joke about an imaginary people called Gabrovs. The name Gabrov comes from the
town Gabrov, in Bulgaria, which now holds an annual humour festival.
Two Gabrov men meet at a railway station, where they were sheltering until the rain stops. But
the rain continued unabated.
First Gabrov: “Shall we exchange our overcoats?”.
Second Gabrov: “Sure, what a good idea.”.
The two Gabrovs then go each their own way (in the socking rain), spin around in different
parts of the town and then meet up at the railway station again, both soaking wet.
The moral of the story of the two Gabrov conmen is: do not underestimate the motives of your
rival or opponent. Eritrean Muslims, helped mainly by Egypt, started the secession movement
...See more
Reply · 3 ·
93 · 26 October 2012 at 12:30
o
I meant in the soaking rain.
Reply ·
· 26 October 2012 at 12:32
Samuel Ghebreghiorgis
Iሳያስ ኣፈ-ወርቂ Eናደጋገመ ነቲ ክሰምO ግና ክርድO ዘይከኣለ ህዝቢ ዝጠቕሳ ዝነበረት ሓሳብ Iኻ ገሊጽካያ ስምOን። "ኣብ ሳሕል
ዘማEበልናዮ ባህሊ ኣሎና።" ካብ 1970 ክሳብ 1991ዓ.ም.፡ ተጠፊUን ተጠፋፊUን፡ ኣብ ኣስመራ ጽብቕቲ ዝኣተወ ጓና ባህሊ።
Reply · 3 ·
· 26 October 2012 at 17:15

As usual, a first class analysis from YG. I hope the young will read it, understand it and act on
it.
However, I would like to postulate that the main source of most of our problems in the region
is none other than Islam. This is the elephant sitting in the room. After its trade routes were
blocked and its economic lifeline being choked, it is almost 1400 years ago that the Axumite
kingdom retreated further to the South. Many more troubles followed, including the current
ones which are the consequences of the political ideology of Islam.
Islamic Jihad sometimes goes on the lull and at other times takes offensive postures. It never
dies down. Beginning in the 1970's, due to the massive amount of spare cash flowing into Arab
coffers, Jihad has been on the up. Since then, tens of thousands of madrassas have been
opened all over...See more
Reply · 3 ·
· 24 October 2012 at 15:43
o
94 mohsaidkw (signed in using yahoo)
" I would like to postulate that the main source of most of our problems in the region is none
other than Islam. "
simon.kaleab
Don't you think the idea that Ethiopia is a "Christian island" is slowly dying, as Ethiopian
Muslims have started to stand for equal rights ?. Before lecturing others on any issue, let
people have a say in their country's affairs. Ethiopian Muslims have been suffering from
marginalization for centuries, and it's high time that they get equal rights. Starting from flag (
'knate mariam' ), which actually moved from church to State buildings, and all other State
symbols should reflect the values all Ethiopians share. Although I support the Weyane's for
reducing a jingoist State to Killil's, and some how managed to bring a bit of civility to war
mongers in Showa, they have still a long way to go before eradicating the imperialist and
sectarian sub-cultures that has dominated Ethiopian politics for the last 50 years.
Reply ·
· 2 November 2012 at 12:15
mohsaidkw said:
"Don't you think the idea that Ethiopia is a "Christian island" is slowly dying, as Ethiopian
Muslims have started to stand for equal rights?”
No, I do not think so. Ethiopia and the Eritrean highlands will remain the bulwark of JudeoChristianity.
Muslims have an Arab as a ‘prophet’, take Arabic to be holy, pray facing an Arab country and
imitate all kinds of Arab manners and culture including dress code and speech. But JudeoChristianity existed in Eritrea and Ethiopia millennia before Islam. Surely, the Muslims in
Eritrea and Ethiopia should demand for rights to settle in Saudi Arabia. Alternatively, when
Jews and Christians are allowed full religious rights in Arab lands, it is then right and proper
to reciprocate.
Reply · 1 ·
· 3 November 2012 at 17:24
mohsaidkw (signed in using yahoo)
Simon Kaleab, as usual you are good at bashing Islam and Muslims. You know, finally I came
to know who you are ... thanks to internet, as I had promised you at the time. The next time
you insult Prophet Mohammad and Islam, you will not hind behind fake identity, as you did a
few months back here in Asmarino forum. Initially I thought you were an Ethiopian, but
95 unfortunately, I came to know that you are an Eritrean, although you look like a Neo-Nazi, and
someone with excessive hate for Islam and Muslims. So, brother, don't insult your brothers
and their religion, because in the end, sooner or later you are going to meet them in Asmara. If
you want discuss any issue or misunderstanding face to face, I think some my friends in UK
can come to meet you and have a cup of tea together. I don't think that is difficult.
Reply ·
· 3 November 2012 at 21:33
elfeven (signed in using yahoo)
I never until 1998 thought the idea of ethiopia and Eritrea coming back together would leave
me shiver, but now I shiver every time some Ethiopians say "we are brothers" and so on
because obviously there has never been until 1998 any negative propaganda about the people
of Eritrea on ethiopian side and some Ethiopians seem to be stuck with that slogan as a
tradition, while on Eritrean side the first word every Eritrean parents uttered to their children
was anti Ethiopian, specially anti Amhara propaganda and the fact that Ethiopians have a
tradition to consider Eritreans as brothers has misled Eritreans to have this exaggerated sense
of self importance which as YG explained led Gedlhi generation to miscalculate the whole
situation.... I remember prior to Eritrean independence some Eritrean "friends" boasting how
once they declar...See more
Reply · 3 ·
· 23 October 2012 at 17:31

Elias Kasa · Top commenter · Scotland, Connecticut
YG must be a unique person in a sense that he is intelligent enough to swallow his pride to tell
the truth as it is, because most Eritreans even those on the opposing side are finding it hard to
comprehend Ethiopia's. Development perhaps because they see it as a threat to their identity
which they have constructed based on the notion that they are better than Ethiopians, and
Saleh Gadi is one such idiot who keeps bragging pride while at the same time begging Ethiopia
for help..remember when Shabia received 5000 unwanted sick Australian sheep and bragged
how proud Eritreans are, that is what Saleh gadi is like......In a way it is kind of
understandable why they don't want to loose the mystical identity they have sacrificed so
much for, but there is also what they call accepting the reality in order to minimize farther
damage to themselves..
Reply · 3 ·
· 24 October 2012 at 02:38
96 
Galbasie Ebay · Top commenter · College at Student
Yosief what a breath taking article you wrote. I wish we had so many writers like you. Well
done and I eagerly look forward to the third part.
Reply · 3 ·
· 25 October 2012 at 07:56
amgemera (signed in using AOL)
Y.G. as you always do, you have demonstrated how the Ghedli's journey is/was circular for no
avail. It is sad though, most Eritrean elites (Tegadelty neber and others, confused) are going to
shout on you for the fact that they are living in denial, or be it in a "defensive identity". The
Eritrean dream! a myth that have never been told.
Reply · 3 ·
· 23 October 2012 at 22:15
lbkseven (signed in using AOL)
as always, food for thought.
Reply · 3 ·
· 26 October 2012 at 08:21

Gabriel Guangul · Top commenter
This is the kind of bitter pill Eritrea needs to resuscitate itself... or even to recognize itself. No
more sleeping pills! There is nothing more left to be said really other than to work on how to
swallow that pill and prevent further damage. Thanks YG.
Reply · 3 ·
· 23 October 2012 at 20:18
M W· Top commenter (signed in using Hotmail)
There is a distinction that should be made. Ethnic divide within the Arab’s acquired domains
should not be compared to the Habesha divide. The Habesha was sliced into pieces by the
97 Arab. The Arab on the other hand forged Islam and using it multiplied himself. In other words,
the Arab was only a Bedouin confined in old Arabia. He then started to cast Islam across the
globe and used it to rob other peoples’ territories. You see, the Arab didn’t divide, but rather he
stepped into domains not his own and spread himself over large areas lording over others. The
Habesha is a victim of Arab-lording and most recently via Asmara. Remember, the Habesha
product in history is Africa’s arguably sole civilization in art, architecture, engineering,
musical notation, government, celestial matter and medicine. Its civilization was far superior
v...See more
Reply · 2 ·
· 26 October 2012 at 19:52
This
is
an
interesting
post
from
mooloogeta,
but
with
some
inaccuracies.
1) The Eritrean Revolution was not an “Islamic Revolution”. Originally, this Revolution was
intended to be an “Islamic Revolution” but that did not materialize. The Eritrean urban petty
bourgeois of Christian highland origin, who started late, outsmarted, outmanoeuvred the
Islamic component to give the Revolution an idealistic and Maoist character and bring it to
victory. But, as there are always side-effects with any medicine, this Revolution has also its
own serious side-effects.
2) There was little or no social advancement in Ethiopia during both the Emperor’s and Derg’s
time. During Haile Selassie, there was no industrialization, no land reform and very little social
mobility. Ethiopia was a playground for the feudal nobility who paid no attention to ...See
more
Reply · 1 ·
· 27 October 2012 at 04:02
No dissent. There is no accusation that I attribute exclusively to the Asmaran. I was just
referring only to the part that the Asmaran had in the expedition for self destruction. The far
reaching seed of self depreciation started much earlier than Asmara was excited and it started
in Addis. Imbued with misleading foreign precepts, almost all Ethiopians have been intoxicated
for near a century now and assailing their own country recklessly. Visit Addis Ababa and you
wlil see everybody robbing it. Include in this company the king, the aristocrats, the dergue, the
woyane, the shabya, the elite, the husband, the wife, the teacher, the student, the clergy. In
fact, it was at Hailesellassie I University in Addis that the young Christians of Asmara who
later turned into a killing machine got their first indoctrination to embrace the I...See more
Reply · 2 ·
· 28 October 2012 at 01:22
98 M W· Top commenter (signed in using Hotmail)
I meant to say... I enjoy reading you, Yosief, Gabriel, Girmay
Reply ·
· 30 October 2012 at 22:50

Yerhewo Amlak · 196 subscribers
ሓቂ ፡ ውሕጥ ከተብላ ከለኻ ፡ ፈለማ Eረ Iያ ትጥEም ፡ ደሓር ግን ጥEና Iያ ።.
Reply · 2 ·
· 27 October 2012 at 14:35

Ambish T Negash
As articulate as it may look, this piece ironically falls into the traps of linearity and cyclical
causations that it purports to rebut. In so doing, coherence is sought through simplification of
the evolution of Eritrean identity, which rather is messy, and requires robust academic
analysis. Furthermore, the loudness (or the lack thereof) of the topic sentence(s) within the
piece makes it difficult for the reader to relate to general feel of the article. It is more of a
rejection of the movers and shakers of Eritrean revolution than a sober analysis on Eritrean
identity and the social relation that this identity exacts for its sustenance.
What is Eritreanism? Does it have a structural or functional essence? How do we come to
know what we know about Eritreanism? Who are the characters who shaped our
understanding of our own id...See more
Reply · 1 ·
· 5 November 2012 at 14:05
Ambish T Negash, to start with, you need to define all the terms you use. For example, what is
"linearity and cyclical causations"? And "the loudness (or the lack thereof) of the topic
sentence(s)"?
All said and done, the key questions you need to answer are: Does a unique Eritrean identity
exist, or is Eritrea sitting on irreconcilable contradictions? If a unique identity exists, what is
99 it? Can it be defined using authentic common bonds that bind Eritrean society in a coherent
way? Is Ghedli a substitute and a new Eritrean identity? Is Isaias trying to skip the
contradictions and old modes of thought within Eritrean society in his desire to build a brand
new nation from scratch based on this Ghedli identity? Finally, we need to state explicitly why
a brand new identity become a necessity?
Reply · 1 ·
· 6 November 2012 at 01:44
You brought an interesting dimension to the discussion. The argument insists that
“Eritreanism” is an issue conceived out of a perceived need to settle antagonisms between two
identities yearned to be excluded; namely Arabism and Habeshaism. It also postulates that
“Eritreanism” requires manufacturing antagonism towards felt enemy in order to chance a
common worry that bonds in the absence of other commonalities. It further argues that deeper
pondering into these areas of discussion is more threatening to the viability of “Eritrea” than is
the marginalization of the subjects in its domain.
A few additions or alterations to the argument will perhaps help our understanding. Yosief did
not model the “Eritrean Revolution” as a cyclic causality but as one of a cyclic journey. If I
smile to a child, the child laughs, when the child ...See more
Reply · 1 ·
· 6 November 2012 at 20:17
Written today I read the Islamic AL-Nahida article of awate.com by the muslim enthusiast
Saleh. He says he wrote it as a rebuttal to Yosief’s circular allegory. Saleh appears to be poised
to battle the power of reason that Yosief produced by tossing around silly prattles. Saleh’s
bulky-but-little-meat article may be way too childish to match Yosief’s pointed, mostly
scholarly and in itself visionary work; but it is a handy instance for Yosief’s circular journey
allegory. It fits the vicious circle with flair - a lengthy gibberish that starts and ends at the
same spot of pointlessness without benefit.
For being too dedicated an epigone Saleh did not have quotable quotes from Pat Buchanan
this time around. Arbian Islam being the whole matter for which the awate team lives on, the
Islamic team takes any costume - liberal, co...See more
Reply · 1 ·
100 It is beneficial for Yosief to stay engaged on the diagnosis of the folly of ghedli and the
prognosis of what lies ahead. A lot can be reaped from focusing on the bigger picture at the
same time forging well-meaning visions without being destructed by small bumps on the road
such as Saleh’s.
Looking forward to read Yosief’s third piece, I should continue to point out the problems in
Saleh’s article to benefit Saleh himself as well as other readers. I understand that Saleh’s
obstinate affection to ghedli is tied to his covenant to Arabian Islam and that is all the more
reason for me to continue to lay it bare so there is clarity without veils for all to see.
First Saleh ridiculously pretends to have superiority complex. What superiority complex? The
guy has the arrogance of an ignoramus. The very desire to seek independence ...See more
Reply · 1 ·
Saleh and the chorus line on awate.com are hardwired to sing the same creaky Ghedli song till
the last man standing. The ordinary Ghedli romantic is like the pathological gambler who
throws good money after bad. However, Saleh is banking that his unbounded optimism of
Islamic dominance will suddenly appear on the horizon.
The main difference between YG and Saleh is that YG discusses ideas and their consequences
in depth while Saleh mainly talks about individuals or at best about events.
The famous saying by Eleanor Roosevelt is that: “Great minds discuss ideas; average minds
discuss events; small minds discuss people."
Saleh Y and his spare wheel Saleh Qadi are secret lovers of the Isaias system for two reasons
(YG had an earlier article on this):
1) Its intense and irrational hatred of Ethiopia - which represented Judeo-Christianity in the
region.
And
2) Its service as a place holder until Saleh's Taliban is ready to take power.
The two Salehs are also tolerant of the TPLF/EPRDF since the latter had naively mortgaged
Ethiopia to Saudi finance and allowed Muslim mosques and businesses to mushroom like
weed. The genie of Islam is out of the bottle, and nobody seems to know how to put it back and
Ethiopia is facing the Muslim 'Intifada' every Friday.
Remember, Muslims are either at your feet or at your throat. This is a historical fact for all to
see.
101 Reply · 1 ·
· 3 November 2012 at 17:09
The differences between Yosief’s ideas and Saleh’s reactions are differences between day and
night. I don’t think Saleh even grasped the scope of Yosief’s well-meaning ideas. Saleh’s
ignorance of the scope of Yosief’s ideas is no more evident than in his quotations of opinions of
some Islamists and Arab puppets. Two of his three opinion references are Arabic and the third
calls to emulate Pakistan (Islam - the central motive). In the name of rebuttal, Saleh’s
quotations of Islamic opinion in fact reinforces Yosief’s point that the “Eritrean revolution” is
founded only on the “vision” of inflicting damage to Ethiopia to benefit Arabian Islam. Again
the benefit of the reader I will try to show the difference a little more clearly.
Vision is not the opinions of this guy or that guy, written or articulated, in a movement or an
ins...See more
Reply · 2 ·
Hi mooloogeta,
A Bedouin Arab declares himself to be a Prophet; he then promises his gullible and mostly
impoverished followers to grant them the entire wealth of the Earth and eternal sexual
enjoyment in paradise. These followers start invading the then decaying, divided and
prevaricating countries to the North, South, East and West.
The Arabs invaded, pillaged, murdered, robed, raped, practised paedophilia and acquired
wealth that they could not have dreamt of few years ago. They then put themselves on the
throne in each country and start a program of Islamisation and Arabisation: so you
haveMuslim Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Yemen and the rest!
It is in the above context that I say as far as Muslim Arabs are concerned, Ethiopia and
highland Eritrea are unfinished business. After centuries of blockade and invasion, Muslim
Arabs ha...See more
Reply · 2 ·
· 5 November 2012 at 16:17

Esayas Gebrekidan · Silver Spring, Maryland
102 A single thought for quiet contemplation. The thinking mind is based on a desire to defend
from that which seems fearful to the self. Therefore, the role of the thinking mind is to protect
the separated self and keep it separate.
The knowing mind is different, because it knows.
Trust the knowing mind. Put the thinking mind aside. This is the path to peace.
From our Holy Spirit
Reply ·
ere591 (signed in using yahoo)
Completely rubbish hateftef by Yosief who was raised in Eritrea but a Tigraway by birth. I
think the shortest path to becoming an Ethiopia and including his ilks is to cross the Mereb
river and amalgamate themselves with the so called HabeshaEthiopian Airlines flies to US and
Europe and hop one of their jets and go to Addis and they will embrace with great fanfare as
the lost tribe. Just because Higdef was incompetent after independence it does not make
Eritrea's independence a mistake. What is a mistake is Yosief after earning a graduate degree
can't practice his vocation as a paid professional hence his diarrhea articles in this other
website to pass like a deep thinker which he is not by any one's imagination. Yosief if you are
in love with Ethiopia you could change your nationality like Simon Bereket or Mebrahtu
Ghebrehiwot or whatever his real name is.
Reply ·
There is no instance in history, not once, where Islam freed up people. It always empowered
the Arab by enslaving all others. An Islamic (anti-Christ) revolution can not forever separate
the daughter of Tsion from Tsion. Islam will have to end for that malice. Islam freeing up
Christians from their Christian roots? - that is a contradiction in terms. You are not signing
your name because you are scared of Yosief’s pen. How do you defend ghedli with cowardice?
Remove your veil and reason with Yosief head on if you can.
Reply · 2 ·
ghidetecle (signed in using yahoo)
I tend to agree with those who attribute that YG has some sort of identity crises, because
whenever he embarks on Eritrea and Eritreans he does not only pretends to play a judge but
103 also the accuser all in one. No doubt, writers could and should be critical about their subject
matters, but not judgmental and never biased as YG does.
If the struggle’s journey is to be put under scrutiny, then Ethiopia’s role should be on the
other side of the balance as well; inte zey’tdef’anni me’n mez’def’anni. This is left off by choice
from YG’s analysis, save when he wants to make us believe how good Eritrea had it under
Ethiopia. A revolution could be stolen from its very owners as is the case with Eritrea by PFDJ
or former Ethiopia by the Derg. Besides, anyone with rudimentary command of writing could
reiterate what went wrong subsequent...See more
Reply ·
· 28 October 2012 at 16:28
awetweymot (signed in using yahoo)
Yosief you are something...... Something great. Well you know, I lost 5 of my Uncles and a SIS
for the stupid Circle (vicious as it looks). But it is a clear logic, as far as I am concerned, I
didn't die IN my uncles and sis for some dictator.I would have done even a favour by making
him cold. But the Company Isayass and Bro's & Dragon Haile Melokot etel is not the problem.
The problem is the MIND SET and the Stupid Eritrea. You doing the right thing. God's Speed.
:)
Reply ·
· 27 October 2012 at 12:29
YG is one of those suffering from identity crisis. While many Eritreans feel enriched by
welcoming people from neighboring Tigray, a few have experienced difficulties in becoming
Eritreans. It's in the interest of such people to find a way to settle their emotional instability by
seeking a solution appropriate to their cases, instead of fomenting trouble among Eritreans.
YG's message to Highlanders is simply divisive and malicious. YG'S call for Ethiopia's military
intervention in Eritrea is nothing but a call to reoccupy Eritrea. YG you are exposed!, you are
an enemy of Eritrea.
Reply ·
· 23 October 2012 at 22:05
o
Sod off with your tired sacremomgering mohsaidkw...
104 Reply · 4 ·
· 25 October 2012 at 00:48
o
Kibret Tsige · Northern Virginia Community College (Annandale Campus)
to mohsaidkw:
I am from Shimejana; what you said about the people of shimejana: "...a lot of Tigrigna
speakers of Simejana, which is very close to Tigray, are not ethnic Tigrigna as some people
may think, they are from a Saho tribe called 'OniMoal' " is not true. The only people that speak
both Tigrigna and Saho nearest to shimejana proper are those in the village of Mokho, a mix of
christian Orthodoxes and Moslems, located on top of Emba Soira who trace their forefathers to
Debri-Mella; and those in the village of Tisha, who claim to belong to the Ge'aso, located just
outside the western edge of Soira, again a mix of the two religious groups. Nowhere do you find
communities where the elders speak Saho and the younger ones don't in Shimejana. I can tell
you are not intimately familiar with the people of Shimejana from the way your wanton
assertion. The people of Shimejana are among the most vibrant Tigrigna culture practitioners.
I have never heard of a tribe called "Onimoal" to which any of the communities trace their
ancestry. You probably read it in some Arab print with shady credibility.
Reply · 1 ·
· 30 October 2012 at 15:08
"I can tell you are not intimately familiar with the people of Shimejana from the way your
wanton assertion. "
Kibret Tsige
Descendants of Oni Moal tribe are in many parts of Shimejana that extends from Ghiasih to
Berakit. You can find some even in Zalambesa. The founder of Senafe Orthodox Church the
late Abona Tesfay Zerai was a prominent figure of the same tribe. He spoke fluent Saho. When
I say elder people I was referring to his generation, that probably is not there any more.
Reply ·
· 1 November 2012 at 12:01

105 Peace Saeed
writing articles doesn't make hero, the great end of life is not knowledge but action.
Reply ·
26 October 2012 at 13:32
o
Check yourself if you either write or act or both. As to me, writing is not a knowledge alone but
its application (action). Through writings knowledge spreads and enlighten others to act. If you
are for neither of these settlements, at least you can do service to others by remaining tightlipped.
Reply · 2 ·
· 26 October 2012 at 19:31

Abe Berens
WHAT HAPPENED TO ASMARINOS MARTYR-database!
Reply ·
· 24 October 2012 at 02:41

Samuel Ghebreghiorgis
ኣኽ! ዮሴፍ፡ Eቲ ዝበሃል ኩሉ Iልካዮ ኣሎኻ። ኣብ ውሽጢ መይዳ ኤርትራ Eንከሎኹ ንዘጋጠመኒ ታሪኽ Iኻ ደጊምካለይ። ብ1976ዓ.ም.
ከምU Eውን፡ ብ1979ዓ.ም.። ካብ Iራቕ ዝመጹ፡ ማሕበር ተመሃሮ ኤርትራውያን፡ ዓረብኛ ክምህሩና ዝለኣኸቶም ኤርትራውያን ተመሃሮ
Eዮም ነይሮም። ኣብ'ቲ Eተዓደልናዮ መጻሕፍቲ፡ ማፕ ናይ ዓረብ ሊግ ተሳIሉዎ ነይሩ። ኤርትራ Eውን፡ ኣብ'ቲ ማፕ ጽንብርቲ Eያ ነይራ።
ቅድሚ ሰብ ኣልIለዮ ዝነበርኩ ሕቶ፡ ኤርትራ ስለ ምንታይ ኣብ'ቲ ማፕ ናይ ዓረብ ሊግ ኣቲያ? ካብ Iትዮጲያ ተነጺልካ፡ ኤርትራዊ መንነት
ንምርካብ ዝግበር ኣብ ዝነበረ ቃልሲ፡ ብገለ ክፋል ድማ፡ ናብ ዓረብነት ይውጠጥ ከም ዝነበረ ንማንም ኣብ'ቲ ቃልሲ ዝነበረ ምስጢር ኣይነበረን።
ሎሚ Eውን፡ ዓረብ ክገብሩና ዝጽEሩ ብዙሓት Eዮም። ብመሰረቱ፡ Eቶም ኣEራብ ክገብሩና ዝደልዩ፡ ኣብ ክንዲ ምሳና፡ ምስ'ቶም ሓበሻ፡
ምስ'ቶም ከበሳውያን፡ ምስ'ቶም ተጋሩ ዝዋጠጡ (ኣብ Eግረ መገደይ ክገልጾ ዝደሊ፡ ትግርኛ ዝላህጃU ሰብ፡ ብቀጥታ ትግራዋይ ክኸውን
ምተገብO። ኤርትራውያን ሰብ ቋንቋ ትግርኛ፡ መጸውI ብሄር የብሎምን። ምስ Iትዮጲያውያን ተጋሩ፡ ነቲ ሽም፡ ክማቐሉዎ ድሉዋት ስለ
106 ዘይኮኑ። ስለ ዝኾነ ኸኣ፡ ኤርትራውያን ጥራሕ Eዮም ክበሃሉ ዝኽEሉ። ኩለን ኣብ ኤርትራ ዘለዋ ብሄራት ነናተን መለለዪ ኣለወን። ብሌናዊ፡
ቅድሚ ዝኣገረ ብሌናዊ Eዩ። ብድሕሪU Eዩ ኤርትራዊ። Eቲ ዓፋር Eውን፡ ቅድሚ ኩሉ፡ ኣካል ብሄረ-ሰብ ዓፋር Eዩ። ብድሕሪU Eዩ
ኤርትራዊ። ከምU Eናበለ ይቕጽል Eሞ፡ ኣብ'ቲ ትግርኛ ዚላህጃU ምስ መጻEካ ግና፡ መለልዪ የብሉን። ዘይነበረ ግዜያዊ ሽም Eዩ ተጠሚቑ።
ከበሳዊ፡ ብሄረ-ትግርኛ ዘስምE ሓደስቲ ቃላት። ክንዲ ዝኾነ፡ Eቲ ትግርኛ ዝዛረብ ኤርትራዊ፡ ከም'ቶም ካልOት ብሄራት መለልዪ የብሉን።
ሓበሻ ምዃን ድማ፡ ንዓና ንበይንና Eተሓዝኣልና መጸውI ኣይኮነን። ነዚ መጸውI ዝማቐሉ ብዙሓት ብሄራት ኣለዋ። መብዛሕትAን ኣብ
Iትዮጲያ'ኳ ዝርከባ Eንተኾና፡ ኣብ ኤርትራ ግና፡ ብሰንኪ ምቕያር ሃይማኖቶም፡ ካብ'ዚ መጸውI ተናጊፍና ዝብሉ ኣለዉ። Eዘን ቃላተይ፡
ንብዙሓት ጸላEላE ከም ዘብላOም ኣይጣራጠርን።) ንነብሶም፡ ብሓባር፡ ንሕና ኣEራብ Iና Iሎም Eንተ ዝEውጁ፡ ክንደይ'ኳ ጽቡቕ ምኾነ።
ብሓባር ክንቅጽልን ከይንቕጽልን ድማ፡ መፍቲሒ ኣብ ዙሪያ መኣዲ ምተረኽበሉ። Eዚ ተቐዳዲምካ፡ ንሰባት "ኒዮ ኣንድነት" Eናበልካ፡ ኣፉ
ንምትሓዝ ዝግበር ደፋEፋE ግና ኣብ ዘብጽሓና የብሉን።.
Reply · 3 ·
· 25 October 2012 at 07:49
o
Dear Samuel:-) you raised a very important question. Thanks to colonialism the people of
Africa are so divided and that very division have become a source of inter-state conflicts and
wars. Eritrea shares many ethnic groups with Ethiopia- Kunama, Tegaru, Afar, Saho etc. All
the ethnic groups except the Tegaru have maintained their names. But the Tegaru of Eritrea
calls themselves Tigrigna which is glaringly absurd and shameful. Tigrigna is not name of the
ethnic group but their language. I raised the same question many times at Awate.com but no
one cared to delve into the subject which is understandable. YG is waking a road never tried
by anyone, but truth is on his side and will prevail no matter delayed it might be.
We, the new Ethiopians, accepted the Eritrean independence (with grace), among other things,
for the very re...See more
Reply · 5 ·
· 25 October 2012 at 09:24
Dear Teweldebrhan Kifle, thanks a lot for discussing Eritrean issues with civility, unlike many
Ethios, who mostly speak to us as if their country is a big brother we should obey. If I
understood you well, your concern is, why Tigrigna speakers of Eritrea are not calling
themselves Tegaru (may be thinking that would make it easy for Ethiopia to claim Eritrea).
Well, in Eritrea different communities are named after their language. For instance , all Tigre
speakers in Sudan are known only as Beni Amer, but in Eritrea all Tigre speakers including
Beni Amer are called Tigre. There is no tribe called Tigre, it's a grouping based on Tigre
language. The same applies to Saho. In Tigray, Saho speakers are known as Irob, but in
Eritrea all different ethnic groups who speak Saho language are grouped together. In the past
few years, Iro...See more
107 Reply · 1 ·
25 October 2012 at 12:22
Samson Ghebre
I know or should I say I believe (in case some smart aleck asks me for evidence) that the
Tigrinya speaking population in both Tigray and Eritrea are one and the same just like the
Amharic speaking ones in Gojam and Gondar are the same. Although, both are Amara, they
can also be differentiated as Gomjame and Gondere in respective to their place of residence.
Probably the Afars who live in all the three bordering countries, may also be distinguished with
different names. We have also an example of a same ethnic group having different names as it
is the case with the Bilen and Agaw.
For me, the term Tegaru/Tigraway is an attribute more to do with a place than of an ethnicity.
It connotes the place of origin just like these terms do: Gondere for someone from Gonder and
Gojame for someone from Gojam.
The same applies to the term ...See more
Reply · 3 ·
· 25 October 2012 at 18:50
o
mohsaidkw
"As for YG, I may disappoint if I say, you should welcome him in his ancestral land, because
his continuous insults to Eritrean martyrs is going to put his life in danger" wow, how
democratic of you.....you are actualy threathning to take some one's life because he disagrees
with your distorted version of Eritrea...let me tell you some thing dummy, If it was for the
number of lives Eritrea has taken, you guys would have by now landed on the moon..but all
you have right now is a tucky Eritrean ID that continues to cost you 2% of your walfare money
and a lot of of pain to unfortunate others in Eritrea..killing YG isn't going change any
thing..the reality of Eritrea will awaken the dead let alone the living!
Reply · 3 ·
· 25 October 2012 at 21:32
108 Insulting martyrs and calling them 'bandits' who died without a cause is a very serious
offence, punishable by law in any country. Insulting a people and calling them identity less,
history less, 'askaris', 'italian slaves', 'arab slaves' .. etc. as some of you posing as Eritreans are
calling us is also something should be replied to in one or the other. The fact that Eritrea is
suffering under dictatorship does give you reason to insult it's people. Eritreans had good
reasons to fight for their freedom and are proud of freeing their country from occupation. Now,
they are resisting dictatorship alone, and sooner or later will succeed to bring the necessary
change.
Reply ·
· 27 October 2012 at 00:56
o
mohsaidkw:I don't think YG is insulting martyrs. He is making those instigated the revolution without
cause( only to get them to where they were according to him) accountable for the "Prohibitive
cost" Eritrea and Ethiopia have suffered as a result. Though YG, the mighty and prolific writer,
can defend himself for certainty, " Identity less, history less.." etc is a misrepresentation of
facts on your part. Eritreans have rich history and identity. It is only that they wanted to deny
it and started looking for a substitute which is inherently alien to their intrinsic identity to
their peril.
And YG's concern is beyond the current status of Eritrea. Dictatorship will for sure be
crumpled but the issues he raised remain constant and that is the sad part of the
"Circularity". It's is a great revelation and what the future holds for Eritrea would be attested
in account of time.
Reply · 3 ·
· 27 October 2012 at 01:38
"Eritreans have rich history and identity. It is only that they wanted to deny it and started
looking for a substitute which is inherently alien to their intrinsic identity to their peril."
Teweldebrhan Kifle
Sir, YG's ideas are not new to us, in substance his issues against Eritrean independence are
half century old. We heard them from successive Ethiopian regimes in the past. The
underlying messages of his writings are clear: There is nothing called Eritrea, it's a failed
109 project from day one. There is only Ethiopia with it's 3000 years of history. All Habeshas are
Ethiopians ...etc.
Strangely, his definition of Habesha is purely political, which is meant in the end to justify
Ethiopian expansion. What do you think about Easter Sudanese ...aren't they Habesha ? or
being Muslims doesn't make them Habesha ?. What about Djibo...See more
Reply · 2 ·
· 27 October 2012 at 13:03
awetweymot (signed in using yahoo)
YG tell TES that I love him.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_ISSYOTHBk&feature=related
Reply ·
· 21 November 2012 at 13:56
Ethnic cleansing against the Eritrean Kunama: when ,why and by whom?
A Substantiated Research
By: News and Information Departments of DMLEK
Part one
Nothing will stand against the logic that says had it not been for mercy of God and the virility
and determination to fight to survive, the Eritrean Kunama would have remain vulnerable to
be extinct. The fight for survival and the conspiracy to eliminate the Kunama race did not start
yesterday of before countable days and years but since the 18th century. Its in 1884 G.C the
traditional leader, Sayed kakashi is killed at the battle with Mahdist or Derbushes (Funj) as
the result of the Islamic induced war against the traditional Kunama. That religious
subjugation to convert the traditional Kunama forcibly and the resistance to such advent has
resulted the death of the Kunama traditional leader, Sayed Kakashi. Time and again, nowhere
in the history of ours, a Kunama nationality is seen instigating wars against its neighboring
people, be it from religious or ethnic angle. Thus far, the agony, subjugation and suppression
of the Kunama nationality has began from the time their traditional leader Sayed Kakashi was
killed.
1. Resistance to External pressures and its impacts on the Kunama traditional
society:- From earlier and memorable times, the vested interest of the external forces,
as usual, conflicts that of the indigenous Kunama and costs a lot. As mentioned above,
the interests of the Mahdists, Italians, and the British administrations, though, vary in
content; the pattern applied up on the traditional Kunama is one and the same:
imposing an alien man to administer the Kunamaand exerting to fulfill their wishes.
After conquering and challenging the legacy of Kunama traditional mode of
administration, the Egyptians had appointed a convert Bariya/nara called Toteel (1884110 1889) and imposed the later up on the Kunama traditional people. To quote “…nothing
approximating to chieftainship was known until the Egytians appointed a prominent
Baria named Totil to collect taxes and execute their orders…. this measure was deeply
resented by the kunama who are now culturally very much less close to the Baria than
they once were (Ibid) Eritrea: A colony in transition : 1941-52 G.K.N. TREVASKIS. This
is the first trial of imposing alien’s culture up on the egalitarian Kunama society. Still,
the Italian colony, following the same trend of the Egyptians and appointed a convert
Nara Arey Agaba to over see the administrative issues of both Kunama and Nara
nationalities while the former (Kunama) did not accept and recognize that office. Due to
Arey’s ill competent and stubborn nature, in addition to his affinity and allegiance with
the Mahdists, he has brought a fatal blunder up on the Kunama and Nara people where
Ras Alula of Tigray/Ethiopia is being portrayed as a scapegoat to date. The point
astonished us is not the incriminating Ras Alula of Tigray/Ethiopia as a criminal
towards the Eritrean Kunama by the rogue regime and its surrogates but the fact that
some leaders from the Eritrean opposition camp too are using and disseminate the
same fictitious history and information whenever they intend to isolate the Eritrean
Kunama and DMLEK from the EPRDF-led Ethiopian government and people. It’s
therefore, the Toteels, Areys, and Idris Awate and others, empowered by the aliens, who
have done all the mess to date. To justify more, let’s dwell on the piece of the research
made by the DMLEK’s news and information department, under the following title.
The PFDJ regime’s version of Ras Alula’s relation with the Eritrean Kunama and
the actual reality:- “ as explained time and again that the history of the kunama people is
full of pain and suffering from the raids of both internal as well as external forces. The
kunama concluded to unite and overthrow the chauvinist totalitarian PFDJ regime in order
to guarantee the right of self determination including up to secession despite the glaring
challenges from all directions. The regime and its thugs never miss a chance to mention
Alula Abba Negga when telling the kunama history to distort. The followers of the regime
that know nothing of the kunama history are engaged in narrating it to cover up the
suffering and oppression of the kunama people today. Before they shout about Alula killing
the kunama people the regime and its thugs should study the kunama history to find out
the truth about the incident. The Democratic Movement for the liberation of the Eritrean
kunama DMLEK based on its principle of telling the truth has carried out extensive study
of the event, identified causes and effects responsible for the ethnic cleansing perpetrated
by Alula citing different literature of that period and interviewing elderly kunama
individuals and presents it as follows. Unorganized unarmed people are powerless. As there
can’t be victory without struggle and sacrifice, people can’t achieve political power to fulfill
their aspirations of justice and freedom without proper political awareness. People of any
nation can safeguard their democratic and human rights as long as they stand and fight for
them. “Though there are still traces of earlier exogamic totem clans amongst the kunama,
today they and Baria are organized on a territorial basis, Living in villages which are
regionally grouped into what they themselves call tribes (p.16) Traditionally the affairs of
Baria and kunama were managed by occasional meetings of elders and….. Nothing
approximating to chieftainship was known until the Egytians appointed a prominent Baria
named Totil to collect taxes and execute their orders. The Italians improved on Egyptian
practices by converting the position held by Totil in a hereditary chieftainship extending to
the kunama as well as to the Baria. This measure was deeply resented by the kunama who
are now culturally very much less close to the Baria than they once were (Ibid) Eritrea: A
colony in transition : 1941-52 G.K.N. TREVASKS,
111 In any nation organizing is unity. And unity is strength that can be used to guarantee citizen’s
rights. Forming a political organization demands a certain level of political awareness and
readiness of the people. Organized people require to be armed in order to protect and maintain
their principles. These three preconditions are mandatory that support one another. If we
closely see the kunama history, the people were uneducated, unorganized and were not united
then. Their survival and continuity depends on a well established traditional village elders’
leadership system and their God given talent. As a result of consistent and continuous wars
and raids happened in different and due the lack educated individuals at the period, its
impossible to get a recorded information subjected to transfer from one to the next generation.
Citing historical events as justifications for current mishaps is not acceptable either. In 1856
the Egyptian funj (Mahadists) tried to colonize and convert the kunama people to Islam.
According to Christ Prouty and Eugene Rosenfield in their political dictionary wrote as follows:
“the Bariya people are settled farmers who have matrilineal family line until the Mahadist
invasion that converted them to Islam religion in 1856. They lost the equal rights that the men
and women had before in their culture (page 10).” GKN, Trevaskis in his book “a colony in
transition” also said: “ The Bariya and the Kunama traditionally are governed by elders and
the concept of a leader or king was alien to them until the Egyptians handpicked Totil as
“Manna” which means a leader entitled to collect taxes and executed their laws. The Italians
continued the legacy introduced by the Egyptians to subsequent generations of Totil and
granted them the right to govern all kunama and the Bariya. The kunama continued to have a
inverse relation with the Bariya strongly denounced the legacy and maintained the traditional
village elder leadership form of governance until 1866, the arrival of European Christian
Missionaries to introduce Christianity. The kunama maintained their culture, belief and
religion through time despite all the Mahadist invasions and had resisted the conversion to
Islam. The kunama people survived the enemy attacks using their traditional community spirit
until the Kunama “Manna” or leader Seid Kakashi’s time that fought against the Mahadist
invasion and was killed in war in 1884. The Mahadists then appointed Totil as “Manna” that
ruled from 1884-1889. After Totil the Italians appointed another “Manna” named sheikh Aray
Agaba to rule the Kunama and the Bariya. A kunama researcher wrote the following regarding
Aray Agaba, “After Totil the Italians appointed another man a Muslim sheikh Aray Agaba as
“Manna” in 1890. This is the second attempt to introduce a class in side the classless and
egalitarian kunama society.”
Part two
Ethiopians were at war with their neighbor Sudan during the Mahadist invasion, the
Ethiopians were fighting the forced conversion into Muslim by the Mahdists as the kunama
leader Seid Kakashi who refused the conversion and martyred for the cause. According the
testimony of kunama elders Eritrean kunama had paid taxes to Abyssinians in Adiyabo during
the Italian colonial period. Now let’s get back to the History of Ras Alula and how he ended up
in Eritrea and specifically in the Kunama and the Bariya/Nara region. The book “a political
biography of Ras Alula” written by Haggai Erlich in page 100-101 has attested that “In October
31, 1886 according to the orders from the Abyssinian king emperor Yohannes from Debre
Damo Ras Alula went to invade Kassala Sudan with a strong force of 10,000 men led by
Dejazmach Tedla, Dejazmach Woldergebriel, Basha Gebrehiwet who was already in Keren
waiting for Alula. On the other hand Alula’s informant contacted the Bariya “Manna” about the
invasion of Kassala and gave specific orders to gather cattle to feed his men. When Ras Alula
arrived in Keren on November 13, 1886 the Ethiopian military leaders, along with the
112 Beniamer war leaders such as Sheikh Musa Alifait, Sheikh Ali Nurin with their forces received
him warmly. The Nara leader sheikh Aray Agaba came alone empty handed and was among
them to receive Alula. Ras Alula after accepting him warmly had given Aray Agaba to gather all
in his possession from cattle to goats, guns and men and wait for him in mount “kufit”. Alula
arrived at mount Kufit on November 17, 1886 but Aray Agaba met him late bringing only 15
cattle and 15 guns. Sheikh Aray Agaba was again ordered by Alula to go back and bring more
men and cattle and went to the west but he did nothing. Knowing that his plans to invade
kassala didn’t go well, Alula stared war on the Nara people and killed large number of the Nara
people and cattle. According to the book “2/3rd of the Kunama and the Nara people and their
cattle located to the North of the Gash “Sona” river was destroyed in few days’ war.” This is the
crude information about the incident where Ras Alula of Ethiopia on one side the Kunama and
the Baria/Nara on the other had created that controversial history being manipulated and
used by the PFDJ and its surrogates. Lets now see the mess created by the other partners, the
Mahdists, Italians and the local elders like Totil and Arey Agaba.
A. Mistakes committed by the Egyptians (Mahdists) and the Italians:- by the advents
of Egyptians, Italian and British colonial administrations and heavy handedness, the
Kunama and Bariya/nara egalitarians and traditional societies lost their ancestral
mode of administration. Egyptians had forced the Bariya to embrace Islam while the
Kunama resisted to accept and consequently have lost their leader but still under the
pressure of the Mahdists to accept aliens and converts like Toteel and Arey ageba. The
colonial forces mistakenly imposed a class natured mode up on the Kunama traditional
communal mode of life. The Lebanon, Rwandan, Brundian cases are similar what the
Egyptians, Italians, and British have done up on the Kunama traditional society.
Italians confiscated large chunk of agricultural and arable lands as terra demaniale and
given to their investors with out the consent of the Kunama people. Today, its from that
colonial pitfalls that the current despotic regime has decreed land belongs to the
government and discarded citizens from utilizing as their wish and capacity. Thusfar,
the colonialists ruled the kunama wrongly and worse by handpicked individuals from
other ethnic groups that have completely different culture and political structure. The
assignment of Totil, and Sheikh Aray Agaba and the subsequent legacy that followed as
norm is an insult to the kunama intelligence.
B) Mistakes committed by Toteel and Arey Agaba:- The colonial rulers had introduced a
Modern State Order to the traditional Eritrean communities and ethnic groups. Those
communities lived limited to their cultural practices of village elder leadership that was unique
and remained untouched for centuries. Dealing with such well established cultures demands
extreme caution to introduce the modern order. The colonial rulers didn’t pay any attention
and undermined the culture and costumes of the traditional kunama and chose to rule them
through individuals from other communities in the area. The rulers with their identity crisis
couldn’t learn from their mistakes, instead chose to be increasingly isolated following the
“divisive” policy. The people developed hatred towards them for being the stooges of foreigners.
The rulers opted to take extreme oppressive measures and take revenge on the people. Arey
agaba was appointed leader of both the Kunama and the Bariya but he preferred and favored
the Bariya people though we can’t say he looked after them and did any good to them either.
113 He was rejected by the kunama people specifically during the Alula invasion because he was
discriminating against them. As stated earlier, though Arey agaba has welcomed Ras Alula, he
was received cordially and sent back to come with what he has to fulfill. To the surprise, Arey
Agaba once again returned back with a limited resource (only 15 cattle and 15 guns) than told
and expected. Its, therefore, quite nature to Alula to pose the following questions in his minds;
as to why Arey Agaba is doing all disobedience? What could his relation be with the Mahdist as
a new convert and appointed by them?
First let’s see why the Italians appointed Aray Agaba to be a kunama leader knowing that the
kunama hate the man. If the Mahdists who killed the famous kunama leader Seid kakashi
were expanding Islam religion in the region and Aray Agaba was a Muslim, then one can easily
speculate as what the relationship between him, the Mahadists and the kunama people could
be. What was the level of influence that Arey Agaba had among the kunama and the Bariya?
How large was his mass support in the kunama and the Nara? Did he treat them equally? Was
he a symbolic leader or influential figure? Did he possess capability to lead and administer the
population? If we find out the correct answer for the above questions then we would be able to
know identity of Aray Agaba. The Italian colonialists chose Arey Agaba to lead the kunama
people because he was pro Egyptian Mahadists. They chose him because he was from the
Bariya people who were forcibly converted to the Mahadist religion contrary to the kunama
who resisted and maintained their cultural religion that was considered by the Italians as out
dated and filthy way of life. They thought he is advanced because he had the officially known
religion at that time in the region. After the death of Seid kakashi it was obvious to predict the
fate of the kunama people and what the attitude of the Moslem Arey Agaba would be. The
kunama people never accepted him as a leader and he didn’t have any affiliation or trust on
the kunama people. There was not a chance that he consulted the kunama or the kunama
readily obeyed his orders or respected his rule. It was obvious that Aray Agaba lacked the skill
and experience to rule the people and worse of all, was rejected by the people. He had the
chance to win the hearts and mind of the Kunama and the Nara people had he shouldered his
responsibility as a ruler to consult and warn the people about the risk hovering over the
horizon. But filled with hatred and spirit of revenge his intentions were to bringing a disaster
to the people. While all the neighboring communities prayed for deliverance from the imminent
destruction, provided the men and guns as demanded by Alula, Arey Agaba irresponsibly
brought only 15 men and 15 guns probably saying that the people declined his orders. No one
would expect such irresponsible response to a situation like that from a leader of the people.
He could have easily avoided the massacre if he provided the requested men and guns as the
others did. His actions could have spared thousands of lives and the dark history might not
have happened at all. But due to his irresponsible and weak attitude today the kunama and
the Nara are forced to carry the scar from the tragedy. Aray Agaba became responsible who
caused the loss of life. Then how about Alula, what was his role?
From the situation that Alula was in war with the Mahadists he must have had a different
thinking about Aray Agaba’s identity and political inclination. His number one ambition as a
military general was to win the war with the Mahdists and conquer Kassala as ordered by his
superiors. The fact is that Alula would do anything to win the war including ethnic cleansing if
necessary to avoid any obstacle or hindrance that stands between him and his enemies. Here
it should be clear that we are not at all saying that what Alula did was right or correct. We are
simply stating the facts that Alula had the entire mandate and was free to choose his action.
But one thing should be clear that the political line that he followed in executing his plan is
114 questionable. Was the war with the Mahdist necessary? But again this doesn’t concern us.
Considering Alula understood the intentions of Aray Agaba our main concern is whether the
measures he took were correct or wrong? We can say it was right. First he sent a message to
Aray Agaba before he arrived to Keren, but Aray came to welcome him empty handed, and was
given proper instructions with specifications and was sent back again but he came with only
few cattle and men, and Alula had sent him for a third time this time maybe with a warning.
Logically, therefore, Alula hit the right track. The fact that Aray Agaba was a Muslim and Ras
Alula was in war with the Mahdist and his actions must have infuriated Alula because the
initial plan of attacking Kassala to get a better reputation is being rebuffed by the refusal of
Aray Agaba to cooperate. Here, a clear pattern of cause-effect correlation perceived as the
cause being the weakness of Arey Agaba for not acting according to what he was expected to
act and the effect as the loss of life of kunama and the Nara people. Until now we have seen
the war of Aula and its impacts on the life of the kunama and the Nara people citing different
historical sources such as the book, “political Biography of Ras Alula.” Its possible to conclude
that, its not Ras Alula but Arey Agaba responsible for all the blunder and devastation occurred
up on Kunama and Baria (Nara). Hence, the kunama people, under the leadership of their
vanguard organization-DMLEK, today, have strengthened their ties with their neighboring
people’s of Tigray/Ethiopia people and established a cemented cordial partnership, trust and
mutual understanding and shall continue forever. The leaders of some Eritrean oppositions,
therefore, should swallow the logic that goes, if Ras Alula was waging a war against the
Mahdists or Egyptians by then, and when Aray Agaba is a new convert and partner of the
Mahdists, and the Mahdists and Aray Agaba were staunch enemies of the Kunama traditional
people, then there is no room for Alula to antagonize the Kunama. This is a simple and
elementary logic any lay man can deduce from. The fiction being disseminated and depicting
Ras Alula as a pathological enemy of Kunama people, still, will not hold water.
Part three
The era of British administration and the genesis of Eritrean Liberation Front:- On shoes
of the Italian colonial forces, the British Administration also has promoted Hamed Idris Awate
and simply gave blind eye and deaf ear to see and hear the genocidal attempt the former has
waged up on the Eritrean Kunama. The genocide war was declared by Hamid Idris Awate from
1949-1950 that took a heavy toll of kunama lives. The kunama people had successfully
protected themselves together by calling one another, being on top heights of Beled up to the
Fode-Ilit Mountains with the sound of bull’s horn as a sign of “let’s help each.” Unpublished
document written in 1951 by Giuseppe Puglisi, an Italian journalist who visited the area at the
time and his carefully documented report gives a thorough account of the casualties, losses in
terms of cattle, and huts that were burned on a daily basis as quoted by Domenic and said "I
am positive that there is an on-going process of genocide directed against the Kunama, whether
or not the parties or neighboring groups are conscious of this, but there is no doubt that this is
being done with the assistance of the British Administration." Regarding the spearheading of
Hamed idris Awate in devastating the Kunama, a researcher has attested the following:
“Dungus Arei became a member of Jabata harir (ELF) later on. It was him who started the war
in the first place. It was him who killed with his sword all the Kunama he could find. Hamad
Idris Awate was there with them....they killed the Kunama from Tika, Shikaba, Suba Suka,
Anali. The pregnant women were hacked to death... The destruction was wild.” Instead of
taking lessons one from the other, every successor has adopted the same formula of
subjugating the innocent and helpless Kunama, a trend surprised all of the readers and
115 owners of this document. For the Kunama and great majority of the highlanders, putting those
political caressing and warm ups aside, taket or leave it, Hamed Idris Awate originally was and
is a bandit. Later on, still, with out taking precautions and care, the national liberation front,
the ELF has contacted this shifta-Hamed Idris Awate and made him a field commander.
Nothing wrong will be said when a devil is converted in to angel but has to refrain from
his/her/or its devilish behaviors. But our liberation front has emulated the same trend as the
Egyptians, Italians, British administrations had done. Look! how the chain of conspiracies and
plots of cleansing the Kunama has took place from time to time with out a stoppage. The
Eritrean Liberation Front, after the poisoned death of Hamed Adris Awate, used to glorify Idris
Awate as its national icon and followed the same path of systematic eradication of the
Kunama.
At the early stages of the liberation struggle, the Eritrean Liberation Front has divided the
kunama people into two pockets geographically. The kunama living along the Gash delta
stretching from Dokinbiya and to the east was considered as a stooge of the Ethiopian
(hailesillasie and the dergue) government the rest who reside to the west, the home of Ilit,
Bitama, and the Sokodas were considered as their sympathizers and followers. The ELF
leadership deceived and stole the hearts of the inhabitants of the mentioned localities. It has
managed to recruit great number of fighters (ordinary ones) and local militias from the
Kunama people. Cheated and promised them to be treated as first class citizens after
realization of Eritrean state hood even the cynic plans of Hamed idris awate was swindling in
their minds. Those innocent, uneducated, unorganized and helpless Kunama did trust the
foxy type politics of ELF and gave their soul and flesh for the struggle. The newly recruited
youths of the Kunama while challenging the Haile sillasie and the dergue soldiers in various
fronts paying the highest price, the local Kunama militias too were forced by the ELF
commanders to leave their assets and households behind and to fight the Ethiopian soldiers in
their surroundings. They were also exposed to a forced and systematic assimilation: the
Beniamirs and Hidareb while marrying the Kunama women, male Kunamas were banned to
marry the formers’ women and by doing so, the leadership of the ELF has succeeded in killing
the Kunama nationalism and diminishing its number while inheriting and confiscating the
entire, vast, and fertile land of Kunama. After establishing kinship and snatched all the fertile
kunama land wished for centuries, they enslaved all the innocent and helpless Kunama and
made them scooters in their “farms.” Owners of the land were converted into landless
lutifundas and those latifundas were converted to be land owners. The organized political
body, the ELF, did not even limit itself to such crimes alone. The entire leadership of ELF has
unanimously resolved to enslave all espouses of the local militias siding the Dergi regime and
brought them to Algidir farms. These women were brought not for their fouls or crimes but for
the sheer reason that they are married to militias who stood against the ongoing liberation
struggle. But why only on Kunama women is the biggest question yet posed to the then
leadership of ELF to be answered. It’s the politically and callously organized body and its
leadership, not the mass, which has done all the atrocities against the Kunama.
Part Four
Then comes the civil war between the two fronts and it was the vast, fertile and western
Kunama land taken as a battle field and guess that will be the brunt and to what extend. Not
only the land and women but the Kunama traditional belief was also made demolished to
nonexistent. As a political entity, the ELF has suppressed these kunama to the level of
betraying their identity and ashamed of being Kunama. In such mechanism, the Ilit, Bitama,
116 and the Sokodas were isolated from the main Kunama stem and exposed to any dangers and
ugly tricks of the ELF for which they are regretting to date. The pride, foaling and soothing
approach of ELF during the liberation struggle had withered away. As the ELF was chased out
from the Eritrean soil, the local Kunama militias were exposed to another bloody enemy, the
EPLF. The innocent Kunama were slaughtered from two parallel angles: as partners of ELF
and nationalists, they had fought the EPLF and the dergue and paid the highest price in terms
of lives and souls. As “collaborators”of ELF and after the defeat of the former, the EPLF has
rounded up more than 200 Kunama militias who were with Tesfamehret of the western
Kunama land and shot them on the spot at Sosale. The first ever heard mass massacre and
genocide happened on the Eritrean Kunama people by a national force-EPLF. The inhabitants
of this village, today, are scattered in Sudan and still they are counting days to see what will
happen. Today, let alone to think of a Kunama land, its unlikeable to see a single traditionally
hatched Kunama hut in the vicinities of Teseney, Majar, Magula and Gulluj. Before its
disappearance and at the final page of the struggle, the leadership of ELF has killed prominent
and selective Kunama leaders and elders yet and more to make them kneel down. Sila Abel,
chelestino Adana, Furut Talla…, and several prominent figures were gunned down and
slaughtered in a cold blood. Was that the renaissance of Eritrean Islamic revolution? If so, why
then to start on the Kunama? So far, we have seen what the leadership of ELF has done. On
the same token, we should also explore the maltreatments of the EPLF’s leadership and we will
reach to the needed conclusion.
As mentioned earlier, the initial brutal action of the EPLF is registered after its victory over
ELF and has shot over 200 Eritrean kunama militias in Sosale village at once. Then, followed
by raiding Kunama wealth and cattle from Dokinbiya, Dase, and Afate Ila by its robbery units
where Osea Dumam- a kunama but a political cadre of EPLF is killed in his attempt to bring
back the Kunama cattle to their legal owners. The restless EPLF leadership has continued its
malicious plan of exterminating leading figures of Kunama and has killed the following
Kunama elders and business men in 1985. Shomay Agali (from ugummu village), Adum
Shaddin, (shishili or Ashoshi village), Sale Dawit, Kala Dumam, Ummad Billay, Abraham
Ashkaba, Abashara were some of the victims and the two lucky ones; Naty fukak and Faraj
kalasa by name were escaped as wounded from the shooting spot. After the national
independence of Eritrea, the brutal regime hadn summoned Kunama mothers and told them
to take the children born from Ethiopian fathers to Ethiopia but it was seriously rebuffed by
Kunama elders and leaders like Germane Naty tracing the Kunama matrilineal descency. It
was the third attempt of the EPLF’s leadership to reduce the Kunama number practically. In
this regard, Mr kornelios Osman, chairman of DMLEK, in his interview with “radio assenna”
had made clear as how the regime has reflected its hatred towards that nationality. As the ELF
leadership has done, the EPLF too has rounded up some 73 kunama elders and detained them
under the pretext that they had been working with the Dergue regime while military officials
from other nationalities were freed to lead their own civilian life. Those detained kunama
elders were made disappear till now. Still, another group of 70 Kunama elders, including
women, were garrisoned in Akordat and no news about them to date. These all round ups had
taken place right after the independence and before the border war with Ethiopia. Being aware
of the rebellious nature and situation of the Kunama and instead of handling the relation with
care amicably and having assured that it has killed, detained, and eliminated all the
visionaries and intellectual Kunama elements, the regime has used its full fist and jungle laws
as snatching and pressing them to sell (cereals and animals) at the price the regime has
scaled. It was after eliminating those kunama leaders and leading figures the regime prevented
117 the kunama people from selling the fruits of their sweat such as sorghum and other grains for
any price they liked and cold bloodedly murdered two brothers Musa and Diirga Kinni in
Shamboko market place with bullet. The detailed account of the day’s event was perfectly
illustrated by a British scholar and researcher Dr. Domenic as (Shambuco 1995) “The weekly
market town of Shambuco between Bimbilna and Boshoka on the eastern fringes of Kunama
territory, now largely peopled by Tigrini. Attracts people from all over the area. On the 11th of
March 1995, two Kunama were killed in the market place following an incident with the police.
I was staying in a village close by when this happened and met the next day with Kunama who
witnessed the incident. They were silenced by the person assisting me with the translation as
soon as they began to tell me about it. This person was a rank-and-file employee of the
government. Only later on, months afterwards, did I have access to the following
reconstruction of the incident and the way it was handled by the authorities.
Like many Kunama living in nearby villages, two brothers had come to Taikanaba to sell their
sorghum. It is common practice in the Shambuco market for prices to fluctuate from one week
to the next, and sometimes even during the day. The Tigrini are not sorghum producers which
has become part of their diet only lately, and the Kunama are aware that the Tigrini often buy
it from them in order to sell it at Asmara for a profit.
The week prior, sorghum had sold for 3.50 Birr per measure (approximately 6 kilograms) but
the Kunama were now raising their price to 4 Birr. One Tigrinia woman complained to the
local police who ordered the Kunama man to sell at the lower price. He refused saying he was
forcing no one to buy his sorghum and started packing it on his camel. The Tigrinia policeman
prevented him from leaving, and this led to a fight. The policeman hit the man with his stick;
the man grabbed the stick hitting back the policeman who fell on the ground.
A second policeman, also Tigrinia, shot the Kunama dead on the spot. His brother grabbed the
policeman's gun and ran away firing in the air above the crowd. One Tigrinia girl was
accidentally killed by the policeman who first opened fire (as the stepmother of the girl later
testified) but accusations were directed at the fleeing brother instead.
At that stage, all Tigrini from the town, which the Kunama had assumed were unarmed
civilians, came out equipped with guns and chasing after the man escaping with his empty
gun shot him dead as well. Accounts differ on the numbers of Kunama arrested who were sent
to prison in Barentu in reprisal (figures vary between 9 and 20). Not one Tigrinia was arrested.
A man who put a shroud on the dead man's body in the market place was put in jail for
months. All Kunama up to Om Hager felt deeply over this event, and it reached momentous
proportions as a source of concern.” - D. Lussier, Institute of Social and Cultural
Anthropology, Oxford University 1997. This was the fourth criminal act of the regime towards
the innocent Kunama.
For several and uncountable times, the elders of Eritrean kunama had presented their
resentments about the way they were being treated by the local governor-Mustafa nur Hussein
and the concealed weddi Lemma-the person who did all the atrocities up on the Kunama.
Their leaders, like Germane Naty were spitted on their faces by the junior cadres but
empowered by the regime. After all patience and in the year 1995, leaving the euphoria of
national independence to the rest, determined children of the Eritrean Kunama have left for
the jungle with arms at hands. To curb the struggle emanated from a just cause, the regime
used relegated and sell out elements and had liquidated political and military leaders of the
118 kunama movement, Chachu Weldesillase and Alexander Abdalla. The struggle commenced by
few determined heroes was escalated and intensified with a full organizational skills and a
sufficient military wing. It has attracted an unexpected Kunama youth while the heavy
handedness and suffocation of the regime too has scaled up.
The border war had broken out and the first organizational congress of Democratic Movement
for the Liberation of Eritrean Kunama-DMLEK, has took place in 1998. At the border war
happened for the second round in 2000, the PFDJ regime had imprisoned large number of
Kunama of all walks and sex. The dwellers of Shambakko and Boshoka villages were
selectively targeted so as to clear them from the Gash delta. Great number of elders and
influential figures of the Boshoka, shambakko and Faulina were selected, tortured and
detained in the traditionally hated prison place of Adikuala. Great number of the detained
kunama nationals were killed or disappeared in the prison cells of adiquala leaving their
ancestral lands to the aliens but favorites of the regime. After eliminating all the influential
elements of the respected villages, the regime seized all the fertile agricultural land that
belonged to the local indigenous inhabitants. These innocent but detained Kunama have
nothing wrong on their hands than being Kunama and owning a fertile land. Dahara Musa is a
living witness for this eventuality and she had seen all the crimes committed against her
people in that disgusting prison cell of Adiquala.
Part Five
To escalate and accelerate the cleansing steps more, the regime had poisoned over 28 innocent
Kunama and buried them in mass. The courageous Mengisteab Girmay was the sole person
determined to expose the genocidal actions of the regime. What surprised us, the entire
Kunama was the silent of the Eritrean opposition forces. Except, the few Pal talk rooms,
operated by the Diaspora Eritreans like the Simerrrr and the United opposition room, we did
not see a single room or website posted or discussed this unfortunate and pitiful incident.
Room moderators like, Sanni Falu (Hobay Gabeel), Joker (Yohannis), Mahdi faris, X-FBI,
Lencia are among the prominent nicknames of the individuals that refused to accept the truth
about the atrocities committed up on the kunama people (genocide 2008). Instead of exposing
and condemning the rogue regime with the evidence at hand, their precious time has gone
waste on defending the uneducated bandit-Hamid Idris awate. Portrayed him as intellectual
educated by the Italian government, raised him to the level of a national hero, as the rogue
regime has done, and bullied the Kunama people as undiplomatic to leave or coexist with its
neighbors. In a very Particular way, the Dembe Menisey paltalk room, administered by Joker
and his cohorts, have gone too far on counting and accusing the DMLEK leadership of killing
Kunama people but ignoring the very issue of the poisoned Kunama. Was the blood of the 28
poisoned innocent kunama less than that of the others killed by the organization for the sake
of self defense? How come they don’t talk about these victims instead of advocating for the
ones who have blood on their hand? Thanks to Girmay Kidane (Weddi Filippo) may God bless
him and wishing him of a longer life, was the only Eritrean national who took the case of
Genocide 2008 to the European community desk, attracted the needed attention of the
international community about the regime in violating human and democratic rights in
Eritrea, and the very essence of the regime’s social reengineering and ethnic cleansing
projects. But the thugs of the regime had run fast to put the case off. Still, we are and were
extremely astonished to see not a single opposition political leader had denounced or
contemplated to denounce about the genocide action either during the national conference for
the Democratic change which has taken place in Akaki/Ethiopia,2010. As participants of the
119 conference, we all had expected the genocide 2008 to be included in that political reported
organized sluggishly but no one has mentioned. We didn’t remain idle as to why it was not
included such a big crime while some pity issues were given ample room in the report but no
one is ready to respond. Worse than that, the human right activist, our sister Elsa Chyrum
had worked hard and her relentless efforts in bringing all the crimes of the regime, including
individual cases is always marvelous but we did not find her in this venue for reasons un
known to all Kunama as Eritreans. When told about such a crime, her first request whether
there are Tigringa speakers or Kunama alone and when said the great majorities are Kunama,
she gave her back till the time it was announced by the Tv Dehay under the pressure and
mouth piece of DMLEK and EDA. Our heroine, Elsa Chyrum, the voice for the voiceless too
was locked up to fight for the plight of the Kunama but why? Instead of advocating for the life
of 28 innocent kunama, our great sister has consumed all her time in tackling a squabble and
quarrel of two Eritreans, Haile and Kibrom Debru, but on the side of Haile. This too, is not bad
but could have been nice and modest if she had spent some minutes on the genocide 2008
issue as an Eritrean and human right activist. Our compatriot Eritreans, the theme of all
elaborations is nothing else but as Eritreans and as our name also has disclosed, the Eritrean
Kunama is here now to know as to why all sequential hatred is being waged against? Had and
were not we all together fought the dergi regime to realize our liberty? What is the reason
behind such an awful hatred? Now is the time for the Eritrean Kunama to ask and to gain the
proper feed back from compatriots or its time to design its future fate. How on earth a vivid
and a whole heart trust can be secured while the very essence of mutual respect is blurred in
all its form and contents? Therefore, how the Eritrean Kunama could dare to discuss with the
rest in dealing with the basic principle of “the right of nations and nationalities for self
determination up to and including cessation unless a national consensus is reached among
the subjects of Eritrea?”
The major objective of the regime is of dual nature: one is to annihilate the kunama from the
face of the earth, or the second was to expel all the kunama out of Eritrea and inherit the
fertile kunama land. After the defeat of the 1998 border war the Shabiya regime singled out
the kunama as enemies and made them its primary targets so the kunama for the first time
their history left their ancestral land in mass to neighboring countries of Ethiopia and Sudan
in search of safety and security to their life. Up to now we have seen the major scheme of the
regime to exterminate the kunama people from the face of Eritrea.
Preventing medical care:- In addition to its previous plans of ethnic cleansing of the kunama
nationality, the Shabiya regime prevented proper medical care for kunama children and
kunama mothers. It was exposed fact that the regime currently is listed among the countries
with high infant mortality rate in the world and death of women at child birth. Medicine is out
of stock in the town of Barentu now. According to information obtained the famous Barentu
referral hospital has run out of any kind of medicine, furthermore people can’t get medicine
from pharmacy with their own money. In Barentu patients are forced to spend the whole night
at the hospital gate to see a doctor. The regime prevented the people not to be treated by
traditional medicine. Today the rich flora of kunama land once known for its traditional herbs
and medicine doesn’t exist and can’t provide any of it. The kunama people had extremely
suffered at the hands of the brutal ethnocentric regime of PFDJ.
Denying Access to education:- According to UNESCO people have right to be educated in
their mother tongue. It also clearly put that all governments have the obligation to provide free
primary education to all citizens. The Eritrean regime is signatory of this international law who
120 approved it but doesn’t abide by it. It denied the kunama nationality educational opportunity
and broke an international agreement it had signed so the ruling clique of the regime should
know that one day we will bring them infront of international court. The regime accepted the
division of the kunama people into east and west done by the ELF to implement its segregation
policy of education in kunama community. The regime in violation of UNESCO regulations
forced the kunama in west part of the kunama land to complete elementary education up to
grade five in Tigre language but forced the kunama people in the east to learn up to grade five
in its mother tongue. At last since the two languages in which our kunama children are
educated are not official languages the kunama youth that complete 11 grade can’t get job in
government offices that operate in only Tigryna language that use the Geeze alphabets. All the
systematic subjugation and oppression befallen on the kunama people is to prevent the
kunama from getting aware of and ask their political and social rights. The kunama people
should be aware of the plan of the Shabiya regime is to annihilate the kunama from the face of
Eritrea and stand for their rights and continuity.
Part six
Thwarting of the kunama economy:- The brutal regime had made its plan of destroying the
kunama economically on the it’s fourth organizational congress conducted in town of Nakfa. In
complete contradiction to the truth that the Eritrean kunama are settled agricultural
community it declared them as landless nomads, and their land (the Eritrean Kunama Land
ErKuLaMi) as no man’s land. The regime worked hard to destroy the kunama people’s
economy and make them below all other ethnic communities in Eritrea ever since. Studying
the life of the Eritrean kunama is based on subsistence farming and animal husbandry the
regime started looting the kunama cattle from the beginning when it was in the jungle as
liberation organization. A vivid example was the martyr Oseya Dumam died fighting with
Shabiya bandits that raid his cattle. The cattle raiding continued after independence but it
stopped it after realizing that the everyday crimes committed by its thugs was being exposed
by the DMLEK radio in kunama language and released tow rules: the first rule gives its
soldiers the right to kill any goat or cattle they get for food. They were give orders to use the
excuse that the owner is a DMLEK collaborator to intimidate the people. This way the regime
planned to destroy the kunama economy. The second plan was to reduce the price of domestic
animals to the level that the price of a goat equates with a kilo of coffee, and the price of 5kilos
of sorghum to be equal with the price of three or four goats. For the first time in our history
the kunama people were forced to sell extra grain from their agricultural produce to the
government at a fixed price without their consent. The regime entered our kitchen to search to
see and measure the quantity of our consumption. The regime even ordered the kunama
people to stop their traditional eating habits prohibiting making of traditional food like the
“tukusha” considering that it is takes high amount of sorghum to prepare. To paralyze the
kunama economy based on animal husbandry and agriculture the regime registered all
household animals starting from chicken to camel and collected heavy taxes from each animal.
The farmers suffered the dilemma of selling but the prices are very low and keeping them
proved to be extremely impossible due to the heavy tax. The kunama are confined in all sides
and its existence is threatened. Those who decided to give up on agriculture went looking for
another livelihood; gold sifting. The enemy of the people once again started to sell water for the
miners in order to obstruct the opportunity that the kunama gained to accumulate wealth.
The regime dispossessed the local inhabitants of the water wells they dug with their sweat in
the gold sifting areas and banned them from selling water that was a good source of livelihood
121 for many. The regime’s involvement in water trade had closed job opportunity for many poor
families in the area. The regime also dispossessed the plots of gold sifting area and granted
unrestricted access to its militia and spy units and expelled the kunama from using the
precious resource of its ancestral land ErKuLaMi. We had witnessed many innocent kunama
killed inside the pits buried alive by the brutal soldiers of the regime. We have seen that the
regime tried to commit ethnic cleansing on the kunama nationality by shooting them on the
spot, imprisoning and famine.
Unlike all other Eritrean citizens, the PFDJ regime discouraged the kunama people from
participating in small scale businesses in order to prevent their economic advancement. So far
we saw how the regime planned to annihilate the kunama people since liberation struggle
period till present in order to seize the fertile kunama land. Just as it displaced the kunama
from the town of Barentu the regime started to evict them from all villages and natural homes.
The regime taking ownership of kunama land in its hands is giving land in violation of the long
standing tradition of the kunama measuring it in meters and centimeters. The regime
prohibited the kunama from making charcoal to earn a living but because allowed its followers
to sell it in Asmara the vast forest cover between Haykota and Tesseney is being destroyed
changing area into a desert.
The Eritrean kunama was forced to leave its country and ancestral land and is living in
neighboring countries but the regime didn’t stop its plan of harassment and intimidiation. The
regime followed the kunama people in to the refugee camps and those resettled in third
countries and continued persecution. The PFDJ regime that was punished with sanctions by
the international community due to its destabilizing acts in the horn of Africa region and
destruction of Eritrean life including the ethnic cleansing atrocities on the kunama nationality,
it has planned two things:
1. The regime declared that the kunama people and its leading political organization DMLEK
will be held accountable for any attacks and destruction on the regime from the Eritrean
opposition political organization, and all kunama villages will pay the loss that the regime
might suffer due to the attacks. The Eritrean regime announced this law because of two
reasons:
a) The Eritrean kunama reached the level of economic viability to guarantee its survival and
continuity in its own terms. The kunama people are taking their fate into their hands.
b) To create a source of income by punishing the kunama people since our people refused to
pay the 2% tax and the regimes economy is strangled due to the economic sanctions imposed
by the international community on remittance it collected from the Diaspora Eritreans.
The unjust law was only to single out the kunama people for its annihilation plan. The law was
declared by two of the thugs named Franko Kobaba and another die hard follower named
Hadish and not by mass media. The law was unjust due to two reasons:
The Gash Barka region is inhabited by all the 9 ethnic groups brought from all over Eritrea in
a rush for land grabbing and for the assimilating of the kunama people perpetrated by the
regime. The kunama people alone should not be held accountable and be punished for the
attacks carried out by all Eritrean political groups. All the armed wings of the opposition
political groups operating from the neighboring Ethiopia enter into Eritrea and most military
operations are carried out in Gash Barka region. So if all ethnics are present in kunama land
122 and all opposition political groups operate in Gash then how come only DMLEK and the
kunama people shoulder the responsibility for the loss of the regime? This demonstrates the
hatred the regime has towards the kunama people. The regime is trying to destroy the kunama
economy by obliging the villages to pay huge sum that they can’t afford so that family
members in diaspora would be forced to pay it. This way it is trying to control the kunama
people inside Eritrea through their family members residing in diaspora indirectly making
them pay the 2% tax.
2. The second law punishes the kunama people for using their own fertile ancestral land to
rebuff access to their own farm lands. The regime limited seasonal migration of the kunama
people in search of areas with better season for farming and prohibited the kunama from
cultivating their farm lands in Tole. The people that grow crops in Tole come from the villages
of Uganna, Kedagul, Ashoshi, Mardami, karkasha, Taykanaba, Tole fafa, Tole Gamuja,
Ishisha, Morkina-sanga, Kolloti, Agatit, Kasharba, are-daba are punished with imprisonment
of weeks and a fee of 2 thousand nakfa to be payed within a week just because they went to
Tole to till their land. The regime is engaged to impoverish the kunama people by preventing it
from its subsistence farming activities and by forcing them to pay heavy punishment fees
beyond the capacity of the poor farmers so that the relatives residing in diasopras would be
obliged to help their folks by paying the debt. The regime is indirectly trying to collect the 2%
tax that the Diaspora kunama totally refused to pay. The regime is testing its new plan of
controlling the diaspora Eritreans on the kunama people whether it does work or doesn’t.
besides its cruel treatment of the people forcing them to sell the fruit of their sweat, food
grains on fixed prices, the regime begun to measure the amount of calories that a person
should have per day and started to seize surplus grain that farmers wanted to sell in kunama
areas.
3.The plan of deceiving the kunama people with music and dance:- the regime sent cultural
groups to USA to collect money from the kunama people believing that they love music and
dancing. The plan to deceive the kunama people has failed.
Part seven
The negative impacts of rearming local militias in Eritrea:- the intention to arm and
disarm should be clear and transparent for the entire citizens and the international
community as well to minimize cost deficit balances. Its been for months since the regime has
commenced to arm those elements it has used to see them non loyalists. In order to leave the
legacy of being irresponsible after a visible failure that can be put in a Tigringa proverb
perfectly as “bidihrey sari aytibkolla” the regime has started to arm those once up on a time
disarmed Kunama. As the liberty of our Eritrea is materialized, all Kunama male of 18 years
old is disarmed and made to be easy prey for any attack. The regime after making us empty
handed, entered and controlled all the assets the Kunama farmer has owned including kitchen
utensils and cereals and inflicted them in a way no one can expected. Even though, the
victimized kunama people experienced all sorts of humiliation and mistreatment, were
counting days longing for good ones. Infacts and figures, the regime knew that Kunama had
rebelled from their heart but never contemplated to correct the mistakes and fouls being made
under its order and domain.The crimes did happen to the kunama people are and were
uncountable: What level of oppression and suffering didn’t happen to them? the regime
ordered the arbitrary and in discriminatory execution of up on many innocent Kunamas,
beaten, crippled and thrown into mass graves and any one will come across a Kunama
123 man,woman and a child in any Eritrean prison cells. For the Eritrean Kunama nothing is left,
let alone to ask for group which is very vital for their continuity and survival, individual right
of mobility and traditional land ownership right is totally forbidden. To day, the question of
democracy, as time and again mentioned, became irrelevant and out dated mode of political
struggle not a single kunama will line up to fight but for survival. Having this motive, the
motive of cleansing the Kunama nationality and usurping its land and other assets in mind,
the regime has cleared Kunama elders from Shambakko and Boshoka villages by imprisoning
men women and including their off springs.All the able and versioned and far sighted elders
irrespective of their sex, were maimed and today Shambakko and Boshoka became the villages
of new comers and the left over Kunamas were made slaves of the new comers. It’s a crime
against humanity but no one Eritrean has raised the Kunama issue todate.
The plan of the regime was to clear the Kunama from the Gash delta but still unable to
exterminate the entire population as intended. Un regrettably still, the regime has used all the
legal means to disown a single Kunama housing and farming lands in urban and rural but
ancestral land of Kunama.. The kunama people were also denied equal access for government
job posts mostly no opportunity provided what so ever. The most painful of all is the lack of
medical care that our people are devoid of and are dying from. The partial implementation of
legal aspects against the Kunama and its thugs is un addressable. Neither the law nor the
government stands for the innocent Kunama and they also confirmed that, that is not the
government they expect. That’s the very reason that has pressed the Eritrean Kunama Youth
to raise an arm while the rest and majority Eritreans were in Euphoria. Therefore, for the
Kunama youth, the question of survival is on the front line and priority. Its for the first time in
its history a Kunama family is pressed to leave its ancestral and exiled, take a refugee status
and settled in a third country. While pressing and urging to leave their beloved country and
land, still the regime is chasing and unseating them in neighboring countries and in the third
countries where they are made to settle to pay a 2% percent.
After all the evil atrocities and press-flee projects, the regime through its surrogates, has
destabilized the lives of the innocent and helpless Kunama refugees in where ever countries
they are made to settle. The right to self administration, the right to enjoy equality and equal
treatment in front of law, the right to live in its ancestral land in peace, the right to get a sigh
of relief in the countries where they are made to settle, is utterly prohibited for the Eritrean
Kunama. Having grabbed all the land, its natural resources and making the Kunama a beggar
in its own land, and now its after the Kunama in Diaspora to cheat and collect money under
the name of youth associations and cultural bands and showings. To replace the already
sanctioned 2% scheme, the regime has made the Kunama responsible for any destruction
(human or material) brought by any Eritrean opposition in this area. Knowingly, there are
more than eight Eritrean nationalities, currently, exploiting the Kunama land resources and
living in this area, and there are not less than five Eritrean oppositions waging a war against
the regime and still, the Ethiopian oppositions that are being armed by this rogue regime are
using the Kunama land as a spring board to escalate their actions against but the regime has
deliberately targeting and blaming the Kunama and its vanguard organization-DMLEK.
As youth gatherings and successful congresses have made, the youth conference of Debrezeit
as a case in point and knowing that such political upheavals will threat its continuity, it has
commenced to arm local militias. Not only that, it has sent its disciples to the Diaspora to
challenge the ongoing youth movements. It is planning to convene a youth conference in
Toronto/Canada derail the ongoing positive road to change. Having this in mind and losing all
124 the grounds to cheat the Kunama inside, then, its planning to organize “wegah tible leyti”
musical clubs from the exiled Eritrean Kunama but still failed. The case of the South Dakota
festival is an example. The regime has failed to get a single sell out because they know why
and how they are there. Determined members of DMLEK and the entire Diaspora Kunama had
already established mass organizations and are being scrutiny their entire movements and
activities. The kunama youth should understand the devious schemes and the brutal nature of
the regime from its recent experience of incarceration and oppression. We are proud of being
part of the Debrezeit’s youth conference for four members of the Eritrean Kunama Youth
Association had participated and played their part.
Part eight
After losing the border war that it triggered with Ethiopia, observing the strong youth
movement in Diaspora, the regime has revised his stand of disarming the local militias and
armed them with the intentions and duties enumerated below.
1.
Tracing “enemy’s” footprints and guarding their localities:- After disarming and
humiliating the Kunama for the past 12 years, and now, the regime has is forcing the Kunama
to take arms and trace the movements of DMLEK which is totally un thinkable.. Whose track
are the people being ordered to trace? Isn’t the regime the only enemy of the kunama people?
Who is kidnapping, torturing and incarcerating our people? From who should guard
ourselves? the regime started war with its neighbors, made the youth flee in drones, made
wrong land policies causing animosity between our diversity, prevented indigenous from using
their ancestral lands, it is the regime that deprived our people from living in peace ordering
them to go on rounds to guard, to cultivate the farms of its military leaders, and trace the”
enemy”. In the Kunama ancestral land, there is no enemy to be traced and feared off than the
PFDJ regime it self.
2.
To arouse conflict among farmers of the Eritrean diversity to divide and rule:- In a
land where no one is able to claim, give and take orders but armed with fatal weapons, a
conflict of interests with a bloody out comes is inevitable. Today, the Eritrean regime with all
its capacity is implementing the resolution of the fourth organizational congress Eritrean
People’s Liberation Front (EPLF). To prevent the Kunama from using its ancestral land, all the
villages previously allocated under the sub zone of Shambakko are pulled back to Barentu
subzone and are banned not to till an inch on land in the Shambakko sub zone, an area used
for centuries by the dwellers of the villages named. Today, the fertile farmlands of Kasharba,
Aredaba, Kolloti, Morkina sanga, Agatit, Alibibi valleys are banned for Kunama and if ever
tried to till, its decreed to be fined. Recently, dwellers of Uganna, Kedagul, Ashoshi, Karkasha,
Mardami, Mariti, Taykanaba and Soona Marity are summoned and told not ever ever try to go
to the sites they have been used for hundreds of years. Twelve dwellers of Karkasha village had
tried to till in the Tole area and were fined 2000.00 per a person and forced to pay with in a
week knowing that the relatives of those detained were in Diaspora. The names of the people
from karkasha village who were incarcerated and fined are:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Ayay Alibay
Ummum Ayan
Ari Ila
Nyanyu kunday
Guššu Mahmud
Dagu Mahmud
Addi Antakalfa
Amma Aggar
47 years old married mother of 9 children.
50 years old married mother of 7
“
40 “
“
“
“
5
“
30 “
“
“
“
5
“
41 “
“
“
“
4
“
35 “
“
“
“
5
“
62 “
“
“
“
8
“
65 “
“
“
“
7
“
125 9. Jimati Asannay
50
10. Alawi (Maku)
52
11. Makka Kulle
46
12. Sofiya Kaba
45
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
“
8
9
1
8
“
“
“
“
This is the other tactic of replacing the sanctioned 2% scheme and the international
community is invited here to pay the needed attention. We will wait and see the entire
conspiracy of the state and its surrogates and how the arms will bear the out come. The guns
are supposed and distributed to stand at throats at each. We will see between and among
which nationalities or among which the trigger will go off and what will the reaction of the
reaction of the regime be. It should be underlined and expected too that any lawlessness or
unjust treatment will not be tolerated since arms are at their access.
3.
Increased robbery:- the untrained and ill-skilled farmers are told to train by
themselves a sporadic shootings are being heard all the areas where those militias were
armed. With the arms at hand, a lot of robbery cases are being observed. This too will lead in
to unnecessary social conflict.
4.
Destruction of wild animals:- as mentioned earlier, those militia short of ample
training and skill and with the ambition of to be perfect in targeting and shooting, they are
eliminating wild animals and no one has given a due attention. The government at all odds is
unable to regulate such lawlessness and won’t be capable of harboring such untapped natural
wealth. Those armed militias too should know and understand the devilish plan of local
militias by flash backing the twelve years old intrigue and malicious conspiracies of killing the
one by the other.
It should be known that the Democratic Movement for the Liberation of Eritrean KunamaDMLEK clearly identifies the PFDJ regime as the only enemy of the Eritrean kunama and
doesn’t attack any of the Eritrean ethnics or Kunama militias in the region. DMLEK also
announces that it is not their enemy and calls up on all the militia forces to join arms to
destroy our common enemy the PFDJ regime. We would also like to tell those who are tracking
our organization and its fighters to refrain from their acts and cooperate with us. Our people
should know the main objective of the regime when it started to distribute arms was to cause
internal conflict between the diverse Eritrean societies so that they kill each other while the
regime prolongs its stay on power.
The kunama people no matter deceived for such a long time, by now, they had achieved the
needed elementary political awareness of standing united for their rights. It is beyond the
speculations, for a Kunama, to raise arm and fight because people insulted them as “rat
eaters” or “bela anchuwa” in Tigringa. The regime, still, by now, should know better than ever
that we wouldn’t be deceived with cultural events, sweets or concerts of Dehab Faid Tinga (not
Fatinga). Our enemies abhor the nationality based form of political organization we chose due
to the oppression and brutal treatment that we had suffered. We know that our enemies won’t
close their eyes for a minute to find the chance to crash our organization and unity to make us
their prey and victim once more. The rights of the kunama people that our leading
organization DMLEK demands can’t be fulfilled by the current regime. The Shabiya regime that
believes in war and violence cannot be expected to grant the human and democratic rights of
our people in a peaceful and civilized manner. As a result DMLEK like all other Eritrean
opposition political organizations chose the most effective form of organization and struggle
that the regime understands best to pursue its objectives of ousting and replacing it with a
126 democratic system. We would like to make it clear that our choice to fight the regime both
peacefully and militarily emanates from the regime’s nature that only understands violence.
Points needed clarifications:- In the course of struggle DMLEK is challenged with numerous
issues and points. Among the points that need thorough clarifications, the followings are:
1. As to the current stand and approach as to the Kunama agenda,
2. The stand of DMLEK as to the unity of military wings:-Time and again, DMLEK has
reiterated its stand regarding unity of military wings in such a way that no one will
suspect.
2.1 DMLEK has no problem in culmination military unity with other opposition groups that
possess military wing.
2.2 The gallant DMLEK fighters are units of educating and organizing the kunama people
to rise for their rights.
2.3 Convinced the nationality rights of the kunama people can’t be achieved through
peaceful means, DMLEK will continue its struggle far beyond the collapse of the existing
totalitarian regime of Eritrea until all democratic and human rights of the kunama people
are fully granted.
2.4 The attempt being made to intimidate our people that Eritrea shall become the next
Somalia after the collapse of the regime due to the armed factions is unacceptable. DMLEK
built a strong and disciplined military wing that knows what to do.
2.5 DMLEK would like declare its intention to cooperate with any democratic political
organization that accepts the kunama rights in order to oust the totalitarian regime in any
form of struggle.
2.6 DMLEK would cooperate of with any organization on equal terms the long term
aspirations of Eritrean people.
2.7 DMLEK makes it clear that its leadership don’t hide behind curtains but works with
transparency and truth independent of other Eritrean political or civic organizations.
We urge the kunama youth to get along and fight the brutal regime with their brothers and
sisters in the struggle that are paying their dear life for the survival and continuity of their
people. We also urge the international community to understand the plight of the Eritrean
people and the atrocities perpetrated on the kunama nationality to annihilate them and find a
solution to stop the ethnic cleansing plan of the regime from causing more damage to the
kunama people. We derived a lesson from the Tigray peoples struggle that oppressed people if
they are organized and fight shall not remain without realizing their aspirations of freedom,
justice and equality.
1. The stand of DMLEK regarding the Eritrean sovereignty in relation to its irreversible
principle of self determination of nations and nationalities up to and including to
secession.
2. DMLEK ‘stand on hetto biher.
Conclusion and recommendations:Our Political Divide: Reflection On ENCDC’s Regular Meeting
December 16, 2012December 16, 2012 Amanuel Hidrat
127 Most of us would like to think that one need not be a political junky to have at least a
reasonable awareness of what our opposition camp has confronted with. The consequences of
their incompetence and their willful misconduct of abusing the democratic process of
deliberating issues, has put them in a par to a naked cluster organizations without liability
shield. This is almost a searing reality today as it was two decades ago. In fact it is a
symptomatic of deeply seated ills within our political discourse and has never recovered from
the civil war plunge of the 70s and 80s. Political mistrust and political inefficacy becomes the
order of the day, as leaders of EDA provoked dissatisfaction impulses in the meeting of the
council, that fuels and amplifies political polarization, and of course like smoldering myeloma
slowly doing their killing instinct.
EDA shattered the conventional wisdom and the idea of progress in the second regular
meeting of the ENCDC. By implanting acidulous politics, EDA indeed, became a political
enterprise with a profile of personalities that lacked insight into their own behaviors. With
their mental aberration (attributed to their age) still in the past, rejected any kind of changes.
Apparently, they have become the architect of decay in modern Eritrean politics. For me now,
it has become a moral crusade and a sense of history to write about the complete fiasco of
ENCDC’s second regular meeting.
In crises of competence and perpetual adriftment “Awate the patriot” has become a good
scapegoat; and has prodded to some members of the council to have a ferocious position,
undoubtedly induce catnip (strong attraction) to partisanship, and occasionally spread toxins
(poison) to the entire body of councils. For sure it heralds a fight about the past and a desire to
shake the composition of the council, with a trap set out in a plain sight with its warning sign.
Every council has to take his/her historical responsibilities to determine whether history is
relegated to historians or to this body of councils of the opposition. We know the tested
schemes of the past that are dangerous to our unity and are still persisting in all its facets.
Certainly the scapegoating does not even serve their purpose let alone to the big picture of
national agenda. Therefore our young generation will be compelled by history to challenge this
sour confines of a core-of-recklessness and divisive strategy that has run by EDA.
History And The Custodians Of History
The word history is derived from the Greek word “Historia” which means knowledge obtained
by research or by inquiry. History is a record of the infinite variety of human experience that is
clearly set out for all of us to see and learn. And yes, in that record we can find ourselves and
our country with examples and warnings, good things to be taken as models or idols (keeping
the variables constant), and bad things to be avoided from repetition. Hence every thing must
be captured and located in the general framework of archives in spite of all the difficulties,
paradoxes, and contradictions, in order to respect the unity of history which is the unity of our
life. Cicero had been quoted defining history as “the witness that testifies of the
past, illuminates reality, visualize memory, and provides guidance in our daily life.” So all our
efforts and our approaches is just to do that, to record our memory and illuminate our
realities. In a nutshell history’s only purpose is to educate intelligently of the past.
128 History involves deep research and requires faithfulness to the truth and to the facts.
Historians must study events in their true bearing, close and far, all in their character, all in
their habits, and manners of those who took part in a given specific historical act and
historical epoch to illuminate the event for all of us and the coming. Unfortunately, we are
alive with all the trapping of the present and always bumping on and off into the past as it
happened recently with the history of “Awate the Patriot” who started our armed struggle. No
one in our history as an individual or as a group is immune from being investigated to have
the full picture of our history. No one is. But also no one will change by his own will, in
commemorating of Sept. 1st and Awate every year; because it was the beginning of another
phase in our struggle for self-determination of the Eritrean people. Whether we support it or
oppose it, it is our history… the Eritrean people’s history. Awate has a long history that span
from the 30s to the 60s, and he will not be pristine as human being if we involve deep into
research that requires faithfulness to the truth of his life, to find the examples and warning of
his own act, to teach the young generation as one of the main actors in the Eritrean history.
Anyone who has ostensible purpose to resist for such historical endeavor for that matter will
ultimately condemned by historians for opposing the unity of our history – the bad and the
good.
The Democratic Movement for the Liberation of Eritrean Kunama (DMLEK) has registered their
grievances on “Awate” specifically in the 40s, something historians must look at it diligently to
scrutinize their claims not now, but in the foreseeable future – “the Eritrea of tomorrow.”
DMLEK also has the right to make known the grievances of their ethnic be it by individual or
group for that matter. It is their inalienable democratic right if it is backed by facts and
testimonies. They have the burden to prove for historians.
Who are the custodians of history by the way? Historians are the custodians of history.
Historians collect records as veritable treasure trove of our history. They will preserve every bit
of our history for posterity, so future generations can get glimpse of our struggles and
everything behind the creation we call “the nation of Eritrea.” Our collective history, the role of
individuals and their specific contribution towards our history will be recorded and preserved
by historians in the “National Archive of History” in future democratic Eritrea.
Now, the history of Awate is the history of Eritrean people. It is not the history of specific social
group or religious group. Unfortunately we have seen certain groups acting as the custodian of
awate’s history as if awate doesn’t belong to the rest of us. It is this believes and their
arguments that took the council four days to settle the controversial statement of DMLEK
regarding “Sept. 1st and Awate”; albeit, the decision was unjustifiable and undefendable, and
was totally against the charter and internal bylaws of the Eritrean national council -ENC (see
details how the chairman has reached his decision below).
Arrogance And Rejectionism
The Eritrean politics has been characterized by arrogance and rejectionism for the last 50
years. Many efforts were attempted to bring peaceful co-existence for the warring factions to
allow history to take its natural course, to evolve, and stop the virtual circus of intolerance. Yet
we are still mired with the growing schisms and tensions causing all the miseries the Eritrean
people are facing today. For those who believe on democratic rights and freedom to voice your
grievances, the ENCDC’s move to expel or suspend DMLEK is both exhilarating and scary. As
justification for such anxieties look no further than the chairman of the council who suspend
EGS for a year to satisfy his constituency, is now voted-in by the council almost unanimously
with one vote nay and one vote abstain. This time again DMLEK faced the same fate by a mere
decision of the chairman, (not by a motion of parliamentary process) who asked a vote of
confidence for his decision to suspend the organization for a year.
129 The movements towards expulsion or suspension of DMLEK, was gratifying and instructive for
one section of our political divide, identified by the clapping hands and nodding heads of
approval. Very sad to witness, but that was the reality if we are devoted for the truth so to
speak. It was impossible to imagine otherwise from the ratio of the composition, to reverse the
fate accompli, because it was decided long before we debate the issue. Unfortunately it was a
contrarian streak against “unity and democracy” that hits the bone of my contention in all the
years of my struggle. Perversely enough, EDA doesn’t have even apathy and moral impulse on
marginalized groups, virtually loosing their attachment from the mainstream of our politics.
Many of us, in the process of managing, accommodating, and containing the crises, have made
enormous efforts to bring the two sides to the center from their positions. First we ask the
organization DMLEK to make clear their positions. Like any Eritrean who participated and
martyred in the armed struggle they recognized “Awate’s patriotism” but declined to see him as
“an icon” for the Kunama people. After that they were asked to withdraw their statement and
apologize to the council for raising untimely issue that affected the cohesion of the council.
They accepted the proposal with a caveat and precondition that they will uphold their stands
regarding their position on Awate, while at the same time leaving the issue being relegated to
historians. Sadly enough, There weren’t interest on the other side, instead they call their
constituent to move outside to sign a petition (no body knows its content other than
themselves)….all without the permission of the chairman. Indeed, there was an emotional
breakdown as the crises unfold and became out of hand for sometime until the chairman
decided to call for a recess. After the recess the chairman and his colleagues in the secretariat
decided to form a committee which has legal background to go back and look at the charter
and the bylaws of the baito to find any applicable articles to re-dress the situation. The
committee couldn’t find any article to adjudicate the case and has left the decision for the body
of councils or to the chairman. The chairman at his own risk decided himself to suspend the
organization (DMLEK) and endorsed his decision by asking a vote of confidence to his decision.
Notably, at the end we saw two faces, the rude smiling uploaded with moral slaughter – a
catalyst for spoil and ruins more, and the grimaces of heart breaking startled by piteous groan
loosing the bridging milestone. Disgusted by the decision, most of the council have left Addis
back to their places, and the rest of the agenda was discussed by not more than fifty of the
council body predominantly EDA members.
ENCDC’s Conundrum
The conundrum thus far unanswered is whether there is a room to save the council from the
entanglement of EDA’s trap. ENCDC’s internal problem has gotten worse, seems insoluble,
and often impossible to disentangle from the web of EDA’s grip. The issue of our people, our
nation, our refugees, and issue of human trafficking wasn’t even in the agenda of the council
meeting. The general lack of national urgency to save our people is now become an indictment
against EDA, crystallized by negative sentiment of the public mood. Now, do we need to
proceed in the same track with a set of rutted paths, or do we need a fresh track to intimately
listen the internal impulse of our people? These are the choices as members of the council to
make a conscious self-deliberation and reach a conscious decision.
A historic pivot move: In its latest salvos of an ugly long running battle for the control of
ENCDC, EDA has succeeded in the complete take over of the baito. The path and the cut fromthe-same-cloth prequel is not the way forward, and for sure it isn’t the path for success. Every
flaw in the herky-jerky deliberation was apparently painful for some of us, but also, it was a
gift of oenophiles for those who push the envelope to the limit, from inside and outside forces
to disintegrate the council and in the hope to retain the statuesque. For them it was another
feast for fantasy lovers in which casual fans may not notice the post family feud repurcation.
130 One milestone was lost exclusively by EDA political enterprise. ENCDC was the product of the
two year painful process by the alliances of the Eritrean Diaspora people and the organized
political organizations. It was a two stage process, the “National Conference” and the
“National Congress.” The chairman of the “Commission” and his colleagues have done a
remarkable job to reach one milestone – the formation of “ENCDC” a prototype of
parliamentary body that allows the function of the two pillars of governing bodies – the
“legislative and the executive bodies.” While our charter clearly indicates that the legislative
body has the highest power, and that the executive is accountable to the legislative, EDA
defied with effective resistance to disarray the function of ENCDC. EDA saw the none-political
entities (the civic societies and individual citizens in the council) as subservient group of mass
organizations who exclusively promote for EDA’s agendas, and as such, they believe the
executive body has the highest power than the legislative. Simply they employ the politics of
unthinking reflex to react against new ideas and new structure that elevate the stature of our
politics.
On the flip side, balancing the good grapes became impossible with a blared common identity.
The virtual pillars of my dream for possible bridging weren’t there as I searched day in day out
for four days in the meeting. There was none. In Dec. 03, 2009 I wrote an article titled “nature
abhors a vacuum: Searching pillars for bridging” based on “optimism of the will” to borrow the
motto of Antonio Gramsci. Since then I was searching “social pillars” for bridging, and I had
hope that finally there will be some from the process of “wa’ela” and “Gubae” to build social
channels, to share insights, and identify social influencers that facilitate the bridge of coexistence; Albeit there wasn’t identifiable capacity to meet the challenge from the body of
councils that has inherent gap of understanding on what is to be done. As a result, the
turbulence of Eritrean unity continues and the culture of rejectionism became a recurring
theme throughout the play as an art of mystification and subterfuge. Right now EDA is inert
and ENCDC is entangled in EDA’s nest. As of now, my hope and my last bet are our young to
have their own movement and their own organization to move the ball of our politics into the
heart of our nation. History is compelling them to take the stock of our politics. Hurry up!
Heed the call….our youth.
Disclaimer: This view or opinion do not necessarily represent anyone, it is strictly the opinion of
the author.
[email protected]
Comments
Our Political Divide: Reflection On ENCDC’s Regular Meeting — 2 Comments
Zelku_Dia on December 17, 2012 at 9:05 am said:
1.
Ummm
“..In crises of competence and perpetual adriftment “Awate the patriot” has become a good
scapegoat; and has prodded to some members of the council to have a ferocious position,
undoubtedly induce catnip (strong attraction) to partisanship, and occasionally spread toxins
(poison) …”
Why do you need the words if you have to put their definition in brackets? why don’t you just
use those in brakets.
Is this a competation with “Wquato” or what?
131 Reply ↓
2.
wedi awate on December 17, 2012 at 2:34 am said:
Minisay (Youth) Hidrat: You are indeed waging a crusade. Shame on you. A question for you .
who was the oldest person (crusader) in that meeting?
ኣበይ ኣለና ናበይከ ንሰጉም?f
Last Updated on Sunday, 16 December 2012 17:45Written by ብኣርዓዶም በርሀSunday, 16 December
2012 17:42
ነዚ ኣርEስቲ’ዚ ሒዝና ‘’ንሕና’’ ዝብል ሰዋስዋዊ ቃል ኣምሪሕና Iና ነዚ ሕቶ’ዚ ነልEል ዘለና። ንሕና ክንብል Eንከለና ብመንጽር’ቲ ንነብሮ
ዘለና ፖለቲካዊ ህይወት ብሓፈሻ ኤርትራውያን ብፍላይ ድማ Eቶም ኣብ ደንበ ተቓውሞ ነዚ ኣብ ሃገርና ዘሎ ኩለ-መዳያዊ ሕማቕ ዘበን ናብ
ሰናይ ዘበን ንምቕያር ንቃለስ ዘለና ማለትና ምዃኑ ርዱE’ዩ ዝብል Eምነት ኣለና።
‘’ኣበይ ኣለና?’’ ክንብል Eንከለና ቀንዲ ቆላሕታና ዘለናዮ ቦታዊ ኣቕጣጫ ንምምልካት ዘይኮነስ፡ ዘለናዮ ፖለቲካዊ ሃለዋት ሃሰስ ንምባል Eዩ።
ብመንጽር Eዚ ፖለቲካዊ ሃለዋትና Eቲ ዓበይቲ Eማማት ብናEሽቱ ዛEባታት ዝተዓብለለሉ፡ ምክEኣልን ምጽውዋርን ብቕርሕትን ዘይመሰረታዊ
ህልኽን ዝተኸወለሉ፡ ናይ Eማማት ቀዳምነታት ኣሰራርዓ ግምጥልሽ ኣብ ዝኾነሉ፡ ኣብ ነንሕድሕድ ፖለቲካዊ ውድባትናን ማሕበራትናን ዘሎ
ዝምድና ኣዝዩ ኣሻዅ ኩነታት ኣብ ዝወደቐሉ፡ Iና ንርከብ ዘለና ምባሉ ገላጺ ኣቀራርባ’ዩ።
ምስ Eዚ ኩሉ ዘይጽፉፍ ኩነታትን ዝተዘባረቐ ኣተሃላልዋን ደንበ ተቓውሞ “ሕጂ’ውን ነዚ ኩነታት ግቡE ናይ ቃልሲ መልክE ኣትሒዝና
ንቕድሚት ክንቅጽል Iና’’ ዝብል ዘይተጸንቀቐ ኒሕ ሓሓሊፉ ዝረA ምዃኑ ኸዓ ተስፋ ዝህብ Eዩ። ኩሉ ውድባትን ማሕበራትን ህልዊ ኩነታቱ
ከም ዘየEግቦን ዝሓሸ ክሰርሕ ኣለኒ ዝብል ሕልና ከም ዘንጸባርቕን ካብቲ በብግዜU ዝተፈላለየ ኣጋጣምታት Eንዳተጠቐምካ ዝወጽE
መግለጽታት ምርዳE ይከኣል። ከምዚ ዓይነት ኒሕን ሕልናን ምህላዉ ጽቡቕ’ዩ። Eንተኾነ ተግባር ኣብ ዘየሰነዮ ሕልምን መብጸዓን ምንባር ፍረ
የብሉን። Eቲ ዝያዳ ዘሰክፍ ድማ ሎሚ ንEዘቦ ዘለና ኩነታት ሃገርናን ህዝብናን ግዜ ዝህብ ዘይዃኑ Eዩ። ብዙሓት ከም ዝሰማምEሉ ኣይኮነዶ
ካብ ሕጂ ንድሕሪት ናይ Eንይንይ ግዜ ክህልወናስ ናይቲ ክሳብ ሎሚ ኣባኺናዮ ዘለና ግዜ’ውን ሰብ Eዳ Iና።
Eቲ ሕጂ ዝድለ ዘሎ ካብቲ ዘለኻዮ ንቕድሚት ፍሑኽ ምባል ዘይኮነስ ብነዊሕ ምኹባE Eዩ። ነዚ ናይ ኩብO Eማም ክንፍጽም Eንከለና ከም
መሰረታዊ ተደላይነት ዘኾብE ዓቕሚ ምውናን ናይ ግድን Eዩ። Eዚ ሓይሊ Eዚ ድማ ናይ ህዝቢ ናይ ለውጢ ደገፍ ብምርካብ Eምበር ኣብ
ጸቢብ ውድባዊ ወይ ማሕበራዊ ክሊ ጥራይ ብምኹዳድ ዝጥረ ኣይኮነን። ነዚ መሰረታዊ ናይ ለውጢ መሳርሒ ንክትረክብ Eምበኣር ኣብ ልብን
ቀልብን ህዝቢ ግቡE ዘይሃስስ ቦታ ክትረክብ ይግባE። Eዚ ህዝባዊ ጭርሖ ብምጭራሕ ዘይኮነስ ቀልቢ ህዝቢ ብዝመልስ ተግባር ጥራይ Eዩ
ዝርከብ። Eቲ ቀንዲ ፈተነ ደንበ ተቓውሞና Eምበኣር ነዚ ብቑE ኮንካ ምቕራብን ዘይምቕራብን Eዩ። ክሳብ ሕጂ ነዚ ብዝምልከት ድኽመት
ደንበ ተቓውሞና ኣዝዩ ገዚፍ Eዩ።
ነዚ ወሳኒ ናይ ለውጢ መሳርሒ ምስ ወነንካ፡ ምኹባE ክትጅምር Eንከለኻ ዝመጽE ካልE ወሳኒ ጉዳይ በየናይ መንገዲ ናብ ኣየናይ ኣቕጣጫ
ምኹባE ትመርጽ ዝብል Eዩ። Eቲ Eትመርጾ መኾብI መንገዲ ናብቲ ኣብ ቀዳምነታት ቅድሚት ዝስራEካዮ፡ ዓብይ ጉዳይ ዘምርሕን ክኸውን
ናይ ግድን’ዩ። ካብዚ ሓሊፉ ኣብ ምEዋት Eዚ ዓብይ ጉዳይ ከማኻ ረብሓ ዘለዎ፡ መኻይዲ ኣካል ኣለሊኻ ምምራጽ ካልE ወሳኒ ተግባር’ዩ።
ምስዚ መኻይድኻ ዝፍጠር ዝምድና ዘተኣማምን ምEንቲ ክኸውን Eቲ መስርሕ ካብቲ ቀዳምነት ዝወሃቦ ዓብይ ጉዳይ ምንጻር ክጅምር
ይግበO። ካብU ሓሊፉ ናይ ሓደ ሓይሊ ቀዳምነት ምውጋድ ስርዓት ህግደፍ ኮይኑ፡ ናይቲ ካልE ወገን ቀዳምነት ግና ናይ ብሄረሰባት ናይ ምንጻል
መሰል ምርግጋጽ ወይ ብሸሪዓ ዝምራሕ ናይ ዝምስረት መጻI መንግስቲ ውሕስነት ምርካብ Eንተ ኾይኑ Eዞም ሓይልታት Eዚኣቶም ኣብ ሓደ ናይ
ዓወት መንገዲ ምስላፎም ኣጸጋሚ Eዩ ዝኸውን።
ኣብዚ ‘’ንቕድሚትስ ንሰጉም ግና ኣየናይ መንገዲ ንምረጽ?’’ ዝብል ሕቶ ክንምልስ Eንከለና፡ ክሕግዙና ካብ ዝኽEሉ’ሞ ብግቡE
ከነቕልበሎም ካብ ዝግበኣና ብዙሓት ጉዳያት፡ ንዓና ከም ናይ ለውጢ ሓይልታት ዝምልከቱናን ንህዝቢ ዝምልከቱን ዛEባታት ምንጻር፡ ናይ
ጉዳያት ቀዳምነታትን Eዋናውነታትን ብንጹር ምስኣል፡ ናይ ታሪኽ Eሱራት ዘይምዃን፡ ብናይ ብዙሓት ርIቶ Eንዳተመራሕካ ናይ ውሑዳት
መሰል ድማ ምኽባር ….. ወዘተ ዝብሉ ከም ኣብነት ዝጥቀሱ Eዩም።
132 ክብርን ዝኽርን ንሰማEታትና
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Qernelios’ Organization Is Still Venting Malignant Poison
October 3, 2012October 3, 2012 Children Of Kunama In Sudan
An Alert From The Children Of Kunama Living In The Sudan
We the children of Kunama living in different locations of the Sudan, indicate that the
statement issued by Qernelios’ organization dropped on us like a thunderbolt. The statement
has undermined an important symbol among our symbols, the commander of the first spark of
the Eritrean of the revolution, Hamid Idris Awate, and we are stunned, like all the other
struggling Eritrean people, by the heinous crime.
Throughout the past few weeks, we have been following, and still follow, the denunciations and
condemnations coming from all directions of Eritrea, including from organizations, parties and
individuals, etc. And now, we would like to bring the following to the attention of everyone:
1. Some might say that the Kunama didn’t utter a word about this issue, therefore, we would
like to warn those who might think so, that we are not a society secluded from the Eritrean
society and its political activities as Qernelios’ organization wants us to be. we are part and
parcel of the Eritrean social fabric, and we share its national pulse. Therefore, everyone should
know that we share the same views that were expressed in the statements of condemnation
and convictions that were issued by the political movements, and the different writings that
expressed the views of honorable activists, who are protective of the history and sacrifices of
the Eritrean people in general.
2. We warn those who are not aware of the sabotaging actions of Qernelios’ organization that it
is still venting its poison in the Kunama language, through the bi-weekly radio program that is
assigned to it. Anyone who listens to the broadcast knows that what was mentioned in their
statement is the tip of an iceberg. Therefore, it is important that this malignant voice, that
sows discord and hatred among the Eritrean people, and distorts its struggle and sacrifices, is
silenced as soon as possible. We the children of Kunama will do everything at our disposal, be
it through our political organizations or with everyone else outside it, to thwart the dangerous
propaganda that is being broadcast in the name of the Kunama, and we declare our innocence
from it.
Qernelios’ organization neither wants to recognize the struggle of the Eritrean people nor
acknowledge the role of the children of the Kunama in its forefront, who gave their lives for the
glory and dignity of the Eritrean people. On this occasion, we remember with pride and
133 reverence, all the martyrs of the Eritrean revolution and especially (for those who do not know
or do not want to know the martyred heroes of Eritrean revolution) the first children of the
Kunama who accompanied our Martyr Hamid Idris Awate: Martyr Abdullah Idris Hetin and
Osman Awla from Shembeko who were martyred in the battle Halhal in the sixties; Martyr Abu
Shiba from Megola in Antory and other star martyrs who fed the Eritrean land with their pure
blood. Qernelios and whoever listens to his propaganda should know that the children of the
Kunama are the pioneers of the revolution and its heroes, not its victims as Qernelios’
propaganda perceives them. And we would like to mention the names of Nati Sherfi, Araro
Ella, Adam Sadol, Bashay Boso Lowe Fikak, Abdullah Kasho, Saeed Alashi (Abu Riha),
Mahmoud Jamal (Brasho) Musa Arey, Alamin Ismail, Abusho Anagary, Omar Ferot, Hamid
Ferot, Saleh Jamal, Mussa Arey, Alamin Ismail, Mantai Aqina, Hassen Dinay, Osya Damam
…., and the list is too long. It starts with the beginning of the struggle and stretches until
liberation day. The children of Kunama were leaders and heroic combatants, and all the
battlefields and courageous operations testify to that.
3. We do not want to say much about the slander of Qernelios’ organization regarding the most
important symbol of the revolution because they are either unaware of or ignore the history of
Awate. We also see no need for repeating what was written about Awate’s history by different
entities to refute the lies. Awate is innocent of their slanderous accusation and his history is
known to everyone: let alone to inflict damage on the Kunama, who are his blood and flesh
and amongst whom he lived, he never cross to do evil on others. On the contrary, he was the
protector of his Kunama kin, their property and honor; and he is known for his honesty and
his zeal by everyone. Does Qernelios and his ilk know that Awate’s father lived all his life
among the Kunama until the last days of his life, and that he died in their midst, and that his
grave is in Endagat in Dkumbia?
We think it is enough to tell Qernelious the following: Do you think by fabricating crimes you
can erase from the collective memory of the Eritrean people in general and the memory of the
Kunama in particular, the crimes committed against them by the likes of your father, Osman
Agar, the client of the occupational Ethiopian government, who was one of the officials who
exterminated the people of Megola village, where 85 Kunama were gathered near Mt. Mussa
where they were killed in an ugly and chilling way? This incident happened in 1967, one
month after the massacre of Ad-Ibrahim–and what bigger offense than that had befallen the
Kunama?
Finally, we call on all Eritreans, particularly the children of Kunama at home and abroad,
especially the youth, to adhere to their history of struggle, and challenge everyone who tries to
tamper with their history, to create discord among them, and to undermines the struggle that
they are waging to remove the autocratic regime that the Eritrean people is suffering from, by
creating imbalance in the functions of the priorities of this time.
Long live the memory of September and its leader Martyr Hamid Idris Awate
Eternal glory and to our faithful martyrs
Translator’s note: this translation is translated by the Awateteam based on the original Arabic
statement, if there any errors in translating names of people and places they are
unintentional.
134 Comments
Qernelios’ Organization Is Still Venting Malignant Poison — 60 Comments
1.
YAY on October 10, 2012 at 9:14 am said:
Dear All: What does “SHIFTA” mean in Eritrea and/or Ethiopia?
According to Aregawi Berhe, “Revisiting resistance in Italian-occupied Ethiopia: The Patriots’
Movement (1936-1941) and the redefinition of post-war Ethiopia” in JON ABBINK, MIRJAM
DE BRUIJN & KLAAS VAN WALRAVEN, eds. RETHINKING RESISTANCE: Revolt and Violence
in African History, BRILL LEIDEN • BOSTON, 2003, pp. 95-96.
“During the 1935-1936 war, behind the lines declared ‘liberated’ by the Italians, hundreds of
Patriots emerged in their respective localities to wage a war of resistance in defiance of the
occupation. While conventional battles were raging in central and southeastern Ethiopia,
Tigray, the first province to be occupied in northern Ethiopia, became the first battleground for
the Patriots.
They operated in small groups, not far from their respective localities. [....]
The Patriots, now referred to as shifta by the Italians, were liable to be hunted down. The word
shifta can be translated as ‘bandit’ or ‘outlaw’, but in the traditional Ethiopian [and/or
Eritrean Habesha] context the concept of shifta was much broader than what the Italians
wanted it to mean. To be a shifta meant to rebel against someone in authority or against an
institution that had failed to render justice. To become a shifta was also generally accepted as
a means of bringing grievances to the attention of the people in order to gain sympathy when
higher authorities had failed to deliver justice or rights customarily due. Usually a shifta
emerged from the noble classes and had some form of wider, critical vision on the social order
that enabled him/her to express, in words or in action, real or perceived injustices and
responses to the situation. The commitment to deliver justice that was initially denied is
embedded in the concept of shifta, although a shifta may him/herself not necessarily be free
from wrongdoing. Thus shiftinnet (being a shifta) in its diverse forms had an important social
function and was one form of ‘conflict resolution’.[20]
In Ethiopia, visionary and assertive individuals who started as shifta had risen to the level of
kingship, thus legitimizing the concept of shifta itself. Two late nineteenth-century shiftas,
Kassa Hailu of Gondar and Kahsai Mircha of Tigray, had passed through this political
evolution to become Emperors Tewodros and Yohannes in succession. Thus ‘the shiftas formed
the military elite and became the core of the resistance, using their military skills against the
Italians’.21 A shifta, however, whose acts surpassed the socially acceptable norms would be
called t’era-shifta and would be regarded as a highwayman or a malefactor and be denied the
affection of the people. The Italians understandably preferred to label the Patriots t’era-shiftas
of the criminal type.
Nevertheless, to be described as a shifta, especially in the event of Italian occupation, was an
honour for an Ethiopian and this was how resistance started and spread. A commonly sung
lyrical poem in the region at that time went:
Adi tefiu, adi’do yewaal’ye,
Beti Hatsur akiblini meneshiraye,
135 Ne’merebey iye ne’merebey!
In a lost country, you cannot stay a day,
Through the fence, throw me the gun,
I should go to Merebe, oh my Merebe!22
There were many such popular songs, which were in effect traditional calls for resistance
before the official call came. Officially, though, on 9 December 1935, the Ethiopian Minister of
War, Ras Mulugeta Yigezu, issued an order to all the chiefs of northern Ethiopia to carry on
with ‘patriotic resistance against the Italians for taking away the independence of Ethiopia’.23
While a guerrilla war, which had basically been the tactics of the shifta, was underway in the
north in 1936 where the enemy had assumed full control, conventional battles were still raging
in the centre, particularly around Addis Ababa….
[Foot notes:]
15 Haddis Alemayehu, Tizita (Addis Ababa, 1985), 151 & 163.
16 A fitawrari is a commander of the advance guard.
17 An agafari is a master of ceremonies at the royal court.
18 A kegnazmach is a commander of the right wing.
19 A woizero is the title for a woman; a lady.
20 T. Fernyhough, ‘Social Mobility and Dissident Elites in Northern Ethiopia: The Role of
Banditry, 1900-1969’, in ‘Proceedings of the Symposium on Rebellion and Social Protest in
Africa’, April 22-24, African Studies Program, University of Illinois (unpublished, 1982), 1.
21 A. Sbacchi, Legacy of Bitterness: Ethiopia and Fascist Italy, 1935-1941 (Lawrenceville, N.J.,
1997), 182.
22 The Merebe is a long river gorge that gave shelter to shiftas and from where they could
launch attacks on the enemy.
23 Sbacchi, Legacy of Bitterness, 165.”
Reply ↓
2.
Dear All: Hamid Udriss Aawate’s ethnicity, family, escape, etc.
Re: [DEHAI] More on Hamid Awate & a Big NO!….
Wed, 10 Sep 1997 13:42:49 -0400
….Dear Paulos, Elias and Dehai:
First of all, Hamid Awate was NOT from Nara (Baria) tribe. Unless, your sources were thinking
of Ibrahim Totil. Hamid Idris Awate was from the smallest tribe of BinAmir called `habereda’.
This tribe lived mainly in the Gash region – South of Haicota/Tessenei down to OmHager, and
between the borders of the Sudan in the west & Ethiopia in the east. Beside the BinAmir, the
Lebbet & the Kunama/Bazen inhabit the area.
Initially, Hamid Awate was shifta/rebel. As it was said by a dehair, his main purpose was to
fight the Hadendua & Zubed who were coming from the Sudan into Eritrea to steal cattle and
camel. When he succeeded in stopping the thieves from coming to his area, he became self136 appointed governor of Gash region. People liked him & believed in his judgment. There was no
tax levied, but people provided free food whenever he and his group arrive. Hamid was totally
against any shifta member who was using his fire arm to take anything from the local people.
He use to tell his men and others that if they were brave enough, to go and fight the Hadendua
& Zubed of the Sudan.
Beside Awate’s group, there were two other groups in the lowlands – that’s Barka and Gash
region. One group was led by MoHamed Hamid and the other group was led by Ali BinTaz.
MoHamed Hamid was as popular as Hamid Awate. his area of fighting the British Police was in
the Barka region – Akurdat and surroundings. In the late 40th he was defeated and caught by
the British Police. Did they kill him? No. He was made the district officer(DO) in Kerkebet, a
small town not very far from Akurdat.
The two men, Awate & Hamid respected each other very much, but not Ali BinTaz. BinTaz’s
group was robbers. Hamid Awate disliked BinTaz so much that he chased him & his group out
of Gash region whenever was possible. BinTaz was sending Awate threatening letters written in
Italian language. Awate had fair knowledge of Italian, but could not read or write the language.
I am not sure who was reading the letters to him, but one of the letters was read to Awate by
my father. My father use to farm and trade in the Gash area I mentioned above. The story I am
presenting today I was told by no one else, but my father and listening to him telling the same
stories to other people over & over again.
Correction: There was a group of four shiftas in the Barka/Gash region and not three only.
The fourth one was a Kunama group, from Barentu area, led by Kalala. For your surprise, he
was killed by Awate himself in the area that was declared to be Awate’s. More or less around
the same time there were well known shifta leaders in other parts of Eritrea. Among them,
were Hagos Temnewo of SenHit, and Asresei of Seraye.
In early 50s, the Nigus (king) of Ethiopia declared mercy on all shiftas. People were tired of
Italian & British rule and believed that this African (nigus) was God fearing leader. Awate
stopped being a rebel. He had great hope for peace to be restored in his area. He(Awate) got
married and settled in a place not very far from a small village called Gherset – a Kunama
village. He had one son. I believe he’s still alive. In the fall of 1959, Major Abdulgadir Maselem
of the Gherset police station got an order from Tessenei to threaten and /or arrest Awate.
Major Abdulgadir sent Awate three letters, telling him to come and report to the police station
on his own or else…; indicating the third letter was the last and final one before forcing
themselves into his place & arrest him. Nobody knows Major Abdulgader’s intent as to why he
did not go ahead and arrested Awate without warning him, but people believed that he did not
want to arrest Awate, and wanted him to leave the area, which he did.
Awate took his `abu Ashera’(gun), left his family behind and went back to the wilderness.
Imagine folks, at that time when no one knew as to what was going to be done, he left his own
son & his wife behind to fight for his own and his people freedom. One thing that I can never
forget is what the police force in Tessenei did to Awate’s wife and her son, an incident I
witnessed myself. I believe it was in the rainy season of 1960. I was a young boy. The Tessenei
police force sent home of its officers to Gherset to arrest Awate’s wife and bring her into town.
She came with her son. They also brought Awate’s cattle, sheep, goats and horses to be sold at
an auction. The Cruelty: the policemen ordered Awate’s wife and her son, who was about 6
years old, to stand in the blaze of the sun, while they were conducting auctions. The policemen
who were in charge of the auction were Eritreans, and the auctioneer was a Somali. I can
hardly imagine how I would feel, if the same thing had happened to my family.
Thanks,
Solomon Paulos
137 AFTER THOUGHT:
The South, South-East of Eritrea is mainly inhabited by Kunama/Bazen tribe. They are known
as Bazen among Tigre language speakers & Baza in Arabic. As I described above, the area I am
talking about is south of Haicota/Tessenei, about one hour drive from either town, and north
of OmHager. And east of Galuj to the border of Ethiopia. Just to enlighten you on this, I am
not talking about Barentu/Tokhombia Kunamas. If you go south of Haicota or south east of
Tessenei you would find small villages like Fanco, Arguji(Upper & lower),Gherset(Hamid
Awate’s home village), Janitti, Odar, Inguleb, Iyifafa, Akaten, Emelli, Magula or Magbula, and
Tabeldia. All these villages, with the exception of Tabeldia, are Kunama villages. They are not
very far from Galuj. Few months ago I had no opportunity to respond to Araya Kasa’s postings
on Kunama people, but I remember him saying: `two Kunama men appeared from nowhere’.
That happened, I believe, while Araya was in an area between Galuj and OmHager. Their
tradition & social life is more or less like the Barentu Kunama, but their language is slightly
different. Religion wise, they are animist, but those who practice religion do believe in Islam.
No Christians. Just like their brothers and sisters in Barentu area, they are very good in
handcraft & very hard working people. Although they own cattle, sheep and goats, their main
source of income is through farming.
Reply ↓
3.
Dear All: More on Hamid I. Aawate and “shiftanet”
Hamid Idriss Aawate and “SHIFTA (BANDITRY) AND ETHIOPIAN INVOLVEMENT” according to
Tekeste Negash (Ph.D., History), in ERITREA AND ETHIOPIA: The Federal Experience.(1997,
2005). Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, NJ. pp.61-65.
A few words on Tekeste Negash: Tekeste is an Eritrean by origin but an Ethiopian by ideology.
He believes that a “nation” is not a recent phenomenon as the West tell us because the
Aksumite Empire was already “a nation-state”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGOBNAaOQQ8
He probably is also the old Unionist Party’s staunchest ideologue still alive. Tekeste is not
happy that Eritrea is independent or, at least, seems to be a contrarian regarding the cause of
Eritrean independence and Eritrean liberation movements, particularly the EPLF, that made it
a reality. Yosief Ghebrehiwet ‘s conceptual arguments seem to be in line with those of Tekeste
‘s. He wrongly and arrogantly believes that there is a “crisis of identity and of a generalized
analytic incapacity among many Eritreans in all walks of life.” His theory is that,
“The core of Eritrea´s political, cultural and economic identity is based on colonial premises.
The first premise stated that Eritrea had a more developed economic infrastructure than
Ethiopia. It has been repeatedly argued that the forced union of Eritrea with Ethiopia turned a
hitherto prosperous economy into a poor province/colony within the Ethiopian imperial
framework. The struggle for the independence of Eritrea was thus motivated and justified by
this kind of reading of economic history. The second premise closely interlinked with the first
stressed that the Eritreans are superior (in terms of cultural and political sophistication) to
other Ethiopians. Here it is important to note that the comparison is always made with
Ethiopia and Ethiopians. The neighbouring countries like Somalia and Sudan did not function
as identity markers. The third premise (related indirectly to the culture of war extensively used
by colonialism) emphasized the invincibility of the EPLF (the armed movement that succeeded
to pull Eritrea away from Ethiopia). The failure of the Ethiopian army in 1988 eventually led to
138 the breakdown of authority within the Ethiopian armed forces. Military/cum political
historians such as Basil Davidson compared the Ethiopian debacle to what the French
experienced in Vietnam in 1954. Neither the EPLF nor its Western supporters did however
mention the crucial support of the (TPLF) Tigrean Peoples Liberation Front.”
http://asmarino.com/en/articles/242-the-dilemma-of-eritrean-identity-and-its-futuretrajectories
Anyway, here is Tekeste Negash ‘s perspective on Hamid and “shiftanet”:
“The word shifta included all those who for political or other reasons fled [from the law] to the
bush and were sufficiently armed to defend themselves. Throughout the 1942-52 period, three
types of shifta are discernible. The first type of shifta included those who ran away [from the
law] for personal or clan reasons. They were mostly engaged in clan feuds. The second type
were shifta originating from…Tigrai and were purely motivated by the ease by which people in
Eritrea were robbed and their livestock stolen. The third type of shifta were those who openly
declared their motive, firstly, to free Eritrea from both the Italian rule and the possibility of its
return, secondly, to unite Eritrea with Ethiopia. they harassed Italians and other enemies of
the U[nionist] P[arty]. All of these shifta lived by stealing from the population. [...]
The shifta activity that outlived the BMA [British Military Administration] was the first type,
i.e. those who ran away for personal or clan reasons. The most notorious among these shifta
was Hamid Idris Awate of Beni Amer origin. Idris Awate began his career in early 1942 and by
1948 his army may have numbered about 50. His main activity was to raid the Kunama and
Baria [or Nara] people In the middle of the 1950, he participated in the clan feud between the
Beni Amer and the adjoining districts of Hamassien, namely Liban and Anseba. Idris Awate
was one of the three shifta leaders about whom the British were most concerned. In 1949 the
BMA offered a considerable sum as a reward for the capture of Idris Awate, dead or alive.
[Eritrean Weekly News (EWN), December 17, 1949]. Idris Awate was not the only one. Many of
the pastoral and semi-pastoral communities in Eritrea had their own shifta men in the
territory. The Assaworta had Ramadan Suleman [EWN, April 8, 1948;]; the Afar had Ahmed Ali
Mohamed [Zemen, February 6, 1953]; the Kunama had Humed Hufan [EWN, January 27,
1949]; and the Marya had Mohamed Omer [EWN, February 10, 1949]. Together these shifta
leaders may have had an army comprised of between 400 and 500 men.
Idris Awate surrendered in 1951 at the time when the British, after muddling around for
nearly a decade, devised the efficient decree 104 of 1951 where entire villages were held
responsible for shifta crimes committed by their members. [EWN, August 16, 1951. It is in this
article that we know that Hamid Idris Awate had been a shifta since 1942]. [....]
The second type of shifta activity…continued…until 1953. …In a leading article entitled “Do
not do unto others what you do not want done unto you,” the editor of the official newspaper
of the Eritrean government wrote that for the past several years the people of …Tigrai had
treated Eritrea as a haven for the accumulation of instant wealth [Zemen, August 11, 1953].
The young people of Tigrai were encouraged and challenged to go to Eritrea as shifta and
become wealthy rather than lounge around in poverty at home. [....]
The third type…was that carried out by people who gave political motives for their
actions….The goal of these shifta was the termination of Italian rule and the reunification of
Eritrea with Ethiopia. Since the main objective of the politically motivated shifta was shared by
the UP and the Ethiopian government, it was convenient for the British to point an accusing
finger at the Ethiopian state. … the British were cautious (due to their daily exposure and
knowledge of the reality)….[FO371/73789, December 8, 1949 "...ardent unionists insist on
regarding themselves as Ethiopians and not Eritreans."]. …..
139 The BMA gave three reasons for the origins and spread of the shifta phenomenon. The
first…was the widespread uncertainty that prevailed in the country as to its future. …the fate
of Eritrea remained an open question….
The second reason…was to a large measure due to the campaign carried out by the Italian
community in Eritrea….to rule Eritrea after the withdrawal of the British. The Italian
community provoked the UP sympathizers to resort to political terrorism.
The third reason…was the assistance the shifta received from the Ethiopian state. … The
Ethiopian state, it appears, was implicated in the eyes of the British with the shifta
phenomenon not so much for its active assistance, but because it upheld the same objective
as that of the political shifta, namely, the union of Eritrea with Ethiopia. The politically
motivated shifta activity came to an end soon after the UN resolution federated Eritrea became
known at the end of 1950….”
Reply ↓
4.
YAY on October 8, 2012 at 12:34 pm said:
Dear All: What could have caused the conflict between Hamid Idriss Aawate & Co and certain
section(s) of the Kunama?
Those Kunamans who accuse Hamid Idriss Aawate as enemy are not describing the real cause
for the “bitter” conflict. They just would like to present themselves only as Hamid’s victims.
They are dead silent on the origin of the conflict; and that lacks transparency. Withholding the
initial point(s)of conflict does not show the readiness for dialogue or reconciliation. Only
providing us with the alleged “crimes” oh Hamid I. Aawate is not going to do it. According to
Jordan Gebre-Medhin’s research the initial reason(s) for the conflict is as follows:
“The immediate cause of the war between the Kunama and Beni-Amer was the breakdown of
the migration and settlement rule that had guided certain tribes of the Kunama and a section
of the Beni-Amer. For some centuries a section of the Beni-Amer had migrated via established
routes to and from a dry weather encampment along the banks of the Gash River. Because of
population growth, and economic and social development, certain Beni-Amer began to settle
permanently at the Gash River site. The Kunama, angered by this, began to wage war and a
civil war broke loose. This explanation, given by the BMA and by the US consul in Eritrea,
defies logic and is not plausible given the dramatic history of Longhi.
We know now Longhi and Idris Hamid Awate were fighting the same enemies, namely the
Unionist shifta and the BMA. As a result of this, at a given specific moment Longi and Awate
joined their forces to attack BMA police garrisons, to ambush police forces as well as to fight
the advance of Ethiopian-supported shifta. In the meantime the Beni-Amer accepted Longhi
and his groups as adopted sons. It is here that Longhi was converted and became a Moslem.
In the 1950′s the BMA put a price on Longhi’s head but it was only after the British
declaration of amnesty to the shifta that he surrendered. He again returned to his native
village and was popularly elected to the Eritrean parliament in 1952 as mentioned above.
Though a semi-illiterate man, on all basic issues he voted with the Moslem League. In late
1970 he joined the ELF but was to switch in the 1980s and become a member of EPLF.
Fayotingun [ Fayid Tinga]Longhi’s and Idris Hamid Awate’s “people’s militia” therefore acted as
prelude to the modern armed national liberation struggle that began in 1961. The following
chapter will deal with the Elf and the EPLF and how these two organizations handled the
peasant question in rural Eritrea.” Jordan Gebre-Medhin.(1989).Peasants and Nationalism in
Eritrea: A Critique of Ethiopian Studies. Red Sea Press. pp.156-160.
140 Reply ↓
5.
Hameed on October 8, 2012 at 11:09 am said:
Certificate of Good Conduct and Behavior of Hamid Idris Awate
1- The government of Italy elected him to go through special military training in Italy in the
thirties of the twentieth century. After his return from Italy, they appointed him a deputy
governor of Kassla region.
2- Britain convened with Hamid Idris Awate in the forties of the twentieth century a
reconciliation agreement and appointed him administrator of Gash and rewarded him four
rifles to guard his region from shifta.
3- Idris Mohammed Adem, the first Eritrean parliament leader, appointed him to ignite the
Eritrean revolution for independence from the Ethiopian colonialism.
4- After four months of the letter from Idris Mohammed Adem, Sheikh Mohammed Dawid, an
eminent religious personality in Barka-Gash and who is famous all over Eritrea, requested
Hamid Idris Awate to ignite the Eritrean revolution and he gave him some rifles, ammunition
and 300 Ethiopian Bir. Hamid Idris Awate started the struggle against the occupation of
Ethiopia, after the request of Sheikh Mohammed Dawid.
5- The first generation of the Eritrean revolution honored Hamid Idris Awate highly. They
remember his speech which he had delivered to them (We are all Eritreans, We have to serve
our country with honesty and sincerity. We are here to achieve a goal, and if there is anybody
who has individual ambitions other than the declared objectives, then, he must leave now. We
all have to show extreme commitment and dedication, and carry out the commands and
instructions of the leader, no matter how hard they are, for the cause of our country.)
6- The Eritrean people cheered up the ignition of the revolution and immediately commenced
to support it.
7- The majority of the Eritrean Liberation Movement members were convinced by the armed
struggle and joined Hamid Idris Awate.
Note:
1- A certificate of good conduct and behavior issued by the government of Italy, the
government of Britain, an eminent Eritrean political body, an eminent Eritrean religious body,
the first generation of the Eritrean revolution, the Eritrean Liberation Movement and the
Eritrean people who joined Hamid Idris Awate in the struggle until the full independence of
Eritrea.
2- A certificate of good conduct and behavior comprises the whole life of Hamid Idris Awate.
Warning: Any alternation or modification to this certificate is infringement to all who testified
it, thus will ensue tough punishment.
Reply ↓
141 T. Kifle on October 8, 2012 at 11:49 am said:
o
“The Eritrean people cheered up the ignition of the revolution and immediately commenced to
support it”
What we know on the ground is the Eritrean fronts used to overrun the villages for round-up
routines as a way of amassing conscripts.
So much ad unnecessarily.
Reply ↓
Hameed on October 8, 2012 at 2:22 pm said:

Definitely, you are speaking about the era of Shabia. In the beginning of the seventies of the
last centuries Shabia didn’t round up the Eritrean youth from the cities of Eritrea. The flow of
our youth was voluntary. In the eighties of the last century, many Eritreans were not
convinced about the way Shabia dealt with the people, therefore, they refrained from joining
Shabia. This had forced Shabia to round up the people, which is similar to what is going on
now. Though hegdf rounds up our youth by force, but they are escaping. Can you say our
youth who are escaping from the regime don’t love their country or not ready to sacrifice for it?
Reply ↓
Tukka on October 8, 2012 at 4:26 pm said:
o
This is a misleading conclusion. No one will surprise about the certificates of good conduct
and behavior given to Hamid Idris Awate by these unlawful and suppressive regimes or
systems at that time.
Italy, the fascist government of Benito Mussolini has no other choice than admiring and
crediting his fascist friend in order to fulfill his brutal needs.
MBA was known by its ‘divide and rule policy’ that marginalize the kunama people by
encouraging the Shifta Hamid Idris Awate. In fact, at that time kunama people went to the
MBA office and asked to get help. But the administration gave them deaf ear. Even though
MBA knew very well that the ethnic cleansing war against the kunama people is going on, he
supported the warriors (HIA and his colleagues) who killed women and children.
Therefore don’t try to misinterpret the reality. That will not cure the wounds.
Reply ↓

If Italy, Britain and Hamid Idris Awate declared ethnic cleansing on Kunama, I think we
wouldn’t have seen today Qernelios or Tukka, because more than twenty years were enough to
exterminate them. Secondly, Italy and Britain colonized many countries, but we didn’t hear or
read in their history that they were encouraging outlaws individuals to commit ethnic
142 cleansing. Third, do the Kunama had special enmity with Italy and Britain from the rest of the
Eritrean people? I think the Kunama were/are not different from the rest of the Eritrean
people who suffered equally from the colonizers.
For your information, Eritrea under Italy had seen stability, development in infrastructure and
there was an economic boom. Cities were built, roads constructed, factories planted and
modern agriculture introduced. If there was any skirmishes from the side of Eritreans, it was
with the Italians. When Britain came it encouraged education, free press, the organization of
parties and trade unions. Where was the Kunama at that time from all these national
mobility? According to Qernelios sick mentality, they were on a run from Hamid Idris Awate
attacks which is not true. The Kunama participated in all the activities that had taken place in
the forties and fifties of the last century. If Hamid Idris Awate was busy according to your
claims with the ethnic cleansing of Kunama, he wouldn’t have opened a second front with
Ethiopia by igniting the Eritrean revolution, and a busy Awate with ethnic cleansing of
Kunama would have been good for Ethiopia. I think Ethiopia would have assisted him with
great pleasure in line with that of Alula Abanega.
Reply ↓

Tukka on October 9, 2012 at 3:29 pm said:
[Moderator: Tukka+the other 7 nicks. You were told your account is suspended until you cure
your schizeophrenia and stick to one nick. Your posts and that of your other seven or eight
other nicks are doing fine in the trashbin.]
Reply ↓
6.
Kornelios Osman on October 8, 2012 at 10:06 am said:
Am the worst person and killer in the Eritrean Arena…Kornelios
Reply ↓
7.
W.Aaron on October 7, 2012 at 4:43 am said:
Kunuma are a pure first Eriutreans in Eritrea. But,Hailesillasie, Dergue and Weyane used
them prefectly against our independence. If we look their past old histroy The chefra like
Alula Engda abused and hajackes their ID and slaves them ’til now. Ofcourse Awate was
with Shifta under Italian coloni in Eritrea like Dej Bahta Hagos and others and people
callad them “Shifta” simple becouse if someboday bear gun and fight agaisty Italia so you
can call him Shifta!in realty were not like shifta.When UK were in Eritrea they call him
back and he did as they said.- EPLF also callad him in 70s Shifat to inslut Jebha but soon
as Jebha were kicked out from Eritrea soul he Awate have been an insurmental to EPLF
untill today. this Kunuma-Weyane’s rungin boy Osman how the eritrea ppl wait him to
abuse Eritrea for the cheap manay sake.This man are sick. Shut him in his head front.
Weyane are also in the cross road and their fnow sun clear.
Reply ↓
143 8.
MEHRETU HABTE on October 6, 2012 at 6:50 pm said:
“THE BIPOLARIC PROPHECIES”…Part 4..
…ካብዚ Eዩ ክብሎ ዘይክEል ድምጺ ብጸልማትን ንEሽተይ ሽምዓን ተሰንዩ ከምዚ በለ……”ዎ Eስራኤል,ይሁዳን ሰማርያን..12 ነገድ
Eስራኤል…የሩሳሌም ብሙሉኣ..ናባኻ ናብ ዋናታታ ኣትያ…Iራን ደኺማ..በቲ ዝተገብረላ ማEቀብ ኣ Eነንያ….ኣብዚ ቀረባውን ኣይሮፕላናትና
ከይደን ሳላጣ ክገብርኣ Eየን……ደቡብ ሱዳን ብንኣኻ ዝዳናገጹ.ክርስትያንን ,ናይ ባህሊ Eምነት ዘለዎምን ተዓብሊላ, ሃገር ከም ትኸውን Iድ
ሱዳን ጠዊና..ንኣልባሽር ብፍርዲ ዓለም ኣፋራሪሕና, ምሓዛ Eስራኤል ንኽትከውን .ጆግራፊ ኣማዓራሪናዮ…Iትዮጵያ ብምEባሌ ደቃ ላEሊ
በጺሓ..ብስደትን ጥሜትን ትፍለጥ ዝነበረት Iትዮጵያ, ብሰደድ /export ትፍለጥ ኣላ…ካብ ኤርትራ ዝሃደመ, ንIትዮጵያ, ከም ዳስ ሓውያ
ዝኣቱን ዝቕመጣን Eምበር ዝወጽE ዘይብላ, ናይ ምEባሌ መዲና ኮይና..ኣባይ ሙሉE ብሙሉE ብገንዘባ ገዲባቶ..Eድመ ንምሓዛ Eስራኤል
ዝኾነ ፕረሲደንት Iሳያስ…ንህዝቢ መታሕት..ብስያሳ..ከብቶም ዘብልUሉ ዝነበሩ ,ንምEባሌ ክኸውን ተመዲቡ Iዩ Iሉ, ሸኻ ብምኽልካል
,ብኣፎም ምስ ሓዞም … ..መብዛሕትOም ንሱዳን ገጾም ከም ዝኸዱ ጌርዎም..Eታ ሓበላ ዓይኒ ኮይናትካ ዝነበረት ኤርትራ..ብምኽንያት ሰብ
ዝፈጠሮ ጥሜትን ዓጸባን ምስ በዝሓ Eንደገና ምስ ኣዲኣ Iትዮጵያ ተጸምቢራ..Eቲ ፕሮግራም ሰሪሑ…Iሉ Eቲ ድምጺ Eናቀሃመ ክኸይድ
ከሎ…Eቶም ሰለስተ “ነብያት ሓሶት”(ይብሎም ኣነ)..Eቲ ዘይውቁብ ገጽ መምተር ስጋ ዝመስል ይሁዲን ,ኣሜሪካዊ ንፍታሌም ሻፒሮን,Eቲ
ዝነድድ ሃልሃልታ ናይ ቆንጠጠፈን …በረቑ…Iሳያስ ,ሓዳሽ ኣቢሲንያ ትብል ..ሓደ ዝተቖነነ ግሩም ሃጸይ ነበር..ዝተሳEላ ካናቴራ ጌሩ..ንሓደ
ህበይ ብቐጢን ሰንሰለት ኣሲሩ Eናዛወረ..ብድሕሪU ማፕ ናይ ኤርትራ ርኣኹ Eሞ….ርEሰይ ሒዘ Uይ..በልኩ….ክልተ, ቅድሚ ሕጂ ባEሲ
ዘይነበሮም ዓድታት ብኻላሽንን ካራን ክቃተሉ ርኣኹ….ብጥሜትን ፌራን ዳርጋ ምዉት ኮይኑ ዝተዘርግሐ ኤርትራዊ..ኣብ 1984 ,ናይ
Iትዮጵያ ጥሜትን ..ናይ ሶማል ናይዚ ቀረባ ዓመታት ዘይወዳደር..ክፉE ር ኤኹ። ማይ ስIኖም ሽንቶም ዝሰትዩን..ሓመድን ሓሙኹሽትን
ክበልU ሃጸፍጸፍ ዝብሉ ህዝበይ ምስ ርኣኹ……ንብዓተይ ጠጠው ምባል ኣበየኒ..Iሳያስ Iሞሽን ብዘይብሉ ገጽ…..”ንስኻትክን ..ዓዋተ ጅግና
ድዩ ኔሩ..ዋላ ሽፍታ ..Eዚ ኣኸባ ዶ Eቲ ኣኸባ ክትብላ ቀዲመክን ፈሸኵል.”…በለ..ናባይ Eንዳጠመተ…ብገዛE ኣዛራርባ/pronounsation
ናይ Eንዳ ኣቦይ, ናይ ሓረድቲ ኣዘራርባ ጌረ ወሰድክዎ Eሞ..Eቲ ከም ምዓር ዘረስርሰኒ ዝነበረ ኣዘራርባ ናይ ደቂ ግራተይ ከም ሞት ጸላEኩዎን
..ንዓቕክዎን..Eቲ Iሳያስ ብሰንሰለት ኣሲሩ ዘዛውሮ ዝነበረ ህበይ..ቀሪበ Eንተርኣኽዎስ..ብቛንቋ ህንዲ ጌሩ…ቸል ቸል ..ሁ ሜሬ ሳት ሃቲ
መሬሳቲ ሃካራቲ Iሉ..ደሪፉ ምስ ወድኤ…..Eንደገና ብትግርኛ “ደቂ ኣርብዓን, ተወልጄ ሰብ ጎጃምን ህንዲን ባንግላዴሽን ክብሉና, ጉድ
ጌርናዮም, civil war ኣጕድና” Iሉ ክደርፍ ምስ ሰማEኩዎ, የማነ ማንኪ ምዃኑ ተረድኣኒ..Eሞ ምዓር ካብ ንህቢ Eምበር ካብ ኣህባይ
ኣይወጽEንዩ..Iለ ሓሰብኩ !!!
ሓዘነይ Eናንጠብጠበ። ። ። ተሓጕስኩም ዶ..ኣንቱም ጨካናት..ጭካኔኹም መዋዳድርቲ ዘይብሉ…ምስ በልኩዎም ..ንፍታሌም ,Eቲ
ኣሜሪካዊ..”ካብ ጸባ ዘይተረኽበስ ,ካብ ማይ ጨባ”…ምስ በለኒ ..Eንታይ ማለትካ Eዩ በልኩዎ,ብንደት ልበይ Eናተቓጸለ…ባEልኹም
ኣጣቒEኩም ዘፍረስኩሞ ቃልሲ ..ነቶም ምEንታኹም ክቃለሱ Iሎም ብድሌቶም ቁማልን ቁንጭን ,ቁርን ዳህርን ከይበሉ
..ተቓለስትኹም..ኣህሪምና ስዉኣቶም ቀቢሮም ብፕላን ,ንሱዳን ምስ ኣEተናዮም, ኣይ ህዝብኻ Eንድዮም,ጠሚኹምዶ…ዘይርካብ ርክብ
ክንዲ ዝብሉ…Eግሮም ከይዓረፈ ከሎ….ሓዘን ስዉኣቶም ብውUዩ…..”ተቓላሳይ ዓማ..ተለካያይ ዘይቲ…Eዛ ኣስላመይቲ ውድብ ..ሃደምቲ
Eናበልኩም ..ብጭካነ ዘስተነገድኩሞም…ኣብ ወጻI ውን ነቶም ጀብሃ ነበር ተቓለስቲ ..”ሳላ ሻEብያ ምስ ወያነ ኮይና ንጀብሃ
ዘጥፍኣታ..ነጻነት በቒEና”…..ዝብሉ ደቂ ዓድኻ ደይኮኑን…..ኣካለ ስንኩላንኩም ብሰላማዊ መገዲ ነስመራ ኣቤት ክብሉ
ክኣትዉ..ተኸልኪሎም..ብጥይት ዝተረሽረሹ..ዓገብ ከይትብሉ..”ብድሕሪOም ወገናውያን የንቃሳቕስዎም ኔሮም Eዮም…ሰንኪለ Iልካ
በሽቀጥቀጥ የለን Iልኩም…ካብቲ መንግስቲ ንስኹም Eንዲኹም ዝገደድኩሞም…ቀጺሉ ብEንግሊዝኛ ጌሩ”Listen Jar head ,when
we do it ,it is not personal, we see our interest, our peoples`interest..if it could be done without
cruelty ,that is what we prefer,…….unfortunately ,things do not work that way..ኣንቱም ሰባት
ንባድመስ ,ኣንኳይዶ ል Eሊ Eስራ ሽሕ ነብሲ ..ሓንቲ ሳሬት ውን ክትሞተሉ ኣይግባEን Eዩ ኔሩ,,,,ነቶም ብጊዜ ሰላሕታ ወራር ሱዳን
ፈርጢጥኩም ክትኣትዉ ,ብIድኩም ወጢጦም ዘድሓኑኹም (ዋላኳ ንናይ ሓባር ጥቕሚ Iሎም ይሰውU Eምበር ), still they saved
the present governments ass,ካባኹም ንላEሊ ኣጣቒOም,ህዝቢ Iትዮጵያ,ዓይንኹም ንሓመድ ይኹና Eናበሎም ,ፈሪሞም ሃገር
ክትኮኑ ዝሓገዙኹም..ወርቅን ጨርቅን Eናሰረቕኩሞም ከም ዘይርኣዩ ኮይኖም ምግብን ናውትን Eናሕለፉ ዝሓብሓቡኹም, ድሕሪ ሕጂ ካብ
Iትዮጵያ መጺUን ኣኻትኩም ክወርር ዝፍትን ,ጸላIኹም ጥራይ ዘይኮነ, ጸላIና Eዩ ..ባEልና Iና ንምክቶ Iሎም ዝተመባጻUልኩም..ብኸመይ
ፈዲኹሞም..ቆለውE ናይ መቐለ ብምርሽራሽ …ንኣኻ (በጻብEቱ ናባይ Eናመልከተ)..ብ1981 ካብ ኬንያ ናብ Uጋንዳ ብገንዘብካ
ክትሰግር..ዘይወዲ ኣውራጅOም ዘይኮንካ Eንድዮም ዝብI ይኹን ጥይት ይብላEካ ሕቚOም ዝሃቡኻ..ፈሪዶምኻ Eኳ Eዮም !!!……You
people have no soul ,even 2012 while small girls are being raped ,you guys argue on non
issue..You blame ,Isaias ,the world ,you blame rashaida ,bedouin..etc..yet ,you never take
responsibility…..Find yourselves ,before you find what you want ,you people are filled with
emotions ,you have no time for logic…. so spare me on us being cruel beyond imagination…”
Iሉ ናይ ብሓቂ ሓረቐ….ኣነውን መልሲ ስIነ..ጉም በልኩ ….”ንፍልጥ Iና ,ንስኻ ካብ ስደት ኣፍሪቃ ጀሚርካ ,ዓገብ ከም ዝበልካ..Eቲ
ለባምን ምሁርን ዝብሃል ወዲ ዓድኻ ውን ኣይሰምዓካን….ራብዓይ ክፍሊ ኣብ Eንዳ ሽወደን ዝወድኤ ድኣ መን ይሰምO ,በልኩ ,ዘይኣመለይ
Eናስተማሰልኩ…..”Your people are easy to manipulate ,sorry to say it” በለኒ..ኣቐንዘወኒ ,.ግን ኣነውን ባEለይ ስለ
144 ዝብሎ, ስቕ Iለ ሰማEኩዎ ። ወደን ከይሓምያስ ሰይቲ ወደን በለ Eሞ..”listen ,nobody looks you down without your
cooperation”…ንምንታይ Eዩ Eዚ መንግስትኹም…..Iሉ ከይወድ ኤ ኸሎ…..መንግስትኹም ድኣ በልኩዎ..Eሞ..ብዓይኑ
Eናሽሟጠጠ…whatever…በለሞ…ንህዝቢ ከዋግE Iሉ…Iሉ ዘረብU ከይወድኤ ከሎ ….lupita ነቕኒቓ ኣተስኣትኒ Eሞ ምንም Eኳ
ዘተስኣኒ ሰብ ዘይፈቱ Eንተኾንኩ ,ሽዓስ ተሓጎስኩ ድኣ…”ay vida” /ኣየ ሓለት በልኩ amorcito ,yo se que no quieres
nadie te despierte ,pero ,estaba gritando en tu idioma y pegando el muro, me asustaste…otra
vez pesadilla de tu paiz ?/ፍቕረይ ,ካብ ድቃስካ ዘተስኣካ ሰብ ኣይትፈቱን Iኻ..ግን ብቛንቋኹም Eናግዓርካ መንደቕ ክትሃርም
ምስ ጀመርካስ…ፈሪሄ..Eንደገና ዘባህርር ሕልሚ ብዛEባ ዓድኻ ዲኻ ርIኻ ??? ምስ በለትኒ..ርEሰይ Eናነቕነቕኩ..Eወ በልኩዋ…”ojala
que tu paiz mejara y podemos visitar juntos”/ተስፋ Eገብር, ጉዳይ ሃገርካ ተመሓይሹስ, ሓቢርና ክንበጽሕ ምኸድና..ምስ
በለትኒ No creo es buen idea/ጽቡቕ ሓሳብ ኣይመስለንን ..በልኩዋ,,ጆክ ክገብር ስለ ዝደለኹ Eየ, ንሳ ግን ከፊEዋ…..porque
no, mi amor ? ,va a acasar de tu tierra….ንምንታይ ፍቕረይ ..ጓል ዓድኻ ዲኻ ክትምርO ንዓይ ገዲፍካ..Iላ ..ዓይና
ቁጽርጽር በለ no,no es esto, es que mi paiz esta lleno de guapos jovenes ,y si enamoras con uno ,y
mi dejas con este cara…/ኖኖ ,ኣብ ዓድና ብዙሓት ምልኩዓት መንEሰያት ስለ ዘለዉስ,ንሓደ ኣፍቂርኪ ,ምስዚ ገጽ Eዚ ክትገድፍኒ
በልኩዋ (ናብ ገጸይ Eናመልከትኩ)Yo no soy asi , estoy enamorado con mi viejo guapo..ኣነ ከምቲ ዝበልካዮ ዓይነት ጓል
ኣይኮንኩን, ምስ ምEሩግ ሽማግለይ ፍቕሪ ሒዙኒ Eዩ በለትኒ/ ንዓይ ማለታ Eዩ…Amor ,eres romantico ,honesto ,muy
intelligente y positiva /ፍቕረይ ,ንስኻ ,ምሩጽ ኣፍቃሪን,ቅኑEን,መስተውዓልን ኣዎንታውን Iኻ..በለት Eሞ..100% ሓቂ ስለ
ዝነበረ ክካትዓ ኣይክኣልኩን….ሰብ መቃመሚ Eንድዩ ፍልልይ Eድሜና 20 ዓመት Eዩ ይብል..ናይ ብሓቂ ግን 19 ዓመትን 11ወርሕን 4
ሰሙናትን Eዩ…!!! ….ይቕጽል ….
Reply ↓
o
shaebia on October 7, 2012 at 12:35 pm said:
very entertaining Ali selim. great job!
Reply ↓
9.
Dear All:A crucial question waiting for an honest, careful and thoughtful answer
Hamid Idriss Aawate before September 01, 1961, seems to have had violent conflicts with
some members, or sections, of the Eritrean Kunama ethnic group. If these events were true
and that it was also true that Hamid Idriss Aawate was the leader of the first army of the ELF;
were those Kunamans acting against the cause of Eritrea’s independence (and the armed wing
of the ELF, the political organization that “first” championed the national purpose), or against
their enemy, Hamid Idriss Aawate and the armed band he led, for self-defense, sometimes
using their own resources, and at other times following the old principle of “the enemy of my
enemy is my friend” and collaborating with others (mainly Ethiopian regimes); or confusing
and combining the two purposes and fighting against anybody that followed or supported
Hamid’s old or new path?
According to http://kunama-agara.com/?p=179 one answer is as follows:
“As regard to your statement that the Kunama “resisted the independence struggle”, us
primarily, accuse you of being “prejudiced”, not knowing either the Kunama people or their
background history, concerning the “independence struggle”, and secondly, let us instruct you
too that, when, in the 1960s, the “independence struggle” , been initiated and launched, very
allegedly, by a man called, Hamid Idris Awate, a local thief, a fierce cattle raider and a cruel
criminal, well known, in the Kunama land and to the Kunama people, the Kunama people
were highly alarmed, very suspicious and very watchful of the whole movement, until, a Jebha
145 unit, operating, mostly in the Kunama land, started indiscriminately killing the Kunama
people, setting their villages ablaze, burning entire family members inside their hats; (the
villagers of Kaskasha are, till these very days, mourning the death of their fellow-villager, the
late Mr. Amos, together with seven of his family members, burnt inside their house). Besides,
that Jebha unit, very faithful to its founder’s evil credo, kept on murdering the prominent
Kunama, like the following three individuals:
1.- the late Mr. Celestino Adana;
2.- the late Mr. Cassiano Kontalle
3.- the late Mr. Frut Talla, who, for no reason whatsoever, were cold-bloodedly slaughtered, in
1967, by that same Jebha unit, in the plains of “Darasa Mena-Kutu”, in the middle of the
Kunama Gilba district. The Kunama were being murdered, their villages set ablaze and their
cattle raided, not because they “resisted the independence struggle”, you, Dr. A. Woldemichael,
very prejudicially, claimed, but simply because of the hatred those criminal individuals had
always nurtured against the Kunama people. The Kunama had “resisted”, a movement,
launched in the name of their worse enemy: the criminal Hamid Idris Awate. The Kunama,
took up arms, fought and defended themselves, against those equally criminal individuals
who, following on the footsteps of their founder, kept on murdering their people. Mind you,
because of the geographical distance of their native land and due also to their traditional
aloofness, from the Eritrean political centre, the Kunama people have never known and have
never been concerned either with the federation, with the union or with the beginning of the
“independence struggle”; they weresolely concerned with their own safety and therefore, to
accuse the Kunama of having “resisted the independence struggle”, is a mere fantasy. Yes, we
admit to have “resisted”, only to the war waged against our own people, in the name of our
worse enemy, the criminal Hamid Idris Awate, and to the injustices committed against us,
from then on and till these very days. You, Dr. A. Woldemichael, should well-know, who had
been the prime “unionist”, , had even very strongly “resisted to the independence struggle”,
that, only “at the eleventh (11th) hour”, had your own “bihere-Tigrigngna”, up, joined the
“gedli”, got independence in a golden “platter”is, today, holding slave, the entire nation and its
citizens. You should not be and are not the prime person who should launch accusations to
others when you yourself are the prime culprit. Analyse the background history of your own
biher, before throwing stones from inside a “glass house”.”
Reply ↓
10.
Dear
All:
Hamid
Idriss
Aawate’s
words,
according
to
http://www.nharnet.com/Archives/Arch_2004/Oct_2004/NharnetTeam_Oct01.htm
“From this day on, none of you is an ordinary man. You are freedom fighters carrying
responsibilities heavier than of any other Eritrean… We will not be able to accomplish the task
unless we win the love, respect and participation of the people in the struggle… The struggle is
not going to be as easy as we say it to the [people]; it may take us as long as 10 or 15 years, or
even more. But then, the start being made by these antiquated guns will never fail from
pushing the Ethiopians out of this country… Few of us may see it; but definitely our sons and
daughters will do.” – Hamid Idris Awate.
These statements, if confirmed to be truly Hamid’s words, were indeed prophetic.
146 Reply ↓
11.
Taha Mohamed on October 5, 2012 at 8:32 pm said:
Last time I posted my opinion “PEASE TO ALL” I was in library reading the article by EDJE, by
the time I have finished reading I only had 20 minutes left on my library card and I wanted to
share my opinion. that is why I wrote almost all small letters, that way to see if I could catch
up with the time I had left. After I finished reading my opinion 3 times to make sure what I
was talking about, knowing that many Eritreans would be offended by the fact that martyred
Idris Awate I have no doubt in my mind that the way he played roll in Eritrean revolution, is
one of the greatest around the world. But how we handle it with the sensitive Kunama issue
made thinking since the debate started.
And I shared MY opinion. Other than that I have no negative intentions. At the same time I felt
that this message need to be heard,it will only help us to move forward,
Reply ↓
12.
Submitted on 2012/10/05 at 6:42 pm
Dear All: Hamid Idriss Aawate according to John Markakis cited in
http://www.ephrem.org/dehai_archive/1997/sept/0108.html
Re: [DEHAI] The death of Hamed Idris Awate, AFRICA WORLD PRESS ([email protected])
Mon, 08 Sep 1997 19:51:50 -0500 Maybe in reply to: jean-louis Peninou: “[DEHAI] The death
of Hamed Idris Awate” Next in thread: Paulos Natnael: “Re: [DEHAI] The death of Hamed Idris
Awate”
Selam Dehai:
Here is what I found about the background of our national hero, Hamid Idris Awate, from
Markakis’ book, NATIONAL AND CLASS CONFLICT IN THE HORN OF AFRICA. I quote from
Chapter 4, entitled “Anti-Colonial Nationalism” pp., 64, 65, 66 the relevant passages with a
background.
Most of the questions I raised last week seem to be answered here. Hope this will stimulate
interest in the ongoing discussion. [Note: All typos mine.] –Elias
————–Excerpts from Markakis——————
“Ibrahim Sultan and his colleagues called a meeting of Muslim notables during the first week
of December 1946 in Keren, where they set up a political organization named the Muslim
League, but known as Rabita (from the Arabic term ‘unite’) among its followers. Ibrahim Sultan
became secretary general and its effective leader. Religious symbolism was given prominence
with the selection of the head of the Khatimiya sect in Eritrea, Sayyid Abubakar el-Morghani,
as president. Despite appearances, however, the communal fronts were not solid. Most obvious
was the breach in the Muslim side. Alienated by the emancipation of the serfs and the loss of
influence entailed in the emergence of new political structures, many Muslim chiefs and
traditional notables turned to the unionists, in the hope that Ethiopian rule would restore
147 their former status.#20 On the other hand, leading Christian anti-unionists like Wolde Ab
Wolde Mariam, Tessema Asberom and his son Abraham Tessema showed their solidarity with
the basic aims of the Islamic League by attending the founding meeting in Keren.” . . . .
[Endnote #20: Among them were Osman Hidad, leader of the Habab, and some twenty other
chiefs of the Bet Asghede. Also, the religious leader of Massawa, Sheikh el-Amin Abdulkadir,
and the Diglal of the Beni Amer who was reported to 'have fallen out with his tribe because he
adhered to the Ethiopian cause' (Beja District File, 57.B.2). In the western lowlands, 'a
considerable proportion of the representatives of the aristocratic classes were in favor of union
with Ethiopia, though some of them admitted that they left the Muslim League because it had
promised their serfs more rights…' (FPC, Eritrea, 1948:120]
. . . ” After the departure of the [Four Power] Commission [that visited Eritrea for three weeks
in November 1948], the unionists launched a campaign of terror to cow the opposition. Wolde
Ab Wolde Mariam survived two assassination attempts and other leading anti-unionists were
assaulted. Christian shifta bands appeared on the plateau to attack Italian farmers and
Muslim merchants, taking numerous lives and a heavy toll on property. Violence also erupted
in
the
western
lowlands.
The years between 1946 and 1949 were blighted by drought. Famine stalked the Beja country,
forcing the Hadendowa nomads to renew their incursions into Eritrea, which had ceased
following the clan wars of the first half of the 1940s. The Beni Amer on the Eritrean side
responded in character and a new round of violence ensued, with Hamid Idris Awate leading
daring raids across the border and fending off Sudanese and Eritrean Police units sent against
him. #21 . . .
[Endnote #21: Hamid Idris Awate led a band of two to three dozen men belonging mainly to the
Lebat, a serf section of the Beni Amer, and to the Baria [Nara], a downtrodden tribe living in
the region of Barentu. Raided and enslaved by all their neighbors (their name is synonymous
with ‘slave’ in the highlands, {and Markakis keeps using that offensive term throughout the
book, which I will not}), the [Nara] were much reduced in number (about 15,000) and
circumstances. The uprising of the serfs emboldened them to join the Beni Amer in raids
against the Hadendowa and the Kunama. Hamid Idris Awate was himself a [Nara] who
acquired a following among the Beni Amer. He was no ordinary bandit, but a man who had
served in the Italian army for several years and had been sent for training to Italy. In July
1948, he killed a Sudanese police officer and two sergeants who were pursuing him. The
British authorities in the Sudan and Eritrea now mounted a major combined operation against
him. Idris [Awate] eluded his pursuers and continued his depredations until 1951, when he
accepted amnesty and retired to his village, where he was made chief later.”
Reply ↓
13.
Maclogos on October 5, 2012 at 6:12 pm said:
Sir Serray,
You say, “We should at least hold our judgement until what awate start delivered us
something we can be proud of” and I, understand what you mean. I think we should go about
sorting out our collective values in their right historical perspective. Awate as a national figure
is tied to an event of historical and collective significance like many other events in the life of
the people of Eritrea in their struggle to be a sovereign people like all other human societies.
What Awate said did and whom he represented before he and his compatriots heed to the call
of the ELF political leadership and established the ELA concerns Awate and his side of the
148 Eritrean society. The is not the concern of Eritreans of whatever stripe but that of Awate and
his side and those whom they dealt with directly or indirectly under colonial rule.
Eritreans before 1962 were under federation and everybody was colonized. Whatever happened
then has to be taken within the context of what transpired in that period of time with all due
respect for all that lived there and then the concerns of their children should be properly and
rightly addressed.
However, when Awate established and lead the first Eritrean Army that started resisting
Ethiopian colonial rule, he is national figure like many other historical figures in other
societies. The event that commemorates the initiation of the Eritrean armed struggle for
independence the event that took place in September 1, 1961 and it cannot be an event
without Awate.
As long as we don’t see things in perspective we cannot govern our national contradictions and
solve the problems that bedevil us as a people of an aspiring nation. These kinds of issues are
legal and historical than political and politicizing them will only bring bunglers and make the
problem grow worse. There should not be bias and false characterizing for or against any
Eritrean figure or symbol of national and individual significance.
Let man and society stand on the truth of their words and deeds and honor should go to where
it belongs in right measure and in due time under the rule of law that treats all equally before
its eyes. Peace !
Reply ↓
14.
ብዓዋተ ኣይትምE
“ኣንጊሁ ዝነቀወ ዝበEስ” ኮይኑ ነገሩ:
ከይተበግስና ኣለውና ዝሰኽሩ:
ገና : ነዊሕ Eዩ ጉEዞና ደጊም ይነገሩ
ብሩህ ይኹን ጽባሕ ከይብህርሩ::
በልዎ:–
ኩሉ ዶብ ኣለዎ ኣይትጻወት ብታርኽ:
ጌጋኻ ክትሽፍን ተዓጥካ ኣይትስበኽ:
ክብረትካ ሓሉው ኣይትበል ሕልኽልኽ:
ሓያል Eዩ ዓይንና ሌባ ዘይስሉኽ::
ምስ በለክን ትኩሓላ መን መርዓት”
ንደቂ ዓዋተ ደፊርክን ተታልላ:
ይትረፍክን ፍንጭራE ኣይትዝለላ:
ታሪኽ ናይቲ ጀግና ኣይትበከላ:
ንሕበር Eንተብልና ንስመር:
ልቢ AEብና ብሰላም ክንነብር:
ሕሉፍ ገበናት ክንቀብር:
ብዓዋተ ኣይትምጻE: በቲ ኣቦ ሃገር::
Reply ↓
15.
149 One great, blunt, and bold sister telling it like it is in a clip of less than two minutes duration :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4v5k0owb2iM&feature=relmfu
Dear sweet sister, wherever you are, God bless you for standing on the side of your oppressed
and persecuted people. Peace!
Reply ↓
o
look at the real Ertirean young human’s feeling.
Reply ↓
Serray on October 5, 2012 at 2:13 pm said:
o
Thanks maclogos. We should all watch the video to understand the response to savagery that
goes on in egypt’s sinai.
Compare the video to what we are discussing here. There is time to argue about legacy and
there is time to be horrified. We are one step away from asking, “why don’t they eat cake?”. At
least the pfdjs are consistent. They look at the grotesque finished product of awate’s legacy,
Eritrea, and they see no contradiction in worshipping the man who started it all. We should at
least hold our judgement until what awate start delivered us something we can be proud of.
Reply ↓

Don’t compare the discussion, Serray. Direct your question to Qernelios and those who
endeavor day and night without rest to erase history. If we didn’t reward our martyrs and our
heroes, how do you expect people to sacrifice again to save those in Sinai, refugee camps and
those inside Eritrea who are suffering in the big prison which is called Eritrea. Come on,
Serray. Think wisely.
Reply ↓
16.
Dear
All:
Hamid
Idriss
Aawate
and
the
ELF
according
http://blog.libero.it/wrnzla/view.php?id=wrnzla&mm=0&gg=100526
24 Maggio 2010. XIX° Anniversario Indipendenza Eritrea. Tributo a Hamid Idris Awate.
Post n°345 pubblicato il 26 Maggio 2010 da wrnzla Tributo a Hamid Idris Awate.
Hamid Idris Awate Padre dell’Indipendenza Eritrea.
Tratto da: Wikipedia.
Quote <<>> Unquote
Reply ↓
150 to
Amanuel Hidrat on October 6, 2012 at 9:58 am said:
o
YaY,
Very interesting pics. Thank you for digging into the reservior of history.
Amanuel
Reply ↓
o
YAY
Thank you for sharing the true history if Awate and Eritrea… and I really enjoyed the old pics
of Asmara, too.
Reply ↓
o
Dear Amanuel Hidrat and Shaebia: Searching for “simple” fact leads to another
I was researching on any information related to Eritrean history, 1890-1960, Hamid Idriss
Aawate, the Kunama, other surrounding communities that might have been involved in
alliances or conflicts with each other, what the historical scenarios were then, etc. just trying
to find as many facts as possible so that they would be helpful in grasping social
circumstances that resulted in some Kunamans still remaining deeply bitter about what
allegedly Hamid & Co. did to them. What are the facts. If there is evidence that certain, or all,
Kunamans were victims or victimisers, the facts could not be changed and should not be
denied. I have no bias to find out historical facts, and I believe the discourse of our history
ought be based on facts.
This website has a lot of historical information such as drawings, pictures, geographical maps,
city maps, cultural artistic paintings, imaginary historical videos, etc. and interestingly an
Italian-Tigrinya
dictionary
(1936)
at
http://robevan.xoom.it//robevan/vocabolari/menu_voca.htm
Reply ↓
17.
Dawit on October 5, 2012 at 5:23 am said:
Dear S.G. You have been telling the readers that “If they have evidence, a scholarly
researched findings, we are all ears I think.” But do you have evidences (independently
researched-) to suggest that Awate was not shifta and did not ransack , and killed many of
the Kunamas at the time? Plus, how is that the Eritrean independence will be in danger if
Awate was not as many think he was. The story we have been reading is coming from a one
sided , and biased parties (PFDJ is one of them). The notion of Eritrean indpendence had
151 been arround well before Awate was alleged to have “Enko shot” to mark the begining of
independence.
Reply ↓
o
Dawit, don’t waste your time in tarnishing the history of others, if you have a gut make a clear
history of your own that will raise you high. It is a shame to jog the whole of your life and at
the end of the day to come out with a work that makes you feel embarrassed the whole of your
life. Dawit, be honest , think wisely and walk the walk that makes you a hero.
Reply ↓
Saleh "Gadi" Johar on October 5, 2012 at 10:41 am said:
o
Yes Dawit, I have proof . Let me demonstrate my proof. Imagine I am accusing you of Killing
ten people while you were in Barentu. Now, prove to this forum you didn’t kill anyone. Also
prove you were never to barentu!
My friend, there is something called, innocent until proven guilty. And if no one can present
evidence for a lie they were repeating for years, they are lairs.
Reply ↓

zegeremo on October 6, 2012 at 3:12 pm said:
The problem with Dawit is because he lives in his own dream world where he believes he
actually means something to somebody.
Mr. Dawit I have a news for you Awate is a muslim. Get over it!!
Reply ↓
18.
Olana on October 5, 2012 at 4:20 am said:
It is strange you could not have a written account of this man considered by many Eritreans to
be a hero in thier struggle for freedom. But I have one question for you guys. Wherever
Eritrean struggle is mentioned Eypty is there. Why? Even in the recent bloody boarder war
with us, all the mines and some finances were comming from Egypt. Are you sure many died
for Eritrean agenda? ELF was founded in Cairo. Right? WHY? Recently we heard Esayas had
close relationship with the Mubark family. For me it is like ‘Adi’a hadiga’s hatinea tinafik?’
because no one denied you the good friendiship and good neighborhood specially during the
current governemnt in Ethiopia. But Esayas hanjoma wants all illegaly which the colonialit
tried and failed. Give respect to individuals, tribes, clans…..while telling the truth be it about
Awate, be it about Erirean struggle… so that solution that satisfy the majority may come.
Reply ↓
152 o
Dear Olana: Why not? Use facts to generalize
You said, “But I have one question for you guys. Wherever Eritrean struggle is mentioned
E[g]ypt is there. Why? Even in the recent bloody boarder war with us, all the mines and some
finances were comming from Egypt. Are you sure many died for Eritrean agenda? ELF was
founded in Cairo. Right? WHY?”
Egypt is not “there” whenever the Eritrean struggle is mentioned. It is mentioned only when it
is necessary. When we talk about the Eritrean struggle, we talk about events, incidents,
decision, etc. that did/didn’t happen in other countries too. That is the fact is missing in your
considerations. Some exiled Eritreans in Egypt (whose government then championed
progressive, or revolutionary, or patriotic, etc. policies), in trying to solve the problems of their
people, determined to form a political organization. Their objective was to set Eritrea free of a
foreign occupation, and that was not a foreign power’s mission.They further wanted to
organize activist’ cells and a military wing of their initiative. These were not a foreign power’s
plan. Egypt didn’t give them guns or funds. So, why can’t they organize themselves in Egypt or
any other country? Even if Egypt were to support them achieve Eritrean goals, why would that
be wrong? Didn’t the British do everything essential to bring Emperor Haile Selassie I back to
his throne after WWII? So, your question: “Are you sure many died for Eritrean agenda?” is
more of a negative propaganda than anything else. If the source of arms you get were to tell
why you are dying for, Eritreans got them mainly from Ethiopia, and smaller amounts from
others. So, in your thinking, were they fighting for Ethiopia, Egypt, or Eritrea? You are
confusing the Eritrean goal of national independence with the means of getting there or the
sources of the means.The biggest problem I see in your reasoning is that you could not accept
the fact that Eritreans do fight and may die for their own cause, using the means they could
get from any source. If you think otherwise prove me wrong with evidence.
Reply ↓
19.
Dear All: More on Hamid Idriss Aawate according to http://www.shabait.com/abouteritrea/history-a-culture/2806-hamed-idris-awate-and-the-launch-of-the-armed-struggle-forliberation
Hamed Idris Awate And The Launch Of The Armed Struggle For Liberation
Friday,
20
August
2010
08:30
|
Written
by
Winta
Woldeyesus
|
Hamid Idris Awate was one of the Eritrean nationals who left their hometown to settle in the
bushes to fight against the bandits backed by the British and Ethiopian colonizers. The
bandits harassing the Nara and Beni-Amir people and were also robbing their livestock. Within
a short period of time, he became renowned among the people for his fights against the
bandits and protecting the people. Hamid Idris was a recruited solider in the Italian army and
underwent military training in Italy, an experience that gave him good knowledge of the
military maneuvers.
After the defeat of the Italians in the country, there were continuous interferences from the
‘Hadendewa’ tribe of Sudan. As a result the ‘Hadendewa’ had numerous clashes with the
inhabitants of the eastern lowlands of the country and the British didn’t do anything to solve
153 the situation. The group lead by Hamid Idris had fought and won many battles against the
‘Hadendewa’ and the bandits of the country. While Hamid Idris and his group were fighting the
bandits in the western lowlands, bandits backed by the Ethiopian rulers were harassing the
people and looting their property in the other regions of the country. The bandits were also
threatening the people to support the Ethiopian rulers. The British colonizers didn’t lift a
finger to solve this problem, as a result of which every tribe and clan in the country began
sending its young to the bushes for vengeance, resulting in mass killings and looting.
While those youngsters were fighting for their people, the British colonizers were working hard
to destroy the group of strugglers; in one of the British military missions launched in a place
called Dura (O’bel) to destroy them, the group lead by Hamid Idris Awate killed almost all the
soldiers. His group was defending itself from the colonizers in addition to protecting their
environs from the looting of the bandits. And he became famous among the Nara, Beni-Amir
and Maria people, for defeating the bandits and returning stolen properties of the people.
Later around 1951, the interventions from the “Hadendewa” and the movement of the bandits
abated and Hamid was allowed to return to his hometown. But he accepted the pardon under
two conditions: that he will not be held responsible for what happened in the past, and that
his group would get four weapons for protection, the British agreed to the conditions and he
returned to his hometown from the bushes.
After the Emperor of Ethiopia became the emperor of Eritrea through the federation, the
looting and harassing by the bandits continued in an even more aggressive manner. Both the
emperor and the so-called Eritrean Administration didn’t stop the bandits. Hamid Idris, who
couldn’t tolerate the silence of the officials, suggested a proposal for the formation of an armed
group that would fight against the bandits and protect the people. He also volunteered to be
member of this special unit but the officials who were only interested on destroying the
opposition movements didn’t accept his proposal.
Later in the year1960-61 the Emperor Haileselassie was planning to abolish federation and
command full control of Eritrea. It was also the year when the opposition movement in the
country (Hareka) expanded and the Eritrean Liberation Front was established and declared an
armed struggle. Threatened by those two events, Ethiopian officials called Hamid under the
pretext of discussing his proposal. Knowing the ploys of the officials Hamid met with the
messenger, administrator of Agordat, at the outskirts of the city and explained that both the
British and Ethiopia were not willing to stop the bandits’ movement and made an appointment
to meet the officials on September 15, 1961.
Knowing and understanding the ploys of the Ethiopian rulers from their previous actions, he
had already decided to return to the bushes and had accepted the offer from the Eritrean
Liberation Front, to start an armed struggle for liberation of the country and the people. He
returned to the bushes with few members of his clans and family which also begun the armed
struggle for liberation on September 1, 1961.
Reply ↓
20.
Dear All: Hamid Idriss Aawate according to Historical Dictionary of Eritrea
“Hamid Idris Awate(1911-1962).As the man who fired the first shots of the armed struggle,
Hamid Idris Awate has been claimed by all Eritrea’s liberation movements, but a complete
154 account of his actions in 1960-62 has yet to be published.Hamid was born to the Hafara clan
of Tigre-spealing agriculturalists, a people of Nilotic origin settled east of Tessenei and related
to the Algheden, Bit Hama, Illit and Sebderat, but linked politically to the Beni Amer. Hamid’s
mother was said to be a Nara. Hamid joined the Italian colonial army as an ascar in the early
1930s, where he became literate in Italian. He deserted after the Italian defeat in the western
lowlands after 1941, and in 1942 joined the shifta band of Ali “Mumtaz” (Ali Muhamed Idris) in
cattle-raiding and border warfare between the Beni Amer and the Sudanese Hadendowa and
the Wolqait of Tigray, as well as attacking the Kunama in Eritrea, for which he is remembered
with deep bitterness by the descendants of those driven from their homes and communities.
He surrendered to the British Administration in 1951, and retired to Gerset to farm, where he
became
a
community
leader
and
poet.
In 1960, both the Eritrean Liberation Movement (ELM) and Idris Mohamed Adem were
interested in Hamid Awate as a potential military leader. But it was Sayedna Mohamed Ibn
Daud Ibn Mustafa, who actually met him, in April 1961, near Gerset and asked him an
Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF) cell and consider organizing a guerilla force. Hamid was
interested in the proposal but told Sayedna Mohamed the ELF first needed a strong
organization and modern arms. Nonetheless, Hamid went to Agordat and requested that the
provincial administration supply him with arms to fight Wolqait cattle-raiders.
In August 1961, when the ELF and ELM were waging a propaganda battle against each other,
the Eritrean police began to suspect him of antigovernment activities. A Tigrinya Christian
friend of Hamid’s in police intelligence informed him of an impending raid on his home, and he
gathered up his followers and fled to Mount Adal, between Agordat and Tessenei, where he was
pursued by a police unit and involved in a gun battle on 1 September 1961. Hamid Awate’s
small band of 11 men armed with old Italian rifles grew during late 1961 and early 1962, as
several members of the Sudan Defense Force (SDF), joined him, forming the core of what
became the ELF army. Bumid took ill near Haikota in June 1962. His remains were reburied
in Haikota, where a statue was erected in his honor on 1 September 1994.”
Reply ↓
21.
Greetings,
I am just here to briefly introduce an exchange I had with one blogger in the comments section
of an article in http://www.assenna.com discussing similar issues that this page is generally
addressing. I though it was relevant here and would not do any harm if I shared it with the
readers and writers on this page. The exchange follows:
{{{ B4Real said :
fair2be, you said:
“So how can you expect all Eritreans to be him or like him …It is very unnecessary and
uncalled for indeed to bring the unknown Awate into this different era of struggle for freedom
in Eritrea anyways. You either respect ethnic rights and join the strong fighters like Qernelios
or you become manipulative dictator like Issayas and those of Awate wanna be opportunists in
diaspora. ”
Where did you get the idea that I “expect all Eritreans to be him or like him”? Let me recap:
155 The man Awate before 1961 has to be treated like any other Eritrean man or woman and
judged by his words and deeds. He did not represent Eritrea as a nation then and has to be
treated like any other Eritrean individual citizen of that time.
What Awate said and did as a commander in chief of the ELA till his martyrdom in 1962 is
part of Eritrean military history that freed it form colonialism. What is relevant here is what
Awate did and say as the leader of the ELA form 1961 till his martyrdom in May 1962. This
part has to be left for historians to deal with while we can form our own opinions.
That being said, I would like you to understand that I don’t stand for any particular group in
Eritrea but for all as citizenship is for one and for all. People can do and say whatever they
please about themselves and others as Eritrean national or sub-national political activists or
whatever else but have to know their limits as Eritrean citizens individually and collectively.
____fair2be said:
B4Real
Awate didn’t care about human rights,freedom of speech,democracy or independence of
Eritrea. He is just a racist banda shifta who terrorized the ethnic kunama. That is who Awate
really was. You can see that through the eyes of his clowns. I hope you get it now what I am
trying to say. Awate can go to hell.
___B4Real said:
fair2be,
Now, you are telling me that you are tot vent your anger more than to communicate you ideas
to the Eritrean public. The public is made of people who have who have problems like you and
whoever you belong to as a member of some group driving a sectarian and parochial boat
telling everybody from the would be nation of Eritrea to sing to their tunes.
I am not into sectarian and parochial Eritreans of the regional, ethnic, religious, or tribal
stripe. I am just an Eritrean who stands on his ground like any Eritrean citizen worth his salt.
Let me close with a statement from my last rejoinder to your earlier rejoinder:
I said, “I would like you to understand that I don’t stand for any particular group in Eritrea
but for all as citizenship is for one and for all. People can do and say whatever they please
about themselves and others as Eritrean national or sub-national political activists or
whatever else but have to know their limits as Eritrean citizens individually and collectively”.
___fair2be said:
I am not angry at all. I was just asking you about Awate and his personal belief system in
Eritrea if he is a national figure. But you couldn’t give me any answer. Instead you start
talking about yourself for some reason. So I made my own conclusion about Awate history.
end of the story
____B4Real said:
You really want to just talk. Let me give you some talk. Eritreans before 1961 all screwed up.
Eritrean from 1961 to 1977 almost got it right but soon screwed up half of it. Eritreans from
1977 to 1991 got it half right. Eritreans from 1991 to 2001 screwed it up all again. From 2001
to now, they live in the last screw up.
156 Now, Awate as an Eritrean and military man of national importance deserves his right place
and standing in the Eritrean military history. He initiated the Eritrean armed struggle for
independence, heeding to the call of his Eritrean compatriots who were carrying out their
peaceful political resistance to Ethiopian rule in Eritrea from Arab capitals, mainly Egypt. He
shot the first bulled that announced the initiation of the Eritrean struggle for independence.
He lead his small band of ELA warriors into battle against the Ethiopian army before he his
martyrdom in 1962.
From a national and historical point of view, Awate here was a leader of an army fighting to
liberate his country from foreign occupation. The Eritrean armed struggle for independence
that Awate established ultimately brought about the territorial liberation of Eritrea in 1991.
That, my friend, is what Eritreans have done half right so far, liberate their land from colonial
rule by force of arms. As an Eritrean figure of national importance, question Awate as a
commander in chief of the ELA and your will find the right answer everywhere. Peace and case
closed!}}}
Peace!
Reply ↓
22.
The message of our Kunama brothers and sisters is not directed to the sons of shifatu and
the 2% Eritreans. The children of Kunama intended to pass their message to the 100%
Eritreans, so don’t bother yourself of the names that have written the letter, because
Eritreans hate to be liars and believe each other. A true Eritrean doesn’t lie. Lie is the habit
of (zere kirdad).
Reply ↓
23.
Fithi on October 4, 2012 at 1:49 pm said:
Awate team,
let me ask u the following questions
1.why didnt u name the leader or writer of this article?
2.Are those deki kunama unable to write tigrigna that they wrote it in arabic that u had a
problem in translating the names?
3.if u really had a problem in writing the names in english as they are written in kunama,why
didnt
u
ask
them
by
phone
or
other
means.
Frankly ,this is fabrication.Gadi entay rekibuka?i like ur writing but for today i felt cheated.I
saw many flaws in this article. anyway i am waiting for an answer.
Thank you.
Reply ↓
o
Saleh "Gadi" Johar on October 4, 2012 at 3:41 pm said:
Frankly you need to work on your communication skills: you start by asking questions and
then you make a judgement before waiting for an answer. At any rate, I will be genrous and
answer your questions:
157 1. Valid question but have you ever seen a statement carrying a name? Though I agree with
you
people
should
sign
their
name,
they
didn’t.
2. I do not know if they are unable to write in Tigrinya or not, but not everyone writes in
Tigrinya, Eritreans generally use Tigrinya or Arabic and some use other languages.
3. No we didn’t have problem with what was written in Arabic, but some names could be
corrupted in translation and it is courtesy to appologize if you fear something of that nature
could happen. For example, the Arabic “Kaf” could be the Tigrinya G as in Geza or K as in
Qaanza or Kedaamay. You wouldn’t understanbd the confusion if you do not know both
Tigrinya and Arabic and how the sounds translate into English, and specially Kunama and
how they pronounce their nouns. For example, what many generally refer to as Tokombia or
Tukumbia the Kunama pronounce as Dkumbia–and the translators attempted to be true to
the original nouns.
As for your fabrication accusation: you can find the original statement in Arabic here.
http://alnahda1.8m.com/2012/kanam%20ahrar.htm
All right Mr, now it is your turn to do some homework and prove the statement is a
fabrication. Go ahead and find Eritreans in Sudan… and phone them. It is so easy.
Reply ↓
Fithi on October 5, 2012 at 12:15 am said:

Thank you Gadi.i know u are mature in your replies.but the fact that such a statement came
without signatures of the deki kunama is enough proof that it is not theirs.or invite them to do
it once again.personally i respect Awate.he is one of those who brought us freedom.the fact is
that the kunamas can not cry out of nothing.there was something wrong done to them by
awate.so what i am saying is that,if awate did those crimes,his contribution to the armed
struggle was just accidental.he could not have a heroic motive to liberate eritrea.the worst
thing in eritrea is that stories are made up to achieve an agenda.we will c more through
time.thank you.
Reply ↓

Thanks dear, but I am afraid in the case of Awate, we do not have to wait to find out the truth.
We have heard people like the DMLEK leaders throw accusations. If they have evidence, a
scholarly researched findings, we are all ears, I think. But to accuse without presenting a
shred of evidence is absurd and they have to be challenged. And the target is not Awate by the
way, it is the entire Eritrean struggle they are putting in question, it is the existence of Eritrea
that they are questioning. And this is not child play, it is serious. People are fed up with their
blackmailing, they have to put up or shut up. It is a challenge and I have asked Qernelios to
come and debate me on this subject in public, he cowered. I would love to face him in a debate
in public and expose his folktales that he presents as history. Otherwise, why would he focus
on this slanderous story and never mention what the Ethiopians did to Eritreans. I challenge
him to mention any of that, he will not.
Reply ↓

Fithi on October 5, 2012 at 2:36 am said:
158 Mr Gadi,
You can not be more accurate.when it comes to the kunama,they have a sense of exclusion in
this government.they didn’t get anything,their only high profile,Jermano Nathi (spelling mine)
was jailed,their fertile land was made free for anyone to set plantations,etc.Let me tell u a
simple fact(u already know it, though):The kunamas were better off in th Derg era than they
are now.But this should not lead to unwriting the history and honor of some eritreans(i am
assuming the story of awate as stated by DMLEK is unfounded).what we should do is that we
should tell the kunamas that every eritrean is hurt by pfdj except that the degree differs.The
Eritrean muslims feel they are excluded relative to the Tigrignas.in this case they are very
true.but it is not wise to dismiss the grievances of Eritrean muslims in its totality.the response
should be:u r right our muslim brothers.we too are being subjugated by pfdj and only the
degree differs.What i mean is that if we want our adversity to be gone we should avoid
confrontation and give people a sense of inclusion.and of course every human being who has a
drop of eritrean blood running in his vain should be respected if we love eritrea.imagine in the
US everyone with a legal American citizenship(not American blood!) is well respected by
Americans.in my very humble opinion we Eritreans are found in a stage that leads to nation
formation and not at a stage of having a nation.some think Eritrea is only theirs and others
say it is ours and they wait for their turn.it should not be like that.Lets address such problems
gracefully.if u ask what is the problem among Hamassien,Akele,and seraye,they would say
Niyo belom….bla bla.no one can tell the real problem they have among them.In the place i
grew up,i knew Akele as symbol of justice and courage,hamasien as people who do not have
bad heart to others and as generous,seraye as hardworking and diplomatic,all muslims as
people whose loyalty is hard to win but once you win it you own it forever.I never heard any
bad thing about any section of eritrean society from my parents.they told me all the beauties
as was the fact.imagin how beautiful Eritrea is with this little perceived diversity. Sorry Mr
Gadi i went a bit out of the topic because i feel they all affect us. As for Qernelios he should
present the facts or engage u in a constructive debate.Thank you again.

shangarfo on October 6, 2012 at 3:00 am said:
dear salih gadi you dont need to present fabrications implicating the kunama to your side
because nobody will believe. ur writing was self explanatory it tells that it was written by
yourself. secondly why does Qornelios debate a national issue since you are not a leader of any
political or civic organization and represent nobody but yourself???? and for your information
the case that Awate was a “shifta” has been proven by many eritreans and the proofs were
provided by many why do you request further proof from Q.O. or is this a matter between you
and Qornelios. i am afraid it is a national matter that concerns all Eritreans be it in Tadamun
camp that you are leading, “through influence”, or the Christian highlanders. what DMLEK is
doing is letting every one see the truth and decide for himself. then we can come to collective
decision. isnt this part of freedom of speech. why is Awate a red line to you and your follower
islamists.

Dear, nobody has the right draw red lines, but when you lie, people take you task and
challenge you to bring your evidence. Otherwise, saying something and expecting others to
just accept your slander is foolish. You ckaim that DMLK is letting everyone see the truth.”
Unfortunately you might consider it truth but here I am and others telling you it is a lie.
Proove us wrong because it is you who are making the accusation abd the burden of proof is
on you. Whyt do you object to people challenging you? Obviously you do not know it but
freedom of speech goes two ways, I have to tell a lier that he is lying. Then they can proove
159 their allegation. Then stop your childish, bigoted characterization, how do you live with your
lie calling me an Islamist? You have proof for that also? Grow up and do not repeat empty
words that you do not understand what they mean. Finally, don’t just throw stuff like, “has
been proven by many Eritreabs and proofs were provided why do you request proof…” This is
pathetic. If you feel confident there is proof, bring it on. Withg all the lies you spread on a
single paragraph post you think anyone will believe you? Learn how to debate and then come
back. As it is, you do not have it.

Saleh AA Younis on October 7, 2012 at 10:25 pm said:
Abu Selah:
One of my lefty friends sent me a link about something called the Gish Gallop:
Named for the debate tactic created by creationist shill Duane Gish, a Gish Gallop involves
spewing so much bullshit in such a short span on that your opponent can’t address let alone
counter all of it. To make matters worse a Gish Gallop will often have one or more ‘talking points’
that has a tiny core of truth to it, making the person rebutting it spend even more time debunking
it in order to explain that, yes, it’s not totally false but the Galloper is
distorting/misusing/misstating the actual situation. A true Gish Gallop generally has two traits.
1) The factual and logical content of the Gish Gallop is pure bullshit and anybody knowledgeable
and informed on the subject would recognize it as such almost instantly. That is, the Gish Gallop
is designed to appeal to and deceive precisely those sorts of people who are most in need of
honest factual education.
2) The points are all ones that the Galloper either knows, or damn well should know, are totally
bullshit. With the slimier users of the Gish Gallop, like Gish himself, its a near certainty that the
points are chosen not just because the Galloper knows that they’re bullshit, but because the
Galloper is deliberately trying to shovel as much bullshit into as small a space as possible in
order to overwhelm his opponent with sheer volume and bamboozle any audience members with
a facade of scholarly acumen and factual knowledge.
You have invited the leader of the cult to debate you. He declined. You should know the rest is
just the “Gish Gallop”: a serving of BS that you should ignore severely. You are too polite to
say STFU, but you should try it.
saay
o
You are asking for clarification and again you are judging it as a ” fabrication”
what a hypocrite!!!
Reply ↓
o
Felice on October 7, 2012 at 6:33 am said:
[Moderator's note: This account is banned. Several warnnings to stop using multiple
nicks (to name a few, Nigus, Abate, Arte, Homa, Arsibe, Tukka, ErkukodiSu Page) and our
160 advice was not heeded. We know this is "ErkukodiSu Page" and we know it is being used
by one person and who that person is. Therfore, we have concluded you have no
intention of debating honestly and we have no other choice but to ban your IP]
Reply ↓
24.
Kokhob Selam on October 4, 2012 at 11:27 am said:
just because that we Eritrean people should open wide ground for everybody to be part,
doesn’t mean we will allow some who were against our freedom to shape it in such way to
cover their crimes. now we all know PFDJ is against our people and we need to unite yet we
will strictly defend the truth. in short we are fighting against PFDJ means, against all odds.
now, some who were with Haileslase, and some who were with Derg then some who work with
DIA all want to play their game. that will not work. instead we are telling they need to be
forgiven for their old sin and the requirement is to work with the mass now. they should know
that we are watching them.
Eritrea is going to be free by any means possible.
Reply ↓
o
ኩነታት በርቲU ፡ተመጸ ኸEምጽ
ሒጂ ኣዘንጊU፡ መሲሉ ዝድንግጽ፡
ኣመና ነቢU፡ ንባAት ሓርግጽ፡
Eምብዛ ሰሲU፡ ዓጢቑ ንበለጽ፡
ክጥቀመልና ሰሪU፣ዝደልዮ ከመርጽ፡
ንፋስ Eዩ በሊU፡ ነይብለና ድምብርጽ፡፡
ዋና ነገር፡ ህድE Eልካ ነገራት መዚንካ፡
ዝሓልፈ ኣስተንቲካ ማEዘንካ ከይረሰEካ፡
ናይ ሓባር ባይታኻ ኣሕሊፍካ ከይሃብካ፡
መሪሽ ተኣሳሲርካ ናቢ’ቲ ቀንድ ታርጌትካ።
ደይ ክወግሕ ቀሪብ Eዩ በዚሑ ጫውጫውታ፡
ብርሃን ክበርህ ክንበራበር ካብ “ቲ ለይቲ ከውታ፡
ንሕናን ናብ ስራሕና ህግደፍ ናብ መሬታ፡
ነቅ ዘይትብል መርገጽና ዲምክራሲ መሰረታ
found in our JEBENA/MERHABA
Reply ↓
25.
Samretay on October 4, 2012 at 7:13 am said:
What we see here is a man who is a normal human being with both good and bad things in
his life. What I think the Kunamas, apparent victims of his bad side are saying is, whatever
he may have done to ignite the Eritrean freedom movement should not be viewed in
isolation. That would be denigrating those Eritreans, who were victimized by him.
161 However, Awatites want non of that. They want the image of the ‘superhuman’ Awate
maintained at any cost. They seem to say the “name of our hero should not be marred by the
death and suffering of few Kunamas and Barias”. That kind of thinking does not bid well for
the future Eritrea where all people are treated with dignity without regard to ethnicity.
Reply ↓
26.
ALHAGIGA on October 4, 2012 at 6:17 am said:
Dawit
This is internal Eritrean issue, it doesn’t concern you ,when we discuss about Ethiopia, you
have all the right to comment, it is about heroes , not rats ,that we are talking, it is
understandable you don’t like Awate ,for he fought against your country ,and as a result your
small God ,who you were fasting and praying for , the emperor, was toppled by desperate
military junta [ DERG ] , which brought more disaster to the country , today Eritreans we have
our own disaster that we are trying to resolve , with out intrusion by individuals like you
,Awate is and will remain our hero ,his place is assured in our history and folklore ,and please
we don’t need shefatu specialists and experts to tell us our recent history ,and why do you
think Awate team or Saleh Ghadi should spend their precious time answering your absurd
and ridiculous Questions ?
Reply ↓
o
Now, I can clearly understand that you are unable to see further than the tip of your nose. You
don’t know me but you wrongly believed (or assumed) that I am an Ethiopian. I wish I was an
Ethiopian, but I am not. So, “you are shooting, before aiming”. It’s not wise for you to jump the
gun.
Reply ↓

amazing! you wish you were an Ethiopian and you want people to take you seriously and
discuss Eritrean issues, what every you say no patriotic Eritrean will understand you.
Reply ↓
27.
Children Of Kunama In Sudan on October 4, 2012 at 4:02 am said:
Writing an article in the name of the Children Of Kunama In Sudan, shame on you Awate, if
you have any proves that Awate was not a shifta killing and looting other rival clans on the
Area prove it
Reply ↓
162 taha mohamed on October 3, 2012 at 9:03 pm said:
28.
If that is the way the children of kunama from sudan feel about martyred Idris Awate that is
very encouraging and a way toward unity. I was surprise but pleased to hear that. and i hope
to hear better and more close relationship and unity in near future.
Reply ↓
o
Tukka on October 4, 2012 at 10:02 am said:
[Moderator's note: this is the last warning. We warned you not to use duplicate nicks
when you are one person but you keep repeating the violation. So far you have used the
following different nicks: Nigus, Abate, Arte, Homa, Arsibe, Tukka, ErkukodiSu Page...
Please choose one nick and stick to it, anything you post using a different nick other
than Tukka (the last you used) will be deleted. If you still prefer to multiply yourself,
you will be banned from this forum.]
Don’t be surprised brother Taha Mohamed. This article is a fake article produced by Awate
team and Sale Gadi Johar. I can prove it for various reasons.
1. We kunama people know very well what atrocities done by Hamid Idris Awate against
us. There is no kunama who was born in kunama land and doesn’t know the cruilty of
Hamid Idris Awate. The real kunama children obviously know the history of kunama
people from their fathers and elders, but such kind of denial of the agony of their
mothers and thier brothers will never come from any kunama member. In Hamid Idris
Awate’s case, irrespective of their opinions or political differences, we all kunama speak
the same. You can refer to the articles in the websites http://www.meselbiherat.com
and http://www.kunamaagara.com.
2.
2. DMLEk radio has the right to tell the Kunama people and other Eritrean nationalities
(if they hear the language) about the atrocities committed by Shabiya regime against the
Eritrean peoples in general and kunama people in particular. However, this article did
not mention when and what DMLEK radio has propagated against the unity of Eritrean
people. I don’t know why Sale Gadi is afraid of evidences.
3. The fabrication goes beyond the vilification of DMLEK leader Qornellios to his father
Osman Aggar who is the innocent layman peasant who lived harmoniously and
peacefully with his villagers knowing nothing about such kind of atrocities. It is shame
to compare Hamid Idris Awate (the Icon) and Osman Aggar the layman who have no
rank in any military position.
4. The kunama men mentioned in this article are not written as any kunama member
could spell. It became difficult for Awate to spell correctly. If these kunama children are
the real one they could not miss their names correctly.
Therefore, this article is total fabrication. It will be up to the Awate team and Sale Gadi Johar
to explain their intention why they misslead the Eritrean peoples. However, we know that the
Awate team and Sale Gadi Johar are trying to disunite the kunama people from their vanguard
organization DMLEK and make the kunama people not to attain their self-determination right
in their ancestral kunama land. But in futile.
163 History will not be produced by fabrications or hiding history by itself is crime. Even if Awate
team and Sale Gadi Johar try to produce fictitious history or hide the true history of Hamid
Idris Awate, then they are going to be accountable in the future not less than the Icon itself.
Therefore, we Eritreans have to know that whether it is good or bad history, the history of
Hamid Idris Awate is the history of Eritrea and its peoples (not only of kunama people) and
should not be denied but mend the scars produced by that true history.
Reply ↓
29.
I don’t see a difference between Hamid Idris Awate and Issayas. Both are alleged to have
committed heinous crimes. If you want to make Hamid Idris awate an Eritrean icon you might
as well make dictator issayas too.
Reply ↓
o
According Tekeste Negash, there were three types of shefatu in Eritrea, and these are:
1. Bandits whose main purpose of shiftnet it was to carry out terrorist acts against other rival
clans.
2. Outlaws from Tigrai whose purpose it was to rob villagers.
3. Rebels who refused allegiance to and opposed the Italian rulers.
Hamid Idris Awate falls under the first category of shiftinet. He raided the Kunam and Baria in
the 1950s. He incited violence between his clan (Beni Amir) and Hammssien (Liban, and
Anseba.) The British , at the time, offered a bounty to any one who captures “Shifta” idris
Awate dead or alive.
Now , who do you think should be an icon of Eritrea ? Those who fought the Italians or those
who terrorized villagers?
You can read more about Eritrean shefatu in the book titled “Eritrea and Ethiopia: the federal
experience” by Tekeste negash. Now, we wait evidences to the contrary from “Awate team” in
general, and Mr. Salih GAdi in particular.
Reply ↓

Dawit Meconen on October 5, 2012 at 1:42 pm said:
Dawit,
You have been pretending to be an Eritrean with a vicious scheme to torpedo our unity from
within. However, liars can only run but can’t hide because the Truth, like an invisible trap,
catches them off-guard, when they least expect….
164 [From moderator: rest of content deleted. Go easy on your racist rant; make your
argument rationally. This is not Dehai Message Board.]
Rectification of Names
December 24, 2012 December 24, 2012 Awate Team
It is that time of year when we review the past and make pledges for the
future. To take stock, to assess, to evaluate and then to act: to realign,
to repurpose and redirect. Eritrea is not a business and this is not a
management course so we owe you plain talk: once in a while, it is good
to ask: who are our friends, who are our fellow-travellers and who are
our foes. We need, in the words of the great Chinese philosopher Lau
Tzu: “Rectification of Names.” Or, in American parlance, kicking ass
and taking prisoners. Our friend and great awatista Aklilu Zere (who
always seems to have telepathic powers of communication with us) had his list of assertions.
Consider this awate.com’s list of assertions and admonishments and divorce papers that we
will no longer travel with some of our fellow-travelers because their destination is far different
from ours.
1. Eritrea and Eritreanism
Ok, repeat after us: Hdri Swuatna. resalet alsuhada’a. The legacy of our martyrs. These are
not punch lines to us. They are not things that make us shrug our shoulders or roll our eyes.
We believe in them. And if you don’t, if you are young and impressionable, we will try to
persuade you. If you are aging, we will assume you are not really into it. We are no longer
willing to entertain the thought that you are one of us. You have a different agenda. And we
will not wish you “good luck”: we will plainly tell you that our objective is to defeat you.
This country that we call Independent Eritrea was the dream of giants. They have names like
Ibrahim Sultan, Woldeab Woldemariam, Abdulkader Kebire and Hamid Idris Awate. The first
died in exile; the second survived seven assassination attempts; the third was assassinated;
and the fourth died less than a year after he started our armed struggle. Enlisted in the cause
were tens of thousands of boys and girls, men and women: from those who agreed to raise
funds for it in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s—businessmen in Eritrea, laborers in the Middle East,
maids in Italy and everywhere else—to those who bled, who got wounded and who died for it.
Honor them, if you can. Work towards their goals, if you dare. Forget them, if you can’t. But
do not, do NOT insult them and demean their contribution.
If you are in exile in the US and Canada and Europe and your adopted country has an insane
policy of accepting Eritrea as a sovereign independent state (voting for its sovereignty in the
UN) while calling all the people who made its sovereignty a reality “terrorists”, you have two
choices: to convince your adopted country that its policy is insane and to exercise your rights
as a citizen to change it; or you can exploit your adopted country’s insanity and declare war on
those who made Independent Eritrea a reality.
It is a free country. But we are taking stock. We are assessing. And if you choose the latter,
you are not our partner. Find new ones because we are. We hate the PFDJ. We have hated
it longer and more intensely than many of the “new” ones who want to tell us they hate it even
more. But. But. We have always tried to make a big distinction between the PFDJ and
Eritrea. We were opposed to the UN imposing an arms embargo on Eritrea not because we
love the PFDJ but because UN arms embargoes are never lifted unless the country accepts
Security Council imposed “Shalabis” hand-picked by our Southern neighbors in the interest of
“lasting peace.” We called for total and absolute isolation of the PFDJ and freezing of its
assets—which are, in reality, assets stolen from the Eritrean people—long before anybody did.
165 We believe Hamid Idris Awate IS the spark of Eritrean nationalism. We do not say this
because we share the same ethnicity (we don’t) or region (we don’t) or religion with him; we say
it because he is—even by the lofty standards of our founding fathers—unique in that he was
transformative person. He took ideas and changed them to reality. He faced one of Africa’s
most intimidating armed forces, presided over by one of Africa’s most respected kings, because
he believed in Eritrea. He didn’t fight for the Beni Amer, for the Nara, for Gash-Barka or for
Islam: he fought for Eritrea and he raised an Eritrean banner. He inspired Eritreans to not
just believe in the dream of independent Eritrea but to act on it. We do not take lightly those
who want to assault his legacy. Again, they are free to do so—but we are not interested in
calling them our allies or our leaders. This is because they are echoing the sentiments of the
colonizing forces of Ethiopia who wanted to extinguish the Eritrean spark.
2012 witnessed an amazing phenomenon: Eritrean youth on facebook raised the banner of
“We are all awate” on September 1st. And then when one bully came and said “boo!” to them,
none of them stood up to explain why Hamid Idris Awate is their hero. Now, consider the
following: another group of Eritrean youth has a facebook group called “We Are All Isaias
Afwerki”. Now, if somebody asked them, “why do you admire Isaias Afwerki?” do you think
they would have no answers? Do you think they would be bullied into taking it down? The
difference is: the youth on our side are ill-informed and they flaunt their ignorance. They
equate knowing Eritrea’s history as participating in its history. And since, they have been
told, there is nothing in Eritrean history to be proud of–”it is all artificial!”- they choose to be
militantly ignorant about Eritrean history.
This is our point: the latest fad in Eritrean opposition is to glorify the “youth.” But this is all
simple pandering, a fetish–as if the “youth” are godlike creatures. To criticize the Eritrean
youth in Germany or Sweden is now considered to attack the youth in Sinai and refugee
camps simply because the two belong to the same age group and had similar experiences in
Eritrea. It is taken, automatically, as a sign of supporting the “old” opposition. The “old”
opposition surely deserves its fair share of criticism but one thing they have going for them is
that they know Eritrea’s history. They know its heroes and its villains. And, mostly, they
know how much sacrifice was paid to make it a reality. “For the sake of our martyrs” is not a
punchline to them.
And, consequently, they are not as malleable and flexible as many in the
Eritrean youth movements who seem to have nothing sacred, no red lines, no non-negotiable
items. There is nothing that they will say “hell, no!” to.
Eritrea is a country whose boundaries were negotiated by Ethiopia, Italy, France and
England. We have no patience for those who cry crocodile tears about people separated by
boundaries because their tears are selective. Where are the tears for Western Eritreans
separated from their kin in Eastern Sudan? For Southwestern Ethiopians separated from their
kin in South Sudan? For Southern Ethiopians separated from their kin in Kenya?
Southeastern Ethiopians separated from their kin in Somalia? Colonialism, regardless of its
source, meant arbitrarily drawing boundaries and, yes, Ethiopia’s Menelik was actively
involved in drawing Ethiopia’s borders–i.e. separating people of the same ethnicity and
nationality. So please learn history so you won’t become a pawn of people with agendas far
different from yours.
We are all for ethnic pride but we consider all the recent wailing from some quarters in the
Eritrean highlands for Ethiopian hegemony an affront to the legacy of our Eritrean martyrs.
And those who criticize Eritrean culture as too fixated on the culture of martyrdom are, of
course, mute when it comes to Ethiopia. Consider this: the all-natural death of the late Prime
Minister Meles Zenawi was described by Ethiopian media as “martyrdom.” Demonstrations
were held in Tigray to pay tribute to the “martyrdom” (meswait) of Meles Zenawi. And, from
their perspective, rightly so. But when those who respect their own heroes tell you to
disrespect yours, it is not a matter of somebody trying to break your bad habit of having a
culture of martyrdom; it is because he wants you to respect his heroes. If you choose to be
played on this, if you are ignorant of your history, it is your decision. But we cannot in good
166 conscience consider you a fellow traveler in the journey towards a free, proud, independent,
democratic, just, and sovereign Eritrea.
In summary, we are not willing to negotiate Eritrean nationalism for the sake of uprooting the
dreaded PFDJ. And those who are willing to say anything, do anything, negotiate anything,
discount everything to achieve that end are, at the end of the day, not our partners because
their goals are different from ours.
Activism and Journalism
The sad reality in the Eritrean Diaspora is that every activist pretends to be a journalist; every
politician wants to be a pundit; and every pundit wants to be a politician. But of all the epic
fails of the Eritrean opposition, somewhere near the top has to be that of people who are
activists but pretend to be journalists.
Now, we appreciate the importance of journalism. We, at awate.com, never pretended to be
journalists but activists. Over the years, we have been made offers. First was the offer by
EPLF-DP, the website of the G-15 to “merge” our organizations. We did not see what is it that
a content-free website had to offer us by way of merger, so we politely said no. (The man who
made us the Merger and Acquisition offer now “struggles” for Eritrea (i.e. EPLF renaissance)
two weeks a year, whenever he gets a sabbatical from his day job.) Then, there were
pressures from “get united, work together” people for us to “co-ordinate” our efforts with
Asmarino.com. We did not get the point of this since one of the things we are striving for in
Eritrea is pluralism in media. And, in any event, we are glad we didn’t since Asmarino, which
we, for long, considered our sister website to the extent of sharing the Martyr’s Database
which we acquired at great peril—and which it now posts on its website gratuitously—has,
since the “retirement” of our old friend and dear brother Tes Meharenna, become a hotbed of
Ethiopian unionists and Eritrean refuseniks. Tragedy averted. Now comes assenna.com
which really seems to celebrate its home base’s (England’s) greatest contribution to
journalism: sensationalism.
Now, this is not easy for us. Let’s remember this: there is no free media in Eritrea. And, for
years, we said anything that sheds light on the darkness in Eritrea is our traveling partner.
And please feel free to insert this after every sentence we are writing: it is all PFDJ’s fault.
But assenna has gone off the rails and we have a duty to “rectify names.” And we do this after
a long period of patience. Assenna, which is headed by an Eritrean journalist (whose sole
journalism experience is working for Eritrean state media) has, it appears, simply changed
bosses from working for one kind of autocrat (the Isaias Afwerki regime) to another (European
NGO). Consider the following:
(a) When it went off the deep end talking, with absolute certainty, that Isaias Afwerki had died,
we did not want to embarrass it. We said nothing. In fact, privately, we did our best to cheer
up its demoralized status.
(b) When it, after interviewing Meles Zenawi, hyped his vague statements that Ethiopia may,
perhaps, God willing, consider releasing Eritrean journalists in Ethiopian prisons (the same
vague ones he had given many others, including awate.com), responsible journalists like
Habtom Yohannes did nothing with the “news.” But for assenna, this was too “hot” to sit on:
it had to break the news! Because what this meant to the family of the journalists—getting
false hopes only to be heartbroken–was irrelevant. One of the broken-hearted mothers of the
journalist recently died. We said nothing.
(c) Since November, assenna.com has given you “breaking news” “exclusive news”
“blockbuster news” about Eritrea’s “Acting” Minister of Information, Ali Abdu, and his family.
Every single one of them has been wrong. When Ali Abdu who, like virtually every Eritrean
government official, suffers from some kind of scary organ failure, was being hospitalized, it
told you he had asked for asylum in Canada. Then it told you that his daughter, who has dual
167 citizenship—Eritrean/American–was witnessed entering the US embassy in Khartoum. Then
it told you that this Eritrean-American child was accepted for political asylum in Canada.
Doesn’t this embarrass us, the entire opposition, collectively? Is Ali Abdu’s 15 year old
daughter some kind of celebrity? How would anyone know if she was outside the US embassy
in Khartoum? This kind of paparazzi celebrity journalism is big in England and the US—where
they have tons of celebrities—but how does this make sense with Eritrean children? And why
are we reporting on the family members of Eritrean officials? Is nothing off limits?
Before you could recover from that, you were told that she—an American citizen—had been
accepted for asylum in Canada. Now, why would Canada give an American citizen asylum?
For an American to travel to Canada, all she needs is a passport—which she, presumably, got
from the US embassy in Khartoum (by the way, there is no US embassy in Khartoum after the
crazy demonstration they had about something crazy there)—and an airline ticket. That’s it.
So why would Canada give asylum?
Lastly, when the parents of Ciham Ali know that their daughter is in Adi Abeyto jail, how does
it make them feel to read that she is in Canada?
(d) Now, you may be saying that assenna just trusted its sources and is just reporting what it
heard from its reliable sources. Fine. We all make mistakes (although assenna seems to
delight in making mistakes.) But here’s where it gets tricky: it published an appeal from an
organization asking the Canadian government to not give political asylum to Ali Abdu because
he was a member of the “terrorist” organization of EPLF/PFDJ. Then, the next day, when it
heard from its EPLF/PFDJ sources/allies/family members/friends that this could endanger
their own refugee status, it withdrew it. So, it is fine to do everything you can to deny Ali
Abdu refugee status in Canada because he belonged to the EPLF/PFDJ so long as you do not
endanger EPLF/PFDJ members who are your family members and friends. Is this principled?
Is this activism? Is this journalism?
So, to summarize. When assenna.com broke the news that Ali Abdu had asked for asylum in
Canada, he had not. He was in Europe. When it said that his daughter was in the US
embassy in Khartoum, that was wrong: his daughter was being interrogated somewhere in the
Sudanese/Eritrean border. And when it said that she had been accepted to Canada, she was
in Adi Abeyto. When it posted a petition to the Canadian government to deny refugee status to
Ali Abdu and then it withdrew it when it found out that that would affect its own friends,
relatives, supporters—then assenna showed that not only is it wrong about everything, but
that when push comes to shove it has no principles: it will fold to accommodate the priorities
of its friends and family members.
This kind of activism/journalism really does a disservice to Eritrea, and particularly to the
Eritrean resistance movement. It makes it easy for our opponents to dismiss us. It destroys
our credibility. And, if you are being funded by NGOs, European governments, and agencies
with noble sounding names, it makes you their pawn because you have to deliver “breaking
news” to continue to get your funding. It is better to be broke and near bankruptcy and live off
the kindness of Eritreans than to get funding from NGOs and other aliens with undefined
agendas. We are just saying—take it or leave it.
Tacticians And Strategists
Meanwhile, there is the question of: Where is Ali Abdu. Is Ali Abdu in a hospital? Is Ali Abdu
somewhere in Europe? In Canada? In Eritrea? This is really one of the most disappointing
things about not just assenna but all the “youth” groups who are supposed to be Eritrea’s
promise. Because they do not know that the “where” is far less interesting than the “why”?
Let’s give you a scenario. Ali Abdu is in British Columbia, Canada. Assenna would not ask
why? It would just rush to break the news. He may be there in a hospital. He may be there
168 buying time to get as many of his partners out of Eritrea as possible. But that does not
matter. JUST BREAK THE NEWS!!!! NEW!!! EXCLUSIVE!!!!
Our opponents, the PFDJ, are, we are sorry to say, smarter. They keep their mouth shut.
They investigate. They ask: how long? Who are his partners? Look for clues. Go to the
shabait website. Go to “Contact Us.” See that? Now go to “Government Contacts.” Hidden
under your nose. Read it. Now, read all of awate.com’s “Belly of the Beast.” And “President
Gone Wild.” And “President Gone Wilder.” And the Qatar mediated Eritrea Djibouti
Agreement that we got. And the Al-watan interview translated to English. And wikileaks
comments about him not believing what he really says. And the tension between the two
youth organizations—the NUEYS and the YPFDJ? And his closeness to murdered
businessman Mohammed Saleh Mohammed Hagos. And his closeness to now-arrested
military members. It is investigating.
Who are his friends? Who are his allies? What can we find in his computer? What will his maid
tell us? His neighbors?
It is also coming up with a story. It has to answer questions of “what do we tell all our
followers who were saying that this guy is the next president of Eritrea?” How shall we spin
Sophia Tesfamariam (PFDJ’s version of assenna) so she doesn’t pre-emptively write something
that doesn’t fit with our narrative? How do we completely destroy him?
Meanwhile, on our side. Is there any corresponding strategic thinking of how do we win over
people who have stepped into the light? If today, it is Ali Abdu, and tomorrow it is Tafla, and
the day after, it is Sebhat Ephrem, and the day after that, it is Askalu, do we have any strategy
of drawing them to us? Or is our idea of struggle “monkey chasing” and petitions to deny
refugee status? And how does that encourage anyone from leaving the police state?
All of you who say “tell us what you know about Ali Abdu” our answer is we will, when the
time is right. We fail to see the urgency of “breaking news” when there are far, far more
important questions. We are not, and we have never been, interested in pursuing the 24 hour
news cycle. We are in the middle of a struggle and, from our perspective, the definition of
winning is to have as many PFDJ members become ex-PFDJ members and enlisted in the
cause of bringing democracy and justice to Eritrea. And everything we try to do is from the
perspective of that.
Conclusion
The Eritrean regime has never been weaker—but it is being challenged by even weaker
assortment of opposition elements. For years, it was customary to beat up on the traditional
opposition, the Eritrean Democratic Alliance, as being “driven by personal grudges” ,as having
no national agenda, as being incompetent, as being the lackeys of Ethiopia. Much ink was
spilled on this, and much of it was true. But those who are vying to replace it are, we are sad
to say, even less strategic in their thinking, less informed about their history, and, since they
are far too willing to tarnish all of our real heroes and our armed struggle, are far too willing to
accept the lowest standards for heroism and inspiration. In this regard, a person who talks
for hours on Paltalk is a “hero”; a person who videotapes something is a “hero”; a person who
used to be in prison and is now free is a “hero”; and a person who demonstrates for two hours
is a “hero.”
Our media are sensational and short-sighted. Our youthful opposition are even more “grudgedriven” than the old opposition—except that their grudges are based on second, third and
fourth-hand information.
Those engaged in the campaign to defeat the PFDJ
are tewelawelti and always distracted by something else. (For example, we learned the
heading of this edition’s of The Pencil from Dawit H. Gabriel. Remember how he came roaring
with a sure way to defeat the PFDJ. And all his meticulous plans, remember him? Where is he
now? Distracted by something else. )And, we absolutely have not devised a single way to
169 accommodate all those who are leaving the sinking ship of the PFDJ. The “old opposition” had
a strategy for this: they welcomed people –the Eritrean Commandos—a day after they had their
guns pointed at them ready to annihilate them. Our new opposition has a lot of growing up to
do and the tragedy is that the PFDJ may implode before the opposition grows up.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
[email protected]
awate.com.
Inform. Inspire. Embolden. Reconcile. And, once a year at least, reassess.
Correction: In an article entitled “Setting The Record Straight…”, Asmarino states that the
martyr’s database it is displaying on its homepage is different from the same one we provided
it in 2005. It says that “data base Asmarino has now displayed on its website originates
directly from Asmara, from what they used to call, “Mingar database”. We apologize to
asmarino.com for assuming it is the same database.
Comments
Rectification of Names — 123 Comments
1.
TEWERWER on December 29, 2012 at 12:01 am said:
ASSENNA IS IT JUST LIKE JANK YARD.ANY WONDED PERSON HUNGES THERE.
Reply ↓
2.
Fesseha on December 28, 2012 at 8:55 am said:
Even if as senna.com has every right to publish what it feels right, caution , and wisdom must
be
the
order
of
the
day.
“even
justice
is
sometimes
unjust”
(Shakespeare, in Merchant of Venice). Even if senna was sure of Ali Abdu’s defection, it should
have been wiser. Ali Abdu’s father ,whom we grew up calling Ami Abdu (and with deep respect)
should have been protected in every sense. Ami Abdu, a man of great knowledge and integrity
is one of the last Eritreans of his age. He was harassed and persecuted for his beliefs. Besides
being a great father of many good Eritrean citizens ,Ami Abdu is a man every Eritrean would
like to know. Fluent in many languages, deep knowledge of the Eritrean culture (as a Muslim ,
his knowledge of Christianity is amazing)………. It is this man and his family asenna should
have protected.
Perhaps asenna will have a lesson that when an Eritrean official defects, it should use caution.
It is not wrong to be silent, as awate did, in face of alawless beast. If awate was silent on Ali’s
defection, it was with a reason.
Reply ↓
3.
Pingback: CPJ:
Freedom4Ethiopian
Where
is
Eritrean
170 Information
Minister
Ali
Abdu?
«
Gerimuni on December 27, 2012 at 4:08 pm said:
4.
Aparently the regime released the great journalist/poet Ahmed Omer Sheikh last Sunday
presumably
to
replace
Ali
Abdu:
http://cyberadal.com/2012/12/27/ahmed-omer-sheikh-is-free/
Reply ↓
5.
Semere Andom on December 27, 2012 at 2:20 pm said:
Unbecoming
of
the
Awate
Team:
La
haQun
Lena
En
Lem
NeQuleha
No one can refute the contributions of Younis and Gadi. To my mind this is the ony public
blunder that these giant Eritreans have made in their decade and unimpeachable commitment
and balanced reporting. Who can forget their insightful, weary and erudite articles that many
of my peers and I salivated to read. Their contribution has been cemented in the lexicon of the
Eritrean yearning for democracy. My only beef about awate was that they are too cautious and
too
perfectionists.
But
the
latest
reassess
is
better
termed
as
regress
Amanuel of Assenna fills a different kind of void in the renainance of the Eritrean hope. His
strength is the very criticism that Awate levels against him. He marries Activism and
Journalism. I am not privy to the silent conflict between Awate and Assenna that has been
alluded to in Amanuels’s rebuttal, but the latest Pencii can be construed as an outright and
deliberate bulling of Assenna and its publisher, a giant Eritrean gallant, who has made his
indelible mark in the arduous process of erardicating the PFDJ. Granted in the process he has
made
his
share
of
mistakes.
I urge the ATeam to withdraw this divisive and wounding piece. In my opinion, it adds no
value except the philosophical flourishes that it bestowed upon us. It can be constued as an
outright and deliberate bulling of Assenna and is publisher, the great Amanuel Eyasu. This
feud between two of our Goliaths only widens the ugly smirks of the Lucifer.
It sounds like the ATeam has crossed the fine line between its flagship traits (confidence) and
arrogance. I hope their humor and fierce bent towards fairness overwhelms this new found
shoots of arrogance
Ali Abdu under the penname Tsegereda Ghebreamlak has written several poems. One of the
memorable ones was called (Eወ ንነብE ከመይ ዝይነንብE). He continues to say that they (the PFDJ)
their tears flow inwards. I hope that now his tears out flow and water his bushy moustache.
The moustache that his sports is on your face and an enduring tribute to his master and
partner in crime, Isaias Afewerki and whether he has an organ failure or alopecia of facial hair
he does not deserve our sympathy.
Thanks
Semere
Reply ↓
hizbawi on December 27, 2012 at 5:09 pm said:
o
Semere, I have no idea where you live but what Assena editor is doing would have placed
him in jail. you can not released false news. so, please spare me and read the ethics of
171 journalism and see for your self. second, Ali Abdu gave it all to what he believed and he is a
man of deeds, who the hell are you to tell as otherwise. He gave it all including his
childhood. I suggest you people to shout your mouth up.one thing you should never take
away from people is respect, because they have done you never able to do and in some
causes you will never able to do. Ali Abdu deserves an absolute respect.
Reply ↓
Atsbaha on December 28, 2012 at 12:09 pm said:

Dear
Hizbawi,
Even serial killers believe in what they do and live to do it.But that does not make them
right.
Working day and night to denigrate heroes he did much more for their country does not in
any way make him equal to them. How can he deserve dignity when his main job was to
trample other peoples dignity? I leave the answer to you
Reply ↓
6.
b'Alti W'qatto Arwe (As in a girl with a dragon tattoo). on December 27, 2012 at
2:17 pm said:
Dear Beyan Negash,
I vividly remember reading your otherwise brilliant comments on Dehai where I had to go back
and forth to make use of my dust-filled dictionary as you’re literally a walking-Thesaurus. This
was in the mid 90s when I was an undergrad student soaring high on the clouds riding the
wings of giants like you and of course Sal among others. I was too shy and intimidated to chip
in my limited knowledge on to the issue at hand of any given day. It may probably sound a bit
pompous but I say, “If I have seen further than others, it is because I have stood on the
shoulders of giants.” Newton’s adage that is.
I don’t have much to say or add to what you’ve aptly stated about the narratives of the Good
Book. As much as it tells us the norms, values, laws and most importantly their (Israelites)
central role as God’s chosen people, the narrative delivers a metaphor about the opposing
forces that shape up the very essence where “Man is the measure of all things.” As much as it
is a curious question whether the Biblical figures (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David inter alia)
actually lived and walked on Earth, the question slips into the back-burner where their lives
and times gives us a sense of hope, perseverance, fortitude and the meaning of life in a world
where angst of existence dreads humanity. Happy Holidays.
Haft’kha.
Reply ↓
7.
Lameak Tewelde on December 27, 2012 at 10:46 am said:
172 Ato
Salih;
It is absolutely terrifying.You couldn’t look away from the thing.Amanuel Iaysu is not correct
in his behaviour.He didn’t say anything,he didn’t do anything,he just stood more or less at
attention on that meeting with……in London …somebody rushed and kicked Amanuel in the
seat,very hard.And I remember seeing them marching the whole road just as they’d been
drunk
and
disorderly
on
Saturday
night.
This story captrures the fear.
And the long road abck had begun.
About Ato Ali Abdu;
He have same principal and are excellent Tegadalay and jouralist at government.controled
Tv,Radio and Press.In Wartime music fills an important niche in national life like”Milenu and
Shingruwa”To beat up martial spirit but to provide good cheer for the forces.Ali Abdu did his
job well.
Reply ↓
8.
Zelku_Dia on December 27, 2012 at 10:28 am said:
Dear all,
Here is a list of things “The Dragon” (aka. Wquato) said in reply to SAAY’s comment
One, “If one was to ask a teenager in the streets of Addis about Eritrea, one would be
surprised to find that, the teenager is not only completely aloof about Eritrea, his knowledge
about Eritrea or to know about Eritrea is as much as his curiosity says about Sudan or Kenya”
This is what the Dragon (aka. Wquato) said to tell us that the Ethiopians don’t care about
Eritrea; rather, it is us, Eritreans who are obsessed with them.
Mind you, Ethiopia is stubbornly and illegally holding sovereign Eritrean land for more than a
decade. Ethiopia is also refusing to abide by the ruling of an international court of law, and is
holding the whole nation of Eritrea hostage. And this “Dragon” is telling us children in addis
ababa, do not know where Eritrea is! Can you believe that? Really can you believe that?
From what the dragon said, the only thing you can take is – the fact that “The Dragon” travels,
or lives in Addis Ababa, or somewhere in Ethiopia. That is all. Otherwise, how many children
in any country know the foreign policy of their country? Go around in US streets and ask, who
Joe Biden is, and none would give you the correct answer, let alone know what the US is
actually doing in all parts of the world
Two
“….As it happens, their nostalgia will morph onto a political platform (read: Neo-And’net).
Whether we like it or not, if the Isaias regime remains unabated in its cruel treatment of the
Eritrean people, we will have to anticipate the unthinkable. Again, the rise of Neo-And’net will
not be springing up from a pro-active desire of old timers in Ethiopia, rather, it will be from
173 Eritreans who lost hope in the sadist regime in Asmara and the ever cluttered Opposition here
in diaspora as well…..”
Do you see the contradiction here? What this dragon is saying is: If Issayas is in Power in
Eritrea and the opposition is useless – people will want to unify Eritrea to mama Ethiopia.
Please digest that.
Dude, if you mean “If Issayas is in Power in Eritrea and the opposition is useless – people will
want to change their nationality and want to be Ethiopian” – that is still stupid, but makes
sense than the one the Dragon said. Or if you mean to say “If Issayas is in Power in Eritrea
and the opposition is useless – then people would not want to be Eritrean”
There is another logical question that any reasonable person would ask this Dragon person:
Ok, even if Issayas is still in Power in Eritrea , the opposition are still useless and let us say,
people will start to hate being Eritrea and want to unify Eritrea with another country, why with
Ethiopia? You claimed the drive behind the neo –andnet is not the old timer Ethiopia, didn’t
you?
Third
This individual never fails to say Dear, Dearest, etc. before starting to tarnish and defame our
country Eritrea, and propel Ethiopia to a higher altitude, ad of course ends with “haftkum”
I don’t know about you, but I am more concerned about the content – all the hatred for Eritrea
and all, more than the niceties at the beginning and at the end. Bull.
You see, that is the very reason why this individual irks me so much!
The Dragon = IRKSOME!
Reply ↓
WegaHta on December 27, 2012 at 12:38 pm said:
o
Ata hawey yirdae’ka!! Leave the lady alone!!
Reply ↓
Zelku_Dia on December 27, 2012 at 2:40 pm said:

Geeee…Ok, cool.
But, please pass a message to your friend. People read what is being written here in detail.
No matter how complicated your wording is, and no matter how high you master of the
English language is, the message is simple and is there for everyone to see. This lady (Guy,
it, or whatever) stands for and swears by the “Unionists”. And you know how much we
hate the Unionists, more than anyone else.
It is that simple.
174 I am done now.
Thanks, hon
Reply ↓
9.
Birah on December 27, 2012 at 6:23 am said:
Recitificati Selam deki Adi
Following Awate Team’s article presumably written by Sal A Y, we have seen a war-like
comments most of which seem to be disappointed not because of the article’s content but
because of that many of us unfortunately take immature judgment on others based on
background
rather
than
scientific
reason.
I think it is ok to be critic on each other if we are to develop; as long as we support our
criticism with reason. We must also accept counter criticism as long as points are elaborated.
In the case of the Awate’s article they have made their points to some extent put examples of
short comings. They also clearly said “we are not perfect”. Awate’s positive side, among others,
is they patient and never rush to breaking news and thus they are reliable. This strong aspect
did not come out of the blue, it is a result of experience that counts over a decade. We
remember Awate’s fearless stand in the hey-days of Dehai. We must not kid ourselves by
trying
to
undermine
the
team.
Assena also doing grate job despite, at times, a rush to publish breaking news based on what
they say resources. It is clear that Assena’s Amanuel works even when he is in bed and we
must support him if we can; however, we must realise that he is not a complete neutral. I am
sorry to see again the key/core word “rectification” is yet not corrected despite the editing; first
it was “reflectin” and now “recitification”.
Reply ↓
10.
Jebena on December 27, 2012 at 5:44 am said:
It is with a heavy heart and great shame that I admit Assena.com has badly damaged my
staunch opposition mother’s credibility with her coffee-drinking buddies, when every story she
had told them citing from the Assena.com website, later turned out to be either greatly
exaggerated or completely false. Mom now drinks her coffee alone in seclusion. I wish the price
one pays for being an opposition was never the loss of credibility and life-long friends. It’s sad
that the name “Assena” has become synonymous with a “used-car salesman.”
Reply ↓
11.
Silent Observer on December 27, 2012 at 2:05 am said:
Dear Awatinos,
Did you really write this article?
175 Yes, there are many truths in your article. May be it is time to say a bit more than usual. You
are the best judges here. But I was not able to find the trademarks of your articles: wisdom,
focus and the usual terrific punchline that delivers the message in a beautiful way. Eza nay
lomi gn: “ZeytHafir gual’si: ne’dia Hrsi tmihra!” dea keytbluni’ember: you could do much,
much, much better.
Reply ↓
12.
haile on December 27, 2012 at 12:17 am said:
Dear Awate,
Hang on there…sooner or later, people will learn reality is an entirely different ball-game as
opposed cyber-world. The problem is, I am afraid, you’ll wait very very long till they do wake
up. Click n publish comes at high cost. Assenna can listen and learn, argue and argue some
more until he is taken for a comic by everyone else. His call, you have done well to get your
concerns out there at any rate.
Happy New Year
Reply ↓
13.
rodab on December 26, 2012 at 10:27 pm said:
This message has been truncated
Show Full Message
Response to Mr Goitom, .- VKP/KAM (December, 13. 2012)
Breaking News Add comments
Dec12/2012
DMLEK’s Suspension in a Democratic Context! Written by By Goitom Emam….Friday, 07
December 2012 10:55 (source http://www.harnnet.org/)
Mr Goitom, the expulsion of Kornelios Osman and his organization DMLEK from Eritrean
Democratic Alliance (EDA) and (ENCDC) or theEritrea’s National Council (ENC) is a step
forward for a democratic change. Many people don’t know the reason behind such drastic an
expulsion.
176 1.- There is an hidden agenda that only Kornelios Osman knows, as he himself had agreed on
and signed, among the many agreements stipulated by the then “ENA”, the Eritrean National
Alliance, the charter that had interdicted not to raise the case of “Hamid Idris Awate”.
Mr. Kornelios seems to have either forgotten that document, or had now decided to reject and
speak up against that very charter he had signed, and this, to his own downfall and ruin.
2.- It was not so much, because of the “defamation of Hamid Idris Awate” that Kornelios
Osman and DMLEK have been suspended, but also that, over the fourteen, (14), years that he
had been the chairman of and led the “DMLEK”, he had been creating divisions among the
Kunama, killing the ones who did not agree with and accused his dictatorial leadership and
distancing those who had refused to support him. The final verdict against him was that,
“Mr. Kornelios Adolay Osma was not representing the Kunama people”.
There were therefore, more serious and more compelling internal issues that only Kornelios
Osman knows and no other Kunama could challenge and depose him.
3.- The Kunama people know his leadership, how he had cheating, threatening and violently
conducting his organisation, for the last 14 years.
Mr. Goitom, Kornelios Osman and the DMLEK had never represented the Kunama people, but
only themselves, their political and financial interest, promoting only their family, familymembers, their friends, supporters and the various social and political connections, they had
managed to make, during all those years.
For many years, the Kunama Website Baden-Kunama.com and kunama-agara.com had
beenpublicising a lot of articles, appeals and challenges, protesting that Kornelios Osman was
killing the Kunama intellectuals and many other Kunama young and old people.
Where were you at that time, Mr. Goitom?
Mr. Goitom, why are you, today turning to support Kornelios Osman and his policy based on
homicide and crimes of all sorts, instead of siding with Kunama people?
Is Kornelios Osman’s “right of expression”, more important than the lives of the many
Kunama he had killed, taking advantage of his authority and bravado?
If you, Sir, are unable to prioritize human values, you have better, either keep to yourself or
else care for your people, many of whom, just like the Kunama, have fallen victims of their own
people.
We Kunama cannot allow this to go unchallenged and without seeing them dealt with in the
courts of justice.
KILLED BY ADOLAY KORNELIOS OSMAN AND TEWELDE MINASE.
177 According to eye-witnesses’ account of many ex-prisoners who had managed to escape, up to
now, the following five (5) individuals were executed at the direct orders of the chairman,
Mr.Kornelios Adolay Osman:
1.- Adaggo Auka (The late Mr. Adaggo Awka Gagasi, killed by DMLEK on August, 19,
2002 per torturing.
2.- Adum Osman……
3.- Yakob Ashora (The late Mr. Yakob Ashora, killed on Monday, September 3, 2002 per
torturing.
4.- Hussen Yousuf (The
late Mr. and surveyor Hussen Yusuf,
whom
the
chairman
had
accused of being the “ring-leader” and therefore had killed him per hanging, on Sunday,
February 2, 2003.
5.- Tukka Nuri (The late Nuri Tukka Kenna, shot dead by DMLEK on March, 14. 2004)
6.- Anni Ammoda
7.- Hajji Fufa
8- Ilarino Hamid
9.- Yab Shilikko
10.- Tomonai Lama
11.- Pietro Jage Boshi
12- Hawa
13 - Mara Ashkaba (killed in Eritrea by Adolay´s agents in his house)
14 .-Addado Alibai (Killed by shooting recently by Adolay´s agents)
VKP/KAM (December, 13. 2012)
The Enduring Power Of Haile Selassie’s Propaganda
October 17, 2012October 17, 2012 Awate Team
Ever since September 1, 1961, when Hamid Idris Awate fired the first bullet from Mt. Adal
heralding Eritrea’s revolution against the Ethiopian occupation, Emperor Haile Sellassie and
his Eritrean allies have branded him as bandit (wenbedie) with a ragtag of Islamist and Arabist
followers. The Ethiopian regime tried in vain to defame Awate’s name by depicting him as an
Islamist because it was wary that the revolution that a Muslim ex-soldier “nomad” had ignited
would be followed by Christians. Haile Selassie’s rule came to an end in 1974, in no small part
178 due to the revolution that this Eritrean “bandit” started. Haile Selassie’s successor, Mengistu
Hailemariam, was ideologically different from the Emperor in every way except one—he
continued Haile Selassie’s propaganda of labeling Hamid Idris Awate as a bandit and the
Revolution he started as Islamist and Arabist. Of course, by then, the entire Eritrean
population, Muslims and Christians, were fighting Ethiopian occupation and carrying Hamid
Idris Awate’s banner, but Haile Selassie’s propaganda had a surprisingly enduring power—
carrying over to some of the splinter groups. As the Eritrean revolution changed its
demographics from rural to relatively urban, some of the better educated Eritreans whose idea
of a revolution was learned from leftist books could not imagine a “nomad” launching a
revolution and described him as an accidental revolutionary. But that was all par for the
course. What is a surprise to many of us is that the assault on the person and reputation of
Hamid Idris Awate is being waged even in post-independent Eritrea.
The sixties, seventies and eighties were trying times for the Eritrean revolution and almost
every family lost at least one of its members to the armed struggle. Some families lost scores
and it is not uncommon to find parents who lost four, and five children. But those who were
on the opposite side of the Eritrean struggle have never come to terms with their past. They
have never forgotten that they were shamed when patriotic Eritreans registered victory. And
though many are former occupational power chameleons who changed colours and
collaborated with the victorious EPLF belatedly, deep inside, they seem to have kept their
thirst for vendetta alive. And recently, with the tacit approval of certain circles, they seem to
have launched a campaign to discredit Hamid Idris Awate. But that is a means to an
end. Their true aim is to question the very foundation of Eritrea, the justness of its cause. The
goal is to discredit the entire Eritrean idea of independence by first discrediting Awate, then
the revolution that he launched, followed by the entire struggle which produced an
independent Eritrea, dating back to the struggles of the 1940s, to Waela Biet Giorghis, to the
federation compromise. To erase everything that generations of Eritreans bled for.
And their calling card seems to be the mess that Isaias Afwerki has made of Eritrea. Instead of
saying that he is a failed leader, or that his administration is incompetent, or that it has
betrayed the revolution, they want to expand the list of people they want to blame: and
wouldn’t you know, it turns out that it is everybody except them! “Them” being those who were
opposed to or indifferent to Eritrean independence. But the fact that Eritreans transitioned
from an Ethiopian occupation to a totalitarian rule doesn’t negate the Eritrean idea. It is still
there and no one can quell that Eritrean desire to stay free. While most of us see our current
predicament as temporary, some are using it as a validation to support their claim that the
Eritrean cause was not just, and therefore the Eritrean statehood is doomed to fail. What do
you expect from a revolution initiated by a “shifta”!
What is wicked about this campaign is the fact that the campaigners are using the issues of
Eritrean minorities, namely Eritrean Kunama, to piggyback their mischievous designs. All of a
sudden, those who degraded the Kunama, those who consider them their inferior, those who
watched silently when they were robbed of their land and livelihood have now became the
champions of Kunama rights! How amazing and selective—because these latter-day minority
rights advocates, and bleeding hearts do not mention grievances of other Eritrean sections.
Including the dispossessed and exiled extended family members of Hamid Idris Awate himself.
If Hamid Idris Awate was of Afar nationality, they would find some grievance from an Afar
nationality to blame him.
The foot-soldier who spearheaded this campaign is the leader of the Democratic Movement for
the Liberation of the Eritrean Kunama (DMLEK), a Kunama national who thinks he has a
monopoly on Kunama issues. Politics 101 says that you do not alienate people unnecessarily
and this man chose September 1 to attack Hamid Idris Awate. How crude and tasteless and
stupid. If fact, if we are just going to accept allegations at face value, DMLEK has so many
179 opponents from the Kunama people itself and it is accused of worse crimes than what
Kernelious is accusing Awate of. And not of incidents from decades ago, but of crimes
committed months ago. In Sudan, where a large group of Kunama veterans of the Eritrean
armed struggle live, the situation is unlike the noise that Kernelious is managing out of Addis
Ababa. But the political lepers who are campaigning against Awate found it convenient to
present any criticism of Kernelious as if it was a criticism against the Kunama nationality.
Cut-and-paste intellectualism like the recent one that appeared on asmarino.com will not cut
it. Selecting an epoch from history and wantonly attaching the name of Hamid Idris Awate to it
to defame his character will not stand in the face of a serious challenge and it will crumble.
The Awate Team challenges anyone who is involved in this campaign to at least try some basic
method of chronicling history (since no one has presented any evidence to the absurd claims
thrown against Awate); they should be humble enough to at least present their allegation just
as plain allegations of views and not try to hoodwink their listeners and readers into believing
what they present is hard fact. Awate is not a symbol of a certain religion or a certain tribe, he
is the symbol of all patriotic Eritreans who reject oppression and fight for freedom. Awate is
about justice and gallantry; and political lepers and dwarfs can never stand at par with him.
This website is named after Awate not without reason; it stands for everything he stood for and
it will make sure that the freedom that he yearned for his people will be pursued. The equality
that he envisioned will be pursued. And the dream of a dignified citizen that he died for will be
realized. The goal of an independent state—not a vassal state, not an appendage state—will be
pursued without equivocation.
If the Hamid Idris Awate defamers want to know how futile their campaign is, they should
remember this: it is not just Hamid Idris Awate who is venerated but also the day he launched
the struggle (September 1), the place he stood up against an overwhelming Ethiopian military
(Mt. Adal), the reason he initiated the struggle (independence), and the means he, and his
followers, used to rally followers (patriotism.) In other words, their fight is not just with the
who, but the what, where, when, why and how of Eritrea. No wonder they sound so
frustrated. Otherwise, why would they discuss Hamid Idris Awate when the problems facing
Eritreans now are more immediate and begging for solution?
Some people seem to be confused with the whole idea of freedom of expression. It goes two
ways: you have the right to express your opinion; and we have the right to express an opinion
on your opinion. Kernelious (using 15 pen names) has the right to express his opinion on
Hamid Idris Awate; and others have a right to tell him that he is wrong. But Kernelious is also
a political figure who is part of a political entity: and that entity has a right to discipline those
who violate its organizational charter. Of course, you can’t cure stupid: those who don’t
understand the difference between censure (disapprove of) and censor (suppress) and want to
display their ignorance publicly have that right as well. But freedom of speech is not unilateral
disarmament: stupid people will be told they are stupid, and liars will be told they are telling
lies.
The campaign is a make-or-break as far as many Eritrean patriots are concerned—they have
been there before and they know where this is leading. Veiled, chauvinist and bigoted
messages should be exposed for what they are and if someone wants to adopt Haile Sellasies’
policies in Eritrea, they will be countered the same way they were countered in September
1961. Maybe it is unfair to ask these critics “what did you do to make Eritrean independence
a reality?” But is it too much to ask “were you supportive, opposed or indifferent to Eritrean
identity?” If one is going to parrot Haile Selassie’s propaganda, isn’t it fair to ask what that
person’s position was in the great war between Haile Selassie and Hamid Idris Awate? This is
180 very relevant because the resistance movement against one dictator (Isaias Afwerki) should not
be waged by those who were great admirers and fans of another dictator (Haile Selassie.)
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Comments
The Enduring Power Of Haile Selassie’s Propaganda — 73 Comments
1.
excuse-moi on October 19, 2012 at 5:21 am said:
awate was askri (italian mercenery) therfore he can’t be a hero for us said some1
somewhere … here is my answer
1- awate was fighting as askri the ethiopians and engliz later continue to struggle
against ethiopian occupation so no contradction there.
2- awate and eritrea and its people are inspired and encouraged to be free from the
ethiopians due to the italian colony which by the way we are probably the only nation
that are very proud of white colonisation check our historic building and national pride
railways city and towns and roads all built by italians – we are made in italy.
3- if you think awate was bandit and shifta then the whole struggle he starts is void and
null therfore eritrea is none but part of ethiopia.
4- if you think he was shifta and killer who worked for italian rulers then the chances is
also you grandfather was also working for them in lybia somalia and ethiopia.
viva Italia and viva awate and his revolution the so called sewra ertra!
Reply ↓
2.
1. Ethiopians have no issue on Awate or whoever might have started the Eritrean
revolution
2. Those doubting/bashing his role are Eritreans themselves. And the onus of proof
rests
up
on
you
Eritreans.
3. Saleh Has declared that Eritreans with “unionist” stand would have no place in postIsaias
Eritrea
(what
he
means
is
they
will
be
banned
by
law).
4. Saleh has erred when he said Dergists are not allowed to operate in Ethiopia. No law
is passed that prohibits assembly and free expression of Dergists. See the many ESEPA
members running opposition parties and their mouthpiece journals under the guise of
the free press. Only those criminalized were produced before court and served their
term and now walking freely in the streets of Addis Ababa. Legese Asfaw who was
responsible for the Hawzen massacre (2500 people in a single sun) was sentenced to
death and then to life in prison is now freed after serving nearly 18 years behind bars. If
he
has
the
moral
to
join
an
opposition
party,
he
can.
181 5. Zeray Deres’s assertion that the atrocities committed in different towns and villages
of Eritrea doesn’t prove that king HS had directly involved, is valid. We have a parallel
here. The Red Terror campaign is believed to have consumed more than 100, 000 lives.
But the valid evidence that could be produced before the court against Mengistu was
the death of 230 people (stands for correction here). But that doesn’t change the public
perception that he was the mother of all human misery of his era.
6. Haile selase and Mengistu were bad to Eritreans as they were to Ethiopians. There is
nothing one could defend the mayhem and social turmoil they unleashed on their
subjects. The claim they were sterner to Eritreans than to Ethiopians is simply a
judgment (many argue otherwise). Their brutality had called a revolution in Ethiopia
while the Eritrean revolution was the result of the contravention of the federal
arrangement.
7. Maclogos, a man of his own world, seems to repeat an old “axiom” that resulted in
deadly narrations that kept Eritreans (who subscribe to this notion) in a vicious political
trajectory so far. He said something to this effect; “ELF then its heir, EPLF, made 80% of
the fight in freeing Ethiopia.” Yes sir, you created TPLF, freed Ethiopia and handed
power in silver platter as a by-product of your “Great” revolution. If that was the case
why the “main product” is defected and become useless while the “by-product”
delivering results? How do you reconcile with the causation of social dynamism when
you claim that the best means resulted in the worst ends, dictatorship, on earth? It took
you just a provocation from someone to turn into your true chauvinist color.
8. TPLF’s stand here cannot be mistaken. The Eritrean revolution had a true cause but
adopted wrong means to further the cause. And according TPLF’s foresight, EPLF has
outlived its time. What EPLF has done (the independence) could have been done by ELF
too. But both lacked the necessary ingredients for democratic change in postindependence Eritrea since their goal was only to free Eritrea by any means, hence,
their relevance ended there. Only recently few Eritreans come around and reflected that
the means was as necessary as the end. The obsession on the “colonial rule” blinded
Eritreans to pursue any path and means including silencing the fighters, demolishing
towns and villages in subsequent engagements with little care to their people. If history
was recorded objectively, the number of people who suffered under the brunt of ELF
and EPLF and now PFDJI may outweigh the atrocities of the two Ethiopian regimes
combined. “He is Wed Lahmina” was the answer for every evil in Eritrea but when a
push comes to shove, this mantra of “wedi lahmina” seems to lose its base with people
start pointing to the roots of the “lahmi”. If any injustice surfaces in Eritrea, it is
granted as Ethiopia’s legacy as if Eritrea was all of a sudden descended from heaven. It
seems it would take Eritreans quite some time before diagnosing the sickness they are
suffering from.
Reply ↓
3.
Tes on October 19, 2012 at 2:11 am said:
Dear Eritrean Cyber heroes, in particularly those talented writers. It looks as you have
nothing
to
say.
Let Mr. Awate be what he was and stood for, history will judge him and tell us the
reality.
Idealizing or cursing Awate behind the screens will not add any value to the Eritrean
current
situation.
He might had good or bad background as some of our freedom fighters. This topic is
very
sensitive,
if
you
dig
further
You would be surprised how many of our idols have their dark side. Let us give this to
independent historians
182 The real fact is as most of us know, regardless of his background, he was mandated
from
patriots
to
shoot
the
first
bullet
against the colonizers, to liberate Eritrea. For that we should thank him for what he did,
shooting
the
first
gun
as
we
thank
our
TEGADALTIES. Nothing more nothing less, but if someone to trust on DAERO or
whatever, let it be, cause you guys claim to be democrats.
Reply ↓
4.
abraham on October 18, 2012 at 6:58 pm said:
Though i dont see any reason why we should bicker this much about the past, I cannot
say i havent learned from the witty exchanges. You all have scored some points in my
book. And I am admiring the civility in all the exchanges. Howsoever the awate team
feels strongly about the issue, I have to admire the openness of their forum to what they
believe is alien to their taste. After all this is what democracy is all about. And in this
little discussion, giants from both sides of the issues and also the Mereb River have
eloquently and with great sense of humor have said their piece. I have nothing to say
since most of it is said. Now it is time to concentrate on more pressing issue than the
past. Our history is tainted. Depending up on who writes it, it is varnished and polished
with some degree of lies to fit the purpose of the writers. No history is free from value
judgement. No hero is absolute. At least, I hope we all agree to that. Let alone in its
crude and infantile form that our history is now, even after scholarly and thorough
research has been done, there still will be difference of opinions and loads of value
judgement depending again upon who is doing the research. So unless all we love to do
is hear ourselves talking (or rather read ourselves writing), nothing solid will come out
of these gunch-alfa discussions. There will always be those who will worship or bash
Awate. After a can of worm is opened, trying to put all the warm back in to the can will
not always be the right solution. Let us also learn to live with the ticklish sensation that
results from thinking some worms might still be astray. There are lots of other pressing
issues that we can agree upon and let’s build on them. That is for all of us (including
the Ethiopians among us). Thank you.
Reply ↓
o
denden on October 19, 2012 at 2:17 am said:
Knowing your past history makes your present and future life, after all if you are
asked who are you? your answer should not only end by saying, I am Abraham,
you need to elaborate on your identity and where you coming from and going to!
Reply ↓
5.
Mr. Gadi otherwise know as Awate-team,
183 Would you support erecting a monument for Hamid Idris Awate? If your answer is yes,
well many Eritreans would also argue they would want a monument erected for Issayas
Afeworki.
According to your argument, Hamid Idris Awate is a linchpin with out whom there
would not be an independent Eritrea. The same argument can also be made about the
tyrant in our midst, dictator Issayas Afeworki. Without the dictator , Awate team would
not have existed let alone an independent Eritrea.
Reply ↓
6.
Selam everyone,
The discussion on this page are interesting for they are bring the real thing into the
open. People are trying to dance double time. They don’t seem accept histories that
doesn’t comply with their carnal dreams of a wrong past gone dead and buried in the
annals of Eritrean history. They think that the human stories that made the history of
the Eritrean people can be trampled with the lies and cries of those who bite the hands
that fed them.
The issue that we are talking about here are issues of citizenship and identity and
Eritreans their individual and national identities as a nation in the making but not as
individuals in the making unless those individuals have lost their natural identities that
comes from nurture, nature, and culture. An Eritrean who doesn’t have in him the
nurture of the Eritrean home, the land it inhabits, and the proud culture that it offered
can’t be expected to understand what an Eritrean worth their salt is. Man has to have
his individual and his collective identity well rooted in order to stand up for what is the
truth about being one citizen or another. One can choose his own roots and live rooted
in them but have no right to tell lie about the roots of others in order to uproot them
altogether.
Having said the forgoing, I would now like to introduce a rejoinder to some of Simon
Kaleab’s rejoinder from a while back before going further dealing with the issues that
are being discussed here and elsewhere. Without much ado, my earlier exchange with
Simon Wdi Nisa went thus:
{{{ Simon Kaleab said:
I could not resist replying, so I will make an exception on this one.
‘Maclogos’ said:
“… the lost souls of deqe-Arba’a like the so called YG and their Ethiopian patrons”.
Well done Maclogos!
You are a living example of my assertion that Eritrea is indeed an aggregate of disparate
and contradictory ethnic, religious and village groups and not a nation. Someone who
has a different viewpoint must be “deqe-Arba’a” or Ethiopian, right? What stupidity and
losers game? You need to evolve mentally, if your aim is to build a nation.
184 Suppose, for the sake of argument, someone is a “deqe-Arba’a”. Are they entitled to be
citizens of Eritrea and also express a different opinion?
In this day and age, people from the 4 corners of the World emigrate to the USA,
Britain, France, Germany and other places, and after some qualifying years obtain
citizenship and use their full rights of freedom of expression.
‘Maclogos’, I thank you for providing me a concrete example, in public, which I already
know.}}}
And I, on 10, 2012 at 7:00 pm, responded thus:
{{{Simon, till next time, remember that people are a product of their culture, nature, and
nurture and all that you people ascribe to Eritreans don’t apply to me. My human,
natural, and spiritual identity is organic and it came from my family and my village,
their natural blessing from God and their house of worship in their Church of Jesus the
Christ of the ancient and Coptic Orthodox kind.
Nothing is tied to Ethiopia let alone to Talian whom we never saw but to my home, to
my family, to their farm, to their livestock, and to our God. Other than for the sake of
citizenship politics, everything is foreign to me as far as my identity is concerned. This
is beside the fact that people can speak for themselves and their friends as well if our
civic citizenship views happen to be the same and my friends are the people that make
the would be nation of Eritrea as whole.
Here, I follow the fundamental law that governs my human and Spiritual citizenship,
my human citizenship in the way of Caesar and my Cosmic citizenship in the way of
Jesus the Christ and the higher governs the lower in the narrow and straight road from
here to the end of time:-) Peace!}}}
Before I proceed further with my talk of the stuff at hand, I would like to recap the last
paragraph of my note to Simon above:
Here , I follow the fundamental law that governs my human and Spiritual citizenship.
My human citizenship in the way of Caesar is governed by “Give Unto Caesar What Is
Caesar’s” while my Cosmic citizenship is governed by “Give Unto God What Is God’s” in
the way of Jesus the Christ. As above, so below, and the higher governs the lower in the
narrow and straight road from here to the end of time:-)
Adios Amigos For Now!
Reply ↓
7.
Abudi on October 18, 2012 at 3:25 pm said:
Mr.Salih
Gadi
I can’t help but feel defending Awate is like doubting Awate.Never get destructed by this
nonsense! Let the dogs bark as hard as they can! Only dogs will lend their ears. The
camels are on their journey to free Eritrea from tyranny!
Reply ↓
185 8.
Selam Ehio-maniacs and everybody,
Zeray deres the Ethiopia said:
{{so you are saying people saw Haileselasie himself with swards in his arms slaughtering
Eritreans or some one who was as fluent in Amharic as Saleh Gadi slaughtering
Eritreans….be clear..because it was after all a civil war where you can not be sure who
is who…….}}
Pay attention whomever is concerned here and pay it very well. A quick rejoinder to
your comments, Mr. neighbor or sleeper man:
Forget about what the genocidal regime of the last little king of beggar Ethiopia did to
Eritreans. Eritreans worth their salt who lived during the rule of Janhoi the terrible are
know and are all living examples as victims of the that dwarf king of Ethiopia.
The hag of old under rule of Janhoi the terrible and his diabolical feudal regime were
mixing sand with donated grain/flour to make good for what they stole to make a buck.
They were giving their starving people donated grain/flour mixed with sand. The
Ethiopians were starving to death in the hundreds of thousands during the last days of
Haile-ShaTan’s reign before the Eritrean revolution shook his empire and Mengstu the
devil took the opportunity that the Eritrean revolution created and presented him and
deposed the old dwarf king like a rat.
You know how the story of Mengstu the devil and his Derg ended and there is no need
to repeat it here other than saying that Eritreans lit a revolution that freed their country
from colonial rule and did most of the work of freeing Ethiopians from the the brutal
empire of Haile Selassie the terrible and Mengistu the the devil and his bestial
communist regime.
Now, the first thing that any Ethio should have done and should do is to thank
Eritreans for the revolution that they lit that saw Eritrea free from foreign occupation
and Ethiopia free from the brutal rule of its beggar governments. It is seems that old
habits die hard and many an Eritrea that hail from the hag of old and her ingrate sons
never fail to bite the hands that feed feed them. Eritreans are sick and tired of having
their hands bitten by their ingrate neighbors.
In closing and while I am at it, I am including a link to a clip that speaks of the history
of the peoples of the Horne of Africa and Eritrea and the societies that came to call it
home. The said clip with some of the comments I made to introduce it earlier follows:
” Having taken care of that, I am gonna put some Eritrea-101-cookie here … The first
cookie to pig-out on the way toward becoming an Eritrean … may go thus:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Un4R4BBgnO4&feature=fvwrel ”
Cheers and Peace!
Reply ↓
186 the infidel on October 18, 2012 at 3:18 pm said:
o
[Moderator:
please
stop
using
multiple
nicks]
no substance what so ever, aligation after alligations…I never claimed NO
atrocities happened, my point was who ever killed Eritreans in the name of
hailselaie or Dergu could be any one…even your own missing brother who might
have come back as Dergu’s soldger to record a footage for public
consumption…come on, you know what i mean…don’t too innocent…
Reply ↓
Zer'ay Deres the Ethiopia on October 18, 2012 at 4:48 pm said:

OK sir!
Reply ↓

Mr. “The Infidel”,
Mr. Infidel, as your name seems to imply some kind of wickedness,
you like to beat around the bush, don’t you? Bring anything on and
you will find the battle-lines arrayed along Eritreans and their
struggle to be a free nation like the rest of the world and those who
seek to undermine them and their struggle.
Eritrea was freed form occupation by force of arms with world
acclaim. That this first goal of the of Eritrea’s struggle was and is
hermetically sealed, de facto and de jure.
The crisis we have now a new nation in the making now was there
for a long time. The problem was that our people where fooled by
the lies of DIA and his Shaebia and their cousin Weyin when they
were conspiratorial errand boys and erstwhile allies of Uncle Sam
and his Camp and their Conservative Red-Sea Arab State that
engineered the ejection of the ELF out of the Eritrean war theater in
1981.
Now, DIA and his Shaebia went to war against their cousin Weyane
like thieves who together stole the dream of the Eritrean people to
have their own nation and are fighting in dividing their spoils. Not
very complicate politics to understand for anyone worm, sheep, or
soul worth their salt. Now, shoot anything you have in your political
head and shoot straight so that we clearly know what we are talking
about and take it from there.
Cheers and Peace!
Reply ↓
187 9.
Baryu on October 18, 2012 at 1:25 pm said:
We
are
all
the
products
of
our
history?
During the process of Eritrean Nationalism we have paased through external and
internal violent conflicts.The Eritrean Kunama Liberation Front released a statement on
the First September day of the armed struggle focusing personally to Hamid Idris Awate
as non national symbol but a criminal Shifta who committed ethnic cleansing against
the Kunama people. This statement has aroused discussion for and against. Why did
Kernelios raised this issue especially at this time? Are we at this time at the stage of
reckoning of the past wrongs?
Coping with the past at this time is simply to divert and weaken the uniting forces for
democratic change and give an opportunity to the dictator elongate its grip on our
people. Kernelios would not raise such issue simply in press release if he was matured
and responsible leader. This case is not political but criminal persecution. We have
national courts at this time to reckon the past crimes.This is not the time to debate
publicly over past.Let us first replace the dictaorship first then we can sit and cope with
the past crimes or wrong doings.
Reply ↓
10.
Eyob Medhane on October 18, 2012 at 11:40 am said:
Saleh, this is for you in response that you gave to T.Kifle
In the same token, if you feel Ethiopians are interfering in your affairs that much, it
might be wise to limit the dragging Ethiopia and Ethiopians to your affairs to the bear
minimum. That will do it. I have to repeat this again, I personally jumped in this
particular discussion, because you drag Hailesalssie to defend some controversial figure
in the very short, yet turmoil filled with so many bizzare characters’ history of your
country. Every single time, when you feel something is going wrong with your land, you
drag Ethiopia in to the mix. And every single time you do that, we defend and set the
record straight. Consider few articles that you had in your site. To name a few “Why is
Isayas a bad man?” “ Oh, because he is a Tenbenite, Ethiopian”.. “..Why does Kenelious
Esman really don’t like Awate?” “ Oh it’s Haileslassie and Ethiopia’s fault..” Every time
you come up with these kinds of outrageous stuff, you can count me to show up and
defend my peeps. Why? Because for far too long, Ethiopia and Ethiopians have ignored
and were very passive, when you guys at times make up story that defames and
denigrate Ethiopia to fit your narrative of a mythical Eritrea. No more. Ethiopia does not
have to butter up and tolerate a population called “Eritreans” anymore and just
overlooks the fibs and wild exaggeration they tell to inflate their ego. Ethiopia has done
that in the past not to offend you and not to escalate the discontent any further and to
keep you in the fold. That time has long gone. You are on your own now. Drag our good
name through the mud; we’ll be there to defend it. Of course, politely, but firmly. As far
as the Ethiopians, who come to Eritrean websites is concerned, trust me compared to
Eritreans who make themselves at home in Ethiopian websites, is nothing. The problem
is they usually go there to bad mouth and insult Ethiopians. They usually do it by
pretending to be Ethiopians. They pretend to be from one ethnic group and insult and
denigrate the other in hopes to create discord between different Ethiopian ethnic group
and realize their dream a blood drenched Ethiopia that is warring itself ala Rwanda. Do
you want to know how we usually identify them? Excessive and explicit vulgarity
188 (usually obscene expressions that have a lot to do with body parts), using certain
Amharic words that are exclusively used by Eritrean Amharic speakers, word plays that
are directly taken from Elias Kifle, such as “Crime Minister”….. They are easy to
identify. So, we come here just to defend ourselves and to set the record straight and
our number is very few. Other than some of us, who have relatives, who are Eritreans or
those who know about Eritrea, the overwhelming majority of Ethiopians do not even
know how to locate Eritrean websites. Those Eritreans I mentioned however, who are
devouring Ethiopian websites are very high in number and extremely sinister in their
mission. So don’t feel you are “interfered” in. You are not interfered in as much as you
are poking us to notice you by mentioning our name and sticking “Ethiopia” every time
you spoke about your current and past situation. Therefore your “Leave us alone” cry is
disingenuous. It doesn’t fit. I was in Ethiopia few weeks ago. The number of “your
people” in every corner of the country is astounding. I am not talking about the
refugees. I am talking about the “elites” and those you might categorize as “part time
citizens” (As you once said:-) I am certain many of them are those, who wouldn’t mind
to denigrate us and may borrow your “..Leave us alone..” snobbish attitude, yet
wouldn’t mind to suck the tit of a country and people they want to leave them alone.
But that is always what a great number of Eritreans perceive Ethiopia and Ethiopians
isn’t it? That is what always the relationship has been, if it were not covered by political
correctness. It was always about Eritreans take whatever Ethiopia can offer and just
gloat and brag about their exploits and inventing identity and an icon for that identity
every decade or so….
I can’t believe the nerve you got that you ask Ethiopians to “leave you alone”….
Reply ↓
o
Eyob, this may sound different…but I did not have you in mind when I was
addressing youir peeps. I have no problem with you because you came clean and
told us your background and your relations to both countries. I am against those
who do not tell you if they are Ethiopians or Eritreans because their only mission
in life is to confuse. But if someone comes as an Ethiopian and wants to
challenge us on Haile Sellasie and Derg, again, bring it on.
There are some misrepresentation that I didn’t expect from you. You blame us for
what appears on awate.com: “To name a few “Why is Isayas a bad man?” “
Oh, because he is a Tenbenite, Ethiopian”..
Have you ever read anything of that nature (something that we have to take a
shower after reading) written by awate staff or editors? Never.
But then, what if someone does a cut-and-paste of what you wrote and accuses
awate.com for what they percieve anti-Eritrean, do you think awate.com is
responsible for what you wrote? If that was the case, why would we even open a
forum for anyone to say their thing? Please, when you debate with me, kindly
limit the debate to what I wrote, no qememma qmem… and do not consider me a
surrogate for your blames of others.
Now for the serious stuff: what is that Eritreans made up stories about our
relations with Ethiopia? Do not bring what the crazy among us say or their
189 behaviour; and I promise I will not blame you for the crazy and the chauvinist
among you. Just honest debate. Deal?
Reply ↓
11.
Ahadu on October 18, 2012 at 10:27 am said:
What is enduring any ways ? Propaganda or reality on the ground?
Saleh seems to bemused by the enduring power of “Haileselasie’s Propaganda”. I don’t
believe what is enduring is propaganda but the reality on the ground. Correct me if I am
wrong; but from what I hear from people of that Era and historical documents, on
relative terms; since the creation of Eritrea as political entity by colonial powers, the
good days Eritreans could remember is Hailesellasie’s Eritrea. But that is not to deny
the
atrocities
committed
by
the
king
especially
in
the
low
lands.
You said: “There is nothing called Saleh’s Eritrea, there is the Eritrea of Eritreans. But if
there was one, the first rule will be “don’t lie.” And politicians who cause mayhem by
lying are criminals… and correct me if I am wrong, but I think criminals are not allowed
to have a party by law (peoples’ law not the imposed law of tyrants). That is why Nazism
is banned by law. This is not me, but common sense law practiced by every country in
the world. That is why you do not have a Derg party in Ethiopia, it is dismantled”
I am shocked by the above statement from a man who is advocating for democratic
Eritrea. First of all you want to criminalize “lying” and you want to ban a party because
some member of the party is “lying”. Again that could be Saleh’s Eritrea but not Eritrea
of Eritreans. Are you banning the name of the party in our case Andenet or the idea?
Though there is no derg party in Ethiopia, there are many parties with derg members
and Ideas. But my question to you is that, are you saying an individual, group or Party
that
espouses
the
Idea
of
Andenet
is
Criminal
?
You said “The foot-soldier who spearheaded this campaign is the leader of the
Democratic Movement for the Liberation of the Eritrean Kunama (DMLEK), a Kunama
national who thinks he has a monopoly on Kunama issues” . Kernelious is footsoldiering for ?
Reply ↓
o
Dear, if you are going to pick one word and explain it out of context, I really do
not have the time for you. Lie does not mean like saying you don’t have money to
pay for the cofee after you invited your friend to a cofee shop. Lies that cost lives.
Lies that create mayhem. As for the Kunama, please do not use their name, don’t
sound that you care about the Kunama more than the rest of us. And please do
not consider the five-people family members or friends you have who are
enamoured by Haile Sellasie as representatives of the Eritrean population. If
anyone praises the time of haile Sellasie, they must have been on the opposite
side of his victims–that is resolved among Eritreans except for a few who would
want to return to the despicable days of freehold Gasha meret.
Reply ↓
12.
190 Is there anyone who cares down there to answer my question ?
1. Suppose Awate was a man with no history of Shitanet before 1961 and the Kunamas
had no issue over him,would they still accept him as the father of the revolution? .
2. Those who espouse Awate’s fatherhood:-What is the problem with you if credit is
given to the entire group who started the revolution instead of focusing on a single
individual?
Reply ↓
o
Did you hear or read in history a group of leaders who led a country instead of
one? You are deadly in need of labour division classes.
Reply ↓

Silence is what it takes if you don’t have the answer.
Reply ↓

“Ni Asha derguHalu ni lebam amitelu” aynet geyru eko melisulka
eyu..weyo dea tinfer aytinfer enda geberkayo ember
Reply ↓
13.
Hagherawi on October 18, 2012 at 8:00 am said:
“It shows how divided the Eritrean society is. In addition, I do not know if the fuss
about Awate is also a manifestation of the Christian/Muslim divide.”
Horizon
There is no Christian/Muslim divide in the country, it’s all in the mind of sectarian
elites.
Besides, there are a few Ethios on the forum, you meet them almost everywhere these
days, who hate Eritrea as a country. They are busy these days trying to sell to some
Eritreans the idea that their country is a failed project right from the start, as if
dictatorship is only an Eritrean phenomenon. Then there is an element in our ‘elites’
who feel the situation created by DIA in the country offers them an opportunity to rob
the Muslims the honor they feel to have started the liberation war. Some of these
people, brought up in Unionist culture, never joined the revolution, and strangely hold
grudges against the very people their fathers were killing by joining hands with the
enemy, for no other reason but to justify the unjustifiable. They made a good use of the
191 opportunity offered to them by Ethiopia, while others were being killed in their villages,
isn’t injustice !. Fortunately, there is a lot of hope among Eritreans that once the brutal
regime is gone, there will be enough time and space for national dialogue to sort out all
outstanding issues. When things are discussed in public in front our people, a few
thugs dare to insult Awate and our heroes who followed his foot steps.
Reply ↓
14.
Abu-Khalil Ibrahim on October 18, 2012 at 12:58 pm said:
Well done Saleh G for the wonderful article,, in response to those deaf, blind, and
willingly
ignorant
people.
still the remnants of the H.Selasie and Derg can not take it that eritrea got it
independence by the initial spark that H.Idris Awate ignited and the history of Awate
and our gallant heroes that followed in his foot step is written all over eritrean
landscape, can not be erased by few baseless copy and past articles like the one in
Asmarino.com. My advice to all those Haile Selasie and Derg remnants,,, As they saying
goes you can take a donkey to place of water but you can not make it drink…if you
want to educate your self about the hsitory of Awate and his galant comarades… read
and learn from people like Saleh G..the true sources of eritrean hsitory is available for
you.. but if you elect to remain ignorant..we can oly say to you ignorance is a bliss, if
you shut it and keep it for your self. Finally one thing the ignorant AWATE
bashers..miss. WE ARE ALL SONS OF Awate the Kunama, the bilin, the saho, the afar ,,
the
high
landers
,
the
low
landers.
if you don`t know that you are not eritrean….
Reply ↓
15.
Yohannes Engeda on October 18, 2012 at 4:54 am said:
The dead old Emperor – Haile Selasie, after the BMA, encouraged young Eritreans to
move to Addis for better education…never crossed his mind in depriving them getting
education. He was, rather, indirectly protecting them from falling into the hands of the
Shiftas. Never crossed his mind locking down university-colledge of Asmara. What we
are witnessing right now in Eritrea is that the fear of the Emperor being
materialized…..Shiftas are running the country!
Reply ↓
16.
abu aare on October 18, 2012 at 4:02 am said:
Onething, that is amizing is that there is a unanimity toward this article, and it seems
coming from one group of the society.
Reply ↓
17.
192 saleh,
we told you… so, the day will come when you find most of those(commentators) who are
here are Ethiopia/woyane sympathizers, Eritreans ethiophils and you wan’t listen. now
what
to
do?
i am for a total ban from this forum on any one who insults, defames the legendary
eritrean hero hamid idris AWATE.
Reply ↓
o
sara haftey
Why is the apprehension with the “weyanes” participating here? They are not
pretending here just they are commenting as Ethiopians and weyanes. If you
dare to ban us on the virtual world of the world wide web, what would you
suggest about the Eritrean society living in Ethiopian and Ethiopians living in
Eritrea? And if you will, the martyrs sharing the same graveyard in Sahil, Naqfa
and all the way to Addis Ababa? Our reality is by far bigger than the temporary
emotions we harbour.
Cheers
Reply ↓

T.Kifle,
There is absolutely nothing wrong with Ethiopians participating in this
forum, and this has been the policy of awate.com: keeping the forum open
for all. But then there is courtesy that is expected. Eritreans do not vote in
Ethiopia and Ethiopians are not expected to vote on Eritrean affairs. The
frustration of Sara and many Eritreans is understandable, especially when
some Ethiopians interfere in Eritrean affairs as owners of the issue and
not as neighbors. I wouldn’t think delving in the affairs of others as if it is
your case is a nice gesture. As neighbors, people can givetheir views in a
respectable manner, hopefully to help solve the problems. But when they
interfere with the aim of disrupting Eritrean debate among Eritreans, it is
not wise, it is interference. Then ask yourself one question: The Sudanese
for Example have equal stake as Ethiopians on Eritrea, but you do not see
Sudanese intefering as much as some Ethiopians do. Perhaps this is a
cultural thing as well as history since Eritrea was part of Ethiopia. I think
people need to decide whether they are Eritreans or Ethiopians and make
peace with themselves–we have Eritreans who do not have any loyalty to
Eritrea and say they are Ethiopians but insist on having the final say on
Eritrean issues. On the other hand we have Eritreans who have disowned
Eritrea but keep pestering people here. People should choose what they
want to be and stop the blatant interference, they should stop frustrating
Eritreans, leave us alone and we will sort our problems however long it
takes.
193 But if Eritreans want to interfere in Ethiopians issues, believe me there are
millions of topics that would frustrate our Ethiopian affairs–it is the old
adage: people who live in glass houses…well, they should love their glass
walls.
Most of us condemn the interference of the PFDJ in Ethiopian affairs and
we will not do it because Ethiopia has a room for opposition however one
might interpret that. That I think is why Sara is frustrated… and many
others who accuse awate.com of being too soft on Ethiopians. But
awate.com is always open and will not change its policy, it will keep
welcoming all our brothers and sisters from land of milk and honey (and
problems), Ethiopia:-)
Reply ↓
18.
I just noticed Saleh on one of his response to some one demanding evidences of Awates
atrocities. Now, aside the obvious backward feudal system that was obviously unfair to
all people of Ethiopia and eritrea, can we also ask Saleh for the same evidence of
Haileselaies’s atrocities? we mean solid evidence, not your fictional mambo jambo about
some people from imperial guard raping your sister…I am sure you have watched every
eritrean’s favorite past time drama on Er-TV that was made on the street of Asmara
about the era of haileselasie and Dergu…I was impressed by how Eritreans are still
fluent in Amharic and in fact brilliantly played the act of brutal Hailesielasie and
dergu…they seemed experienced, if you know what mean?..how do we know if it wasn’t
your awate team in Haile’s or dergu’s uniform who raped your people for propaganda
purpose..after all it was CIVIL war, wasn’t it?…
Reply ↓
o
Zeray, there are hundreds of thousands of witnesses who are still alive who have
seen the atrocities of Haile Sellase. There are also foreigners if you like.
Reply ↓

Bingo. This is what we knew all along. The entire anti-awate campaign is
leading there. Anything will be erased if they are left to their lie campaign.
Ona? What is that. Besekdira, Sheeb, Hegigo, Ad Ibrahim? Nice villages.
Nothing happened there. Now good luck telling Zeray we buried the victims
of the Tor Serawit brutes with our own hands.
Reply ↓
194 Zeray deres the Ethiopia on October 18, 2012 at 11:49 am said:

so you are saying people saw Haileselasie himself with swards in his arms
slaughtering Eritreans or some one who was as fluent in Amharic as Saleh
Gadi slaughtering Eritreans….be clear..because it was after all a civil war
where you can not be sure who is who…….
Reply ↓
Massawa on October 18, 2012 at 2:34 pm said:

Being at the top of the helm makes one responsible for what
happens under ones reign. Hitler did not kill his victims directly, his
policies did. Does that make him innocent?
Reply ↓
19.
Kaddis on October 18, 2012 at 1:57 am said:
Eyob and the Ethios
A shifta ( shefatu as Eris call them ) are thieves, who are still functioning in Ethiopia on
your way to Wolenchiti on the road to Afar , with no purpose but to get anything
valiable in your pocket or borsa.
The Awates and the Isayases were not shifta’s – even from Ethiopian perspective – they
were rebels. Amatsi. Derg and Hailessilassie sent Batallions to fight them – even though
they called them Shifta (Wonbede) they fought with them with an army. You don’t send
battallions to fight a Shifta.
So, Eyob hoy, you may not like or endorse what they stood for – but they had a reason.
Shiftas – as they are / were abandant in Ethiopia from Jimma to Gondar – they didn’t
liberate any state. The Awates and the Isayases brought Eritrea – winning the battle –
and leading a nation called Eritrea.
Reply ↓
o
Kaddis, you just translated the word shifta in your own way and in it’s localized
meaning, but if you look the term in general term any one who rebels against a
family, an institution or a country and tries to use force and destruction can be
categorized as Shifta..you understandably sound relieved to be free from Eritrea
and desperate to maintain the status co by trying to be more Eritrean than
Eritreans themselves, but no need to romanticize a regime that has yet to prove
the true meaning of freedom….your freedom to ride ethiopia isn’t necessary their
freedom!
195 Reply ↓
Eስቲፋኖስ ተሞልሶ on October 18, 2012 at 1:37 am said:
20.
I really do not understand why you people bicker about issues that are not critical at
the moment. My dear countrymen, people’s organs are being sold like eggs and edible
oil and you are arguing about history which is none of your business. Leave this to
historians who will make a research on the subject and tell us what is what. But for the
time being let the soul of the venerated Hamd Idris Awate rest in peace. Whatever might
have been Idris before the start of the libereation struggle I know that he knew seven
languages and said that if the struggle does not include in its ranks all members of the
Eritrean soical strata it will not be succeed. Finally, I believe he was a tegadalay and
that’s enough for me. So, do not loose your time about Hamd Idris but embark on the
issue of fighting the brutal regime that is destroying the people and the nation once and
for all. May God or Allah save Eritrea.
Reply ↓
TiETiE( Shiro bubble) on October 18, 2012 at 3:21 pm said:
o
every discussion has contribution to every cause.think like this – wheel, brake,
tire, driver, light all work for the same but they are different with different task. if
you pick tire is the greatest and need to be discussed then what?
Reply ↓
21.
TiETiE( Shiro bubble) on October 18, 2012 at 1:02 am said:
Full credit for muslims – for standing saying no to haileslasie and derg. Muslims the
owners of eritrean revolution. the christians were either corrupt interest bound or fun
free farmers – ZBereKe TseHaYna ZneGese NgusNa. However the joining christian into
the muslim eritrean revolution was very important. think that with out christian the
revolution could not win except being Labeled as Wede AreB LsheTun. But One thing I
did not liked is – Forgetting the owners of the revolution.what we are hearing and
watching videos are different teaching. We need to see more videos the real victims the
real fighters.
Reply ↓
22.
Horizon on October 17, 2012 at 11:01 pm said:
Some Eritreans are searching for a father for their revolution. Yesterday it was papa IA,
but he became a big disappointment and somebody else should fill the void.
I really do not know if the so-called Awate man is an asset or a liability to Eritrean
revolution. Some call his bullet the golden bullet that started the Eritrean revolution,
while others call it a murder bullet. Such a controversial personality would not explain
a revolution or the aspirations of a people. It shows how divided the Eritrean society is.
In addition, I do not know if the fuss about Awate is also a manifestation of the
196 Christian/Muslim
divide.
Anyway, it looks as if in search of an icon, Eritrean elites have forgotten the people.
There is a problem with a revolution that does not have the interest of the people at its
center, and the whims and power mongering by a certain group plays a pivotal role,
when a people pays with blood and internal organs the regional politics of some Arab
countries, and despite this Ethiopia remains the eternal mortal enemy. It is politics, my
friends.
One cannot help but see the hypocrisy of some Eritrean elites. While they condemn
vehemently pro-unionist, they do not say a word about the pro-Arab trend that always
existed. To them Eritrea is meant to be, only if a balance is maintained that keeps her
hovering in the air. If she has to fall towards one side or other, she should fall in the lap
of Arab countries. A free and viable Eritrea in peaceful and friendly coexistence with
Ethiopia, which is a necessity, if the concept of Eritrea in any form is going to be
fulfilled, has always been a nightmare that deprives them their sleep. That is one of the
reasons why Eritrean elites keep Eritrea in a permanent circular trajectory, even though
they try to avoid finding themselves at the starting point (if I have interpreted rightly
YG).
Reply ↓
o
you are absolutely right Horizon, Eritreans in general are in search of an icon
after the disappointment with their one and only cult leader in Asamara and the
Islamist Saleh in particular is searching for a Muslim icon. I was not born during
Haileselasie nor am I proud of his poor legacy, but Saleh’s repetitive mantra
about Haileselelasie’s Christian rule leaves you wonder what an Islamist Saleh
has in stock for Eritrea since Islam proper and democracy are mutually
exclusive, unless Saleh can educate us which Islamic leader starting from
Mehamed
can
be
described
as
a
democrat?….
you see selfish people often don’t care about who pays what to fulfill their own
personal ambitions, It doesn’t matter what the Kunamas had to endure from his
beloved Awate or wither his adventure has brought positive change to the lives of
the people of Eritrea(except the most expensive for nothing ID of course)..In fact
for any one who can read between the line, Saleh’s obsession with haileselasie’s
religion shows Eritrea the ID alone may not be an end goal for Saleh, he has his
own ideal Eritrea in mind with which he can farther his idea of Isamic Eritrea..I
really don’t know what else this old man can say to express his contempt for
Christianity and Ethiopia…but the man is perhaps naively BOLD enough for us
to see..he is consumed with hate, yet he has yet to benefit any one but his selfish
ego from a comfort zone…
Reply ↓
23.
Ahadu on October 17, 2012 at 9:48 pm said:
Kbur haw Salih the genie is already out of the bottle. If you try to put it back, you won’t
have any bottle after all. The prudent thing to do is more research and interviews of the
descendants of the victims and look for any material evidence of the alleged atrocities
committed by Idris awate. Otherwise wasting your time on drawing red and yellow lines
197 won’t get us anywhere. The only red line should be not to tramp on the right of people
to speak their mind. As much as you you want us to believe your disdain for imperial
Ethiopia but your argument seems a microsom of the old Imperial Ethiopia. You have
already draw red line not to be crossed like discussing whether 50 years of untold
sacrifice worth esayas’s Eritrea (Imperial Ethiopia: Red line, Ethiopian Unity).The
Eritrean people had their say in 1993 for an independent Eritrea, that should be
respected. But my question to you is, if the people again choose to Have some sort of
arrangement with Ethiopia, would u accept that? In the same vein would you allow
Andenet
Party
to
function
in
Salah’s
Eritrea?
Imperial Ethiopia: Don’t Touch Minilik because he is the embodiment of Ethiopia and
black Africa. There is truth in that because he defeated European colonizers in the
battle of Adwa. But we know what Minilik did to the oromos and welayta’s in the south.
And they see him as criminal Murderer. Now if the alleged atrocities committed by
awate against the Kunamas are true; why do you expect the kunamas to treat a
“criminal
murderer”
as
their
Icon?
You seem to hate the word andenet; you may have good reason for that. But for the
Kunama’s an independent Eritrea is not better than moribund imperial Ethiopia. If they
choose their way as an independent political entity, would you play the andenet band?
Why Idris awate didn’t fired the first bullet before 1961 while Eritrea was under white
apartheid
system?
And finally I hope some of the intellectuals to give us well researched articles to know:
was it the first bullet fired for independence? Or the first bullet that missed the
Kunamas?
Reply ↓
o
Selam,
The answer you are looking for from me is in your question: “Now if the alleged
atrocities committed by awate against the Kunamas are true” It is “IF” in case
you missed it. If that is supported by evidence, we can deal with it when the if is
confirmed. But do not expect people to keep quite and listen to lies. The
challenge is open: bring it on. Put up or shut up–I think that is the norm in any
debate.
There is nothing called Saleh’s Eritrea, there is the Eritrea of Eritreans. But if
there was one, the first rule will be “don’t lie.” And politicians who cause mayhem
by lying are criminals… and correct me if I am wrong, but I think criminals are
not allowed to have a party by law (peoples’ law not the imposed law of tyrants).
That is why Nazism is banned by law. This is not me, but common sense law
practiced by every country in the world. That is why you do not have a Derg party
in Ethiopia, it is dismantled.
Reply ↓

Dawit on October 18, 2012 at 3:01 am said:
Mr. Salh,
You keep saying , albeit in many different ways, “..The challenge is open:
bring it on. Put up or shut up–I think that is the norm in any debate.”, but
198 you have not provided an iota of evidence to refute other writers’
arguments against Hamid Idris Awate. I have asked you in the past if you
could provide your readers your version of Awate’s story based on objective
evidence. Not only you failed to provide objective evidences but used a lay
man’s excuse and keep saying , in effect, the burden of proof is on the
accuser. What you are essentially doing is kicking the can down the road.
Reply ↓
zegeremo on October 18, 2012 at 2:09 pm said:

Dawit
I thought “innocent until proven guilty” is one of the values you
believe in. Or, you just use those values to discredit Islam.
Reply ↓

I didn’t say that. You are putting words into my mouth. I
don’t have anything against Muslims. My best colleague at
work is a Muslim from Bangladish who had thought
previously though I was a Arab. I, however, don’t like some of
the teachings of Muhamad introduced after he had left Mecca
for Meddina.

My best friend is a Muslim but i don’t like his religion. I always
tease him ….
Reply ↓
24.
Agombosa on October 17, 2012 at 9:32 pm said:
Why do some Eritreans Worship let us look at the trends of human worship.Some
Kebesite Eritreans worshiped Hailselase Their slogan was Etiyopia woymot .Again some
Eritreans worship Isayas the devil. Some of the opposition go banana about this Guy
Awate. Stop worshiping individuals. The Kunamas has the right to voice their opinion
hear them Eritrea is home they been there before every one.
Reply ↓
25.
Wolde on October 17, 2012 at 9:21 pm said:
199 Ato
Saleh
and
company,
ABDAN!
YOUR ObSESSION to Awate’s heroism amazes me. A dead man’s heroism should be left
to history. Why is it that you are so offended by the true story of this dead man? There
are other Eritrean politicians of his time; namely, Abrahim Sultan, Woldeab
Woldemariam, Keshi Debetros, Tedlu Bairu and so on. These politicians’ mission/vision
could be researched and would be available for readers. But,would you find, if any,
what Awate’ mission was rather than a shift and “the first person to fire a bullet in the
name of an Eritrean arm struggle, as was told to do”? Beside, you dared to jump and
condemn the Andnets whose children had fought and died to the revolution you are
proud of. You better cool down and work your way out to solve today’s problem.
Accusing The Andnets is not going benefit you at all. The Eritrea you dream is not going
be yours with out their children.
Reply ↓
o
Answer on October 18, 2012 at 4:44 pm said:
So if someone made up a lie about your father and made him out to be this
horrible person that killed many innocent people, would you then say “I have
another parent, so you can whatever you want about my other parenty as long as
I have my other parent and siblings”?.
Reply ↓
26.
Daniel Teclegiorgis on October 17, 2012 at 9:11 pm said:
Dear
awate
team:
Emperor
Haileselassie
fought
for
unity
of
Eritrea
and
Ethiopia:
a)
to
rewrite
history
for
his
fame
and
pride
(mainly.)
b)
aiming
the
benefit
of
ports
for
a
sustainable
economy.
He tried to achieve these exploiting all diplomatic and military powers on his hand. At
the
end
of
his
life
and
carrier
he
scored
nothing
but
loss.
Mengistu followed more or less the same path-way and his carrier achieved nothing
better.
The Ethiopia of NOW has been working with a lesson learned from the failures of the
Emperor and Mengistu. That simple, a lot has changed, to those who have eyes to see
and
ears
to
hear.
Having said that, why is the awate team associating a writers perspective (posted in
Asmarino bay Girmay Yebio)of awate’s history to an old or dead propaganda of the
emperor?
The
article
by
Girmay
has
a
lot
of
substance.
No question it is history about awate being a shifta to start the process and Isayas to be
another shifta to conclude the process. This is history that we have to learn its lesson in
order
to
live
together.
Accordingly some writers are trying to visit the archives of history and read the book of
freedom
even
backwards,
starting
from
the
last
page.
What’s
wrong
if
they
tell
about
what
they
read?
After all the 30 years bloody war and the Singapore uproar is over. And it is natural to
be surprised by the contents of the book specifically Isayas (ናይ ሽባኻ ሽፍታ) being the last
and awate (ናይ በረኻ ሽፍታ) to be the first to carry the adjective title of bandits/shefatu.
Looking forward the issue of Eritrea’s freedom and its past, present and future
200 relationship with Ethiopia need more of ideas than a dogmatic propaganda about the
myth of a bullet was fired by a hero named Awate on Sept first.
History is more about (experienced) difference in ideas, encountered problems and
solutions
and
less
about
firing
bullets.
So when awate was firing the bullet, was there any idea like plan-B, plan-A being
freedom
or
the
life
we
are
living
in.
Some where somehow history has to be valued for its present and future values.
Unfortunately, as seen hitherto, The Power of Now in Eritrea is still hostage of its past.
Thank you.
Reply ↓
27.
Samretay on October 17, 2012 at 9:04 pm said:
Reading all this, one may think there is no bigger problem in Eritrea. but Eritrea is in a
bottomless peat of problems with no light at the end of the tunnel. The so called
oppositions hate each other as much as they hate Isayas. What is the future of Eritrea ?
Cam anyone, honestly say there is hope for Eritrea, the way things stand now? It would
have been a time well spent to start thinking and exchanging ideas on how to save
Eritrea, instead of wasting your effort discussing the merits and demerits of a man long
dead. It is normal to remember and honor ones heroes but everything has its time and
hero worship is a luxury Eritrea can ill afford at this stage of its history.
Reply ↓
28.
Greetings everybody,
It seems that things are getting a little excited. People are becoming nasty and
vindictive. When you differentiate YG. talk about Eritreans and their revolution, you get
some sub-grade voice saying the same thing in an undignified manner. Following is an
example of these kinds of chat and chatter from one of the pages at assenna.com
written by one who goes by the nick ‘fair2be and which went thus :
{{{NAY JEBHA GAHBA ELAMA DIA ATFIOM NATU KIYAR MUKHAN TIRAY EYU. KABU
HALIFOM GIN KALI ELAMA YEBLOMN, I KNOW THAT FOR SURE. HGDEF GOHAF
GOES,JEBHA GAHBA COMES. THAT’S IT. NO CHANGE}}}
Right of the top of my mind, I could say three things about fair2be’s rave:
1___He more than she is nuts and stupid
2___He or she is a coward and a creep
3___She or he is angry and vindictive
4___One can say also she or he is all of the above or a combination thereof. Logic, eh?:).
201 Things are getting amazing and amusing or a combination there off pluses the pissing
off:-). One can write pages as to way people descend to this level of disgrace but it would
be a waist of time and effort to reason with this type of fallen mind. There is a lot talk
from people who have been sleeping for a long time and it is a good sign that they are
alive. Now, things are getting individual and serious and many are spewing venom from
left and wright and all in between.
It is an era of social revolutions where the individual is both weak and powerful for he is
now a voice to be heard with the means to deliver in this computer age. The war of
minds govern the the beat of the heart and the will to live and let live brings the
blessings of God before whom we are all beggars.
One have to find their citizenship center of gravity and harmonize their social-political
vibrations and focus their energy toward bringing about what remains to make Eritrea a
free nation under the rule of law and institutional democracy. While I am at it, I am
including a link to a song of about 7 minutes duration. I thought it would do the heart
good if it has not grown rubbry like the heart of the walkign dead:-).
[moderator: we love you but please go easy on your links and youtube
redirections.]
Cheers and Peace!
Reply ↓
o
Our comrades at Awate, you took away my link and you give me a “we love you
but please go easy on” and what not:-). In my “it is democracy, bay” opinion, I
would say that is even better than links that come and go:-).
While I am at it, I would like say, I think, as in IMHO, “In my “it is democracy,
bay” opinion” would come out as “IMIIDBO”. Sometimes, we do things for the
heck of it, don’t we?:-). Thank you for your audience in advance:-).
Adios Migos
Reply ↓
29.
Agame on October 17, 2012 at 6:35 pm said:
How come Eritreans never rose against the Italians or the British? Wasn’t Idris Awate a
Banda soldier that servedthe colonial occupiers? Was he upset tht he
Lost his post once the Etgiopians took over from the Brita and gave power to the
Hamasen christians? why dont you ask the KunMas iF what is being said about hin is
true or not? i would go ask an Eritrean about the ateocities dergue committed in Eritra i
wouldnt go to a Furaghe ….Why do Eritreans never talk about the atrocities that were
committed by the white colonial rulers but cry about the Amhara rulers or go back
centuries and accuse their past Tigrayan overlords day and night? I sense a little bit of
house niggerness
202 Reply ↓
o
Dear
Agame,
1) When you die, ask St. Gabriel (or whoever it is who takes you on a tour) to
meet
Awate.
Then
you
can
ask
him.
2) I thought house niggerness ended when the Brits forced Haile Sellasie to
abolish slavery in Ethiopia some after WW2. I amight be wrong, can you educate
me on that please?
Reply ↓

abrham on October 18, 2012 at 3:55 am said:
Dear
Saleh
1) Cool down, cool down!! Would you allow me to read your mind? His nick
name
uncover
your
hate.
2) You veiled the brutality of those Europeans by uncovering
Haileselassie’s. If you forgot what they did you can have it when you die,
from the Italian Askaris AWATE.
Reply ↓
30.
Hade on October 17, 2012 at 5:00 pm said:
Salih,
Why would one expect the Ethiopian government to admit that the Eritrean movement
was a popular uprising? They better label it as a “shifta lead movement” like they did, it
was
a
political
move.
This does not mean to be a proof of Awate being a hero or a bandit, but, what if he was
a bandit turned into revulutionary?
Reply ↓
31.
Eyob Medhane on October 17, 2012 at 4:07 pm said:
Saleh, Sal..or anyone, who would care to respond, I have a question.
What is a big deal, if part of Eritrean society (Kunamas) or their representative doesn’t
feel the same way with the other part of the society about a particular famous person?
What is all this hoopla about this fellow Awate?
There are a very large number of Ethiopians, who don’t feel the same way about
Menelik, Tiqur Sew as their fellow Ethiopians do(Sal, stop it. I see you rolling your eyes
right at this minute :-)) Yet, on the Adowa victory day an Oromo official honors and lays
a wreath on Menelik’s statue and move on to some other important issue. So..I am just
203 wondering why particular issue of reputation of this dude Awate brings a shouting
match out of everybody…. Aren’t thre more pressing issues? Just asking…
Reply ↓
o
Hello Eyob, the Tkur sew is between you and Sal…. and Teddy Afro:-)
But your question is answered in the Article, ” And recently, with the tacit
approval of certain circles, they seem to have launched a campaign to discredit
Awate. But that is a means to an end. Their true aim is to question the very
foundation of Eritrea, the justness of its cause. The goal is to discredit the entire
Eritrean idea of independence by first discrediting Awate, then the revolution
that he launched, followed by the entire struggle which produced an independent
Eritrea, dating back to the struggles of the 1940s, to Waela Biet Giorghis, to the
federation compromise. To erase everything that generations of Eritreans bled
for.”
For the rest of the readers: the statement is by Awate Team and I am part of the
team but not its sole author.
Reply ↓

Ok Saleh,
Now with all due respect, what you are saying is a little bit weird. Why?
Well first of all, you are reacting for something you suspect what people
who don’t like Awate have in mind. Couldn’t just not like Awate with out
having any ultirior motive? Unless you are a mind reader how do you
know that they have that “nasty Andinet” motive? 2) What if they do? Isn’t
that their right? What about freedom of thought. Don’t they have a
legitimate right to think what ever they want and sound off their opinion
on whatever they want? I thought you are all for democratic principle? 3)
Why do you have to drag Haileselassie or Ethiopians here? News flash, bet
Idris Awate or Isayas Afeworki or the G-15 or anyone that went to the
bushes holding gun to fight the Ethiopian government to separate Eritrea
was and still is “Wonbedie” as far Ethiopia and Ethiopians are concerned.
The have never been and they never will be our heroes and there is no way
no how we acknowledge them otherwise. So whatever we think about your
heroes can not influence anyone in Eritrea, unless they personally affected
and are against of these “heroes” of yours….Kerneleois and who ever you
think maligned your heroes, did it because of their own reasons not
because of Ethiopian propaganda…
Reply ↓

204 Come
on
Eyob,
Please don’t make me do this again yenie a’bbat, here is an answer
to your question which is in the article by the way: “This website is
named after Awate not without reason; it stands for everything he
stood for and it will make sure that the freedom that he yearned for
his people will be pursued. The equality that he envisioned will be
pursued. And the dream of a dignified citizen that he died for will be
realized. The goal of an independent state—not a vassal state, not
an appendage state—will be pursued without equivocation.”
Anyone has freedom of though, but if a that thought is against the
freedom of one’s country, do you expect the people of that country
to yawn and go to sleep? Look at your comments, you jumped to
defend Ethiopia because you felt it is being dragged unneccessarily.
As for reading the mind, do you think for one to know about
something he has to be a mind reader? Enough knowledge of a
certain subject plus extensive follow up and enough information my
is modern mind reading. As for mind reading, you were raised
South of Addis Ababa and you are an Ethiopian of Eritrean ancestry
and speak fluent Amharic and you like Teddy Afro. Voila. I just read
you mind. If anyone knew enough of such information, they can
fortell your future actions with amazing accuracy. Cheers.
Reply ↓
o
Saleh AA Younis on October 17, 2012 at 6:40 pm said:
Eyob:
You got me at Tiqur Sew.
A public service for your (or you fellow Ethiopians who get all mystified here)
consideration: The answer to every question as to why Eritreans do X when
Ethiopians do Y is (a) Eritreans really don’t do X: your sample size is
unrepresentative; and (b) Ethiopians really don’t do Y, but it appears to you that
way because you are an Ethiopian nationalist and good for you. Ah, the good old
forgotten days when the Weyane wanted to demolish the statue…how quickly the
kids have grown:)
In the 1970s, one of the Eritrean liberation movements issued a statement to
“condemn the Camp David Accord.” The prgamagic among us shook our head.
One of the Tigrayan liberation movements (your favorite) issued a statement to
declare that the Soviet Union is really not a leftist progressive country. We said,
and I translate here carefully: “hey, why you putting your make up on; there are
no suitors waiting for you.” As strange and ill-timed and who-asked-you positions
as they might have appeared, at least these were all ideological positions taken
by ideological organizations. So, to me, the question I have for all the HIA-haters
is: supposing everything you said is true; how does that advance the cause of
bringing about freedom and democracy to Eritrea?
saay
Reply ↓
205 
Come on Sal,
What do you mean? I only interjected myself in this conversation, because
Saleh brought up Haileselassie. For Haileselassie, Mengistu and a slew of
Ethiopians Awate, Isayas or the “Freedom fighters” all are one and the
same. Shiftas. So how can any Eritrean, who revere one or many of these
characters be influenced by what we have to say about our sworn
enemies?
I told you this before, I really don’t care what TPLF’s ideology was some
thirty years ago or what they say about Soviet Union or what they believed
then, when most of them were young idealists, and now retired and on
their way of retirement. I care about what they believe NOW! And more or
or less, what they believe now, especially after Meles’ death seems pretty
cool to me..
Woyane never tried to take down Menelik’s statue. I was there. I remember
the incident well. I was a freshmen at AAU. It was OLF supporters, who
demanded it to be taken down, and Woyane, (the then acting police,
because the police force was not reconstituted, then, which was in 1992)
actually prevented it…
And one more thing..get off Tikur Sew’s back…I warned you… :-)
Reply ↓
32.
Bisrat on October 17, 2012 at 3:49 pm said:
Saleh sounds like a dying man, a drowning man who tries to grasp at anything even the
water which he is drowning in to save himself. It appears someone has really touched
his nerves at asmarino. From what I read of that article he simply showed that Idris
Awate was “a fascist loyalist” as the writer called it and really it gave us a new insight to
the man Idris Awate and his history. This part of Idris Awate’s story i.e. his association
with the Amedeo Guillet resistance of 1941 – 42 was quite a revelation for most of us.
The writer did unearth the story and brought it up for the readers and based on that
and other factors he enumerated in the article, that Idris Awate does not have any
National feeling but that he was just a simple outlaw. I found the article quite
enlightening and would love to see more similar articles of the kind not only on Idris
Awate but also other personalities and figures in the Eritrean struggle.
Reply ↓
33.
DAN on October 17, 2012 at 3:46 pm said:
Salih said ” But the fact that Eritreans transitioned from an Ethiopian occupation to a
totalitarian rule doesn’t negate the Eritrean idea. It is still there and no one can quell
that Eritrean desire to stay free.”
206 The problem is there is little hope from the opposition side who are supposed to save
the revolution while the other side ( DIA and his gangs) are failing to save the nation
from failing. It is natural for many people be panic and to see the worst scenario.
But my question to you Salih is what kind of evidence are you expecting, picture or
video of the victims or the event? or what evidence do you have a gorilla fighters
couldnot commit crime? ELF by itself has commited many crimes from torturing to
killing its member and civiliance where they were trenched. I can give you hundreds of
first hand evidences.So you should also expect Awate might had done the same thing as
his comrades. we all know Awate has a big role in the revolution but this does not make
him immune from being responsible, as the case is with DIA.
thanks for understanding
Reply ↓
34.
Mr
Saleh
Gadi,
when you were interviewing PM Meles Zenawi,you told meles that isaias has never been
your president(a man who did more than awate to finally become a brutal dictator)
because he denied you freedom.now why is it too difficult for you that when the
kunamas tell you awate was a murderer.kunamas are very honest people and they can’t
cry
for
nothing.
Thank you.
Reply ↓
o
Fithi, please observe the meaning of the nick you have chosen for yourself. In
Fithi, justice, allegations are not enough and if they are not supported by
evidence,
they
have
no
value
exccept
defamatory
value.
There are two replies to your question: 1) The Kunama (as a group) do not have
one single voice, someone who happened to be a Kunama alleged something and
I challenged it. It has to be backed by evidence and not simply flying accusations
with no substantiations. 2) I can prove Isaias’ crimes and violations… in fact I do
not need to because I am certain you know them and they are all supported by
evidence. See? The issue is about evidence and proof, nothing else.
Reply ↓

Robel T. on October 18, 2012 at 9:48 am said:
I am worried now that this guy (Salih) is about to say “That is a lie. Where
is the proof? Where is the evidence?” Sounds familiar? Oh my……
Reply ↓
207 
Mr. I promise, from now on if you claim the sky is red, I will just
accept it. But why did you steal the money from the National Bank
of Ethiopia last week? And why did you kill that old woman in
Mercato yesterday?
I don’t think you need a proof for that, you are a thief and a killer
my friend. Sorry, I am just using the lesson I learned from you: no
proof needed. And don’t call me a lair at all:-)
Reply ↓
35.
Awate
team,
1.kunama elders are alive to tell us about the brutality of awate.
2.if you are confident awate did not murder the kunamas,conduct a poll,even another
poll on whether eritreans think that awate is their national symbol.
3.again give us the list of deki kunama living in the sudan who condemned the
statements
of
qernolios.
We will know you integrity.thanks
Reply ↓
o
ዓ
በርበር
ዋ
ጋ
‘ቲ
ተ ባE ምስ EተላEለ ድሕርሕር ኣይብልን፣
Eንተበለ
መስዋEቲ
ገበናቱ
ምጽላም
ድ
ምር
ኣ ይፍጠርን Eዩ ሕጂ ዘይነበረ ዛንታታት።
Eንተወዓለ
ዘይሎ
ቁጽርታት፣
ፍ
ርዲ
ት
ርፍራፍ
ሕ
ልና
ስ ረሖም ገይረሞ ህዝቢ ከናኽሱ።
ከይመጾም
ድሑራት
ኣልቦ
ቀዲሞም
ተምላሶም
ውርደት
ዝኸሱ፣
ዝልሕሱ፣
ዝለበሱ፣
ናይ መጀመርያ ፊደላት…. ዓዋተ ደኣ ፍትሕስ …ይነበብ
Reply ↓
o
Zegeremo on October 17, 2012 at 6:12 pm said:
Re-read the article the issue is way deeper than you think.
Reply ↓
208 ክሽፍን፣
ኣይኮነን፣
36.
Anonymous on October 18, 2012 at 11:29 am said:
Akima diya eza sebeyti ? weys adeKa?
The Eritrean Mereb
The Eritrean Mereb advocates for constitutional liberalism, the respect of the rule of law, the
protection of property rights, peace and free trade in Eritrea.
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Freedom of Expression
Abraham G. Ghiorgis
The following post is taken from Democracy Web. "Freedom of expression is a core freedom,
whithout which democracy could not exist. ... Freedom of expression gurantees everyone's
right to speak openly without state interference, including the right to criticize injustices,
illegal activities, and incompetencies."
Freedom of expression does not mean one has to express only "correct" views. It does not mean
one has to express only views that the majority agrees with. And no one has a right to set a red
line that the freedom of expression should not cross.
The autocrats want to set a red line and give tickets of traffic violations themselves of what
they consider "blasphemy" and supress enquiry and critical thinking. They do not understand
that a society cannot agree upon what a red line is supposed to be, unless one takes a
dictatorial power. They do not realize that the only recourse is to let ideas compte in the
marketplace of visions and thoughts, and that the "bad ideas" eventually fall by the wayside,
and that there is no need of meddling into the inner thoughts of inviduals by an arrogant
seemingly all knowing indidual since one does not exist unless one is to use brute force and
not reasoning and debate.
Freedom of expression is summarized succinctly as follows: "I hate and reject what you say,
but I will defend to the death your right to say it."
(I) Freedom of Expression: Essential Principles
By Democracy Web
"This is true liberty, when free-born men, having to advise the public, may speak free."
Euripides (480–406 BC)
"Give me liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all
liberties."
John Milton, Areopagitica, 1644
209 "The free communication of ideas and opinions is one of the most precious of the rights of man.
Every citizen may, accordingly, speak, write and print with freedom..."
French National Assembly, Declaration of the Rights of Man, August 26, 1789
Freedom of expression could be considered one of the most fundamental of all freedoms. While
it is of dubious value to rate one freedom over another, freedom of expression is a basic
foundation of democracy—it is a core freedom, without which democracy could not exist. The
term encompasses not only freedom of speech and media, but also freedom of thought,
culture, and intellectual inquiry. Freedom of expression guarantees everyone's right to speak
and write openly without state interference, including the right to criticize injustices, illegal
activities, and incompetencies. It guarantees the right to inform the public and to offer
opinions of any kind, to advocate change, to give the minority the opportunity to be heard and
become the majority, and to challenge the rise of state tyranny by force of words.
Until the 20th century, formal censorship— not freedom of expression— was the common
practice of most states. Autocrats frequently imprisoned critics, shut down the presses, forced
authors into exile, or censored written and artistic works. The struggle against licensing
requirements in Great Britain in the 17th century, the American Bill of Rights, and the French
Declaration of the Rights of Man expanded standards of freedom in a way that inspired new
realms of independent expression and thought, especially in Europe in the 19th and early 20th
centuries, but also in other parts of the world.Still, in places lacking independence or selfgovernment, freedom of expression has generally been at risk.
But the full importance of freedom of expression could perhaps be appreciated only with the
rise of totalitarian regimes, such as Adolf Hitler's Germany and Joseph Stalin's Soviet Union,
among
others
In such regimes, the state not only exerted full control over expression, it also used the media
to direct citizens' thoughts and opinions through propaganda, indoctrination, denunciation,
and social conformity. After the defeat of Nazi Germany, freedom of expression joined the
realm of core freedoms that are now protected as universal standards (Article 19 of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights).
Within democracies, freedom of expression remains controversial: Should there be restrictions
on hate speech or obscenities, or on publishing sensitive national security information? But,
examining freedom of expression in light of the history of authoritarianism and totalitarianism,
past and present, helps place many of these debates in greater perspective and provides
greater understanding of the struggle for freedom of expression.
(II) Freedom of Expression: History
Over time, opposing forces arose: the need to express ideas and opinions in written form, and
the desire by some to control free expression. Thus, the Greek epic poet Homer (ninth or
eighth century BC) supported free expression, but Solon (630–560 BC), the first great
lawmaker of Athens, banned "speaking evil against the living and the dead." Pericles, the
leader of democratic Athens, extolled freedom of speech as the defining distinction between the
rival city-states of Athens and Sparta. Nonetheless, after the Peloponnesian Wars, the
Athenian Assembly ordered Socrates to drink poison as punishment for lecturing about
unrecognized gods and corrupting youth by encouraging them to question authority.
Copernicus and Galileo vs. the Vatican
210 Until the Enlightenment (17th and 18th centuries in Europe), censorship was the dominant
practice of governments. Autocrats generally forbade any questioning of their right to rule,
their policies, or their behavior. In mid-15th-century Europe, Johannes Gutenberg's
introduction of the printing press with movable type allowed for the mass production of books
and thus made greater the need for the imposition of control.
In turn, the Vatican became the main enforcer of censorship. The Catholic Church's 1559
Congregation of the Index was a long list of banned books that hinted of heresy. One of the
censored books was Nicolaus Copernicus's De revolutionibis orbium coelestium (1543), which
went beyond what was permitted in terms of hypothesizing and directly challenged the
Church's belief in a stationary earth. The great scientist Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) was
sentenced to life in prison because he confirmed Copernicus's theories of planetary motion
around the sun. Galileo's sentence was commuted to house arrest without visitors only when
he knelt before the pope to recant his belief in Copernican theory. Galileo's punishment, his
forced recantation, and the banning of his books had an even greater impact than the
censorship of De revolutionibis in dampening scientific inquiry and discovery for a century.
The Star Chamber
During the Reformation, monarchs who broke from the Vatican's control themselves found a
need for censorship. In this regard, the struggles brought about by the Reformation in Great
Britain had an enormous influence on the eventual development of freedom of expression.
Henry VIII and his daughter Elizabeth I—both of whom were in conflict with the Vatican—
banned books that were opposed to the new national Church of England and invoked the
Court of Star Chamber (the court that supplemented the regular English Courts) to repress
"slander." Elizabeth I also directed the "Master of the Revels," whose primary responsibility
was to censor public presentations. Among the most famous acts of censorship under
Elizabeth I was her order to eliminate the abdication and assassination scene in William
Shakespeare's Richard II because it seemed to invite comparison between her and the weak
Richard II (arguably, Elizabeth did not misinterpret—the play was used to try to mobilize
support for the Earl of Essex's failed coup attempt). Under the Catholic Stuart dynasty, the
Court of the Star Chamber was used to suppress political dissent and to control the licensing
of printers. After Charles I raised an army against Parliament, it abolished the Star Chamber
in 1637. But Parliament reinstituted press controls through the Licensing Act of 1643, which
imposed
strict
restrictions
on
the
content
of
published
materials.
Milton's Areopagitica: Truth Emerges Through Free Expression
In this context of state intrigue and civil war, John Milton wrote perhaps the most famous
defense of free expression ever written: the political essay Areopagitica(1644). His main
argument against the adoption of the Licensing Act and for unfettered licensing was a new one
at the time but today is basic to our understanding of freedom of expression: that "truth is
most likely to emerge in a free and open encounter." The argument was rejected at the time,
but the Licensing Act was eventually abolished in the wake of the 1688 Glorious Revolution,
which brought Mary II and William III to power with the requirement that they adhere to the
Bill of Rights. Censorship by royal fiat continued, but "unfettered licensing" initiated England's
tradition of a free and freewheeling media. Milton's Areopagitica, despite its complexity,
became the touchstone for a libertarian view on freedom of expression and greatly influenced
the liberal tradition in the United Kingdom, the United States, and throughout the British
Empire. It remains the core text for free speech advocates.
The Enlightenment: A Primary Objective
211 Freedom of expression became a primary objective for Enlightenment thinkers as a measure of
liberal progress. In Europe, Sweden was the first country to abolish censorship in 1766,
followed quickly by Denmark and Norway in 1770. Reflecting the egalitarian spirit of its
revolution, the French National Assembly's Declaration of the Rights of Man in 1789 included
not only the right to free expression, but also the right to own a printing press. In the
American colonies, one of the colonists' main complaints was press censorship by the English
king. After the American Revolution, the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment, adopted in
1791, established one of the strongest standards for the guarantee of free speech by any
constitution: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the
right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of
grievances."
The U.S. Supreme Court: Expanding Standards of Free Expression
The evolution of standards for freedom of expression in democracies has tended toward the
expansion of freedom and the reduction of restrictions on the media. In the United States, U.S.
Supreme Court decisions have reflected this trend. Traditionally, slander and national security
laws were common justifications for restricting speech. While each area had legitimate claims
for limiting speech, they were also easily abused. In The York Times v. Sullivan (1964), the
Supreme Court reversed an earlier ruling in favor of a Montgomery city commissioner who had
sued the newspaper over an advertisement made by civil rights leaders that appeared in it.
Southern public figures had sued northern newspapers in a generally successful strategy to
deter coverage of the civil rights movement. In this case, the Supreme Court majority
determined that slander, especially regarding a public figure, required proof of intent of "actual
malice," prior knowledge of a claim's falsehood, or "reckless disregard" for the truth.
Until 1969, the U.S. Supreme Court also generally upheld public and national security laws
restricting speech. In Schenck v. United States (1919), Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote his famous
opinion, which argued, "The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man
falsely shouting fire in a theater and causing a panic." His opinion established an open-ended
"clear and present danger" standard for evaluating the legitimacy of national or public security
claims. The question, of course, lay in the meaning of clear and present danger. In Schenck,
the plaintiff, Charles Schenck, a leader of the U.S. Socialist Party, was convicted for
distributing leaflets calling for World War I draftees to oppose the draft.
In Yates v. United States (1957), the Court reversed numerous convictions based on the Smith
Act, a law outlawing revolutionary political movements, asserting that there must be a
distinction between teaching orexpressing the idea of overthrowing the government and acting
on the idea. The Smith Act was more specifically overturned in Brandenberg v. Ohio (1969), in
response to a television news broadcast of a Ku Klux Klan rally that included explicit threats of
violence against Jews and blacks. The Supreme Court decided that the notion of "clear and
present danger" was insufficiently vague as a standard, and that speech could not be
"prohibited, punished, or prevented" except where advocacy of specific lawlessness had the
likelihood of producing "imminent lawless action."
In the famous Pentagon Papers case, ending in the decisionNew York Times Company v. United
States (1971), the Court established an even higher standard—a "heavy burden of proof"—for
any government restriction of the First Amendment. All of these rulings greatly expanded
protections for the media, reinforced the importance of freedom of speech as an essential
element in free societies, and made clear that restraints on freedom threatened the country's
democratic foundations.
Totalitarianism: "Truth Is the Mortal Enemy"
212 The rise of totalitarian regimes in the 20th century had an opposite dynamic: eradicating all
freedom. Totalitarian regimes took complete control of the media, making it into an instrument
for conveying state ideology, and attempting to control thought and conscience through
propaganda and the intimidation of deviant or dissenting views and opinions. Indeed, such
regimes moved immediately to control expression upon seizing power.
In the earliest days of the Russian Revolution, for example, the Bolsheviks imposed
censorship, using tactics such as destroying the presses of political rivals and destroying
private ("bourgeois") libraries. The Bolsheviks' leader, Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924), set the
early direction of state propaganda in his famous maxim "A lie told often enough becomes the
truth." Stalin further institutionalized censorship by establishing a state body to oversee
censorship (called Glavlit in Russian) and the Writers Union (1932), which became the only
legal union for writers. These actions by Stalin were instruments for directing every aspect of
public expression and for establishing socialism as the only allowable ideology. In the terror
under Stalin's rule (the height of repression lasted from the late 1920s to the late 1930s),
thousands of writers, journalists, and artists who refused this straitjacket found themselves in
prison camps and even graves.
Upon taking power in Germany, Hitler appointed Joseph Goebbels (1897–1945) as director of
propaganda. One of Goebbels's first acts was to incite anti-Semitism in the media. He also
rallied support for a massive book burning on May 10, 1933, in Berlin to destroy "nonGerman" books. To note, the German poet Heinrich Heine argued in the 19th century, "Where
books are burned, human beings are destined to be burned too." Goebbels's notion of the "big
lie" defines the essence of totalitarian propaganda: If you tell a lie big enough and keep
repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such
time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military
consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers
to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth
is the greatest enemy of the State.
Totalitarianism vs. Free Thought
Within totalitarian regimes, one finds not just unimaginable suffering, but also remarkable
profiles in courage of individuals who struggled to write freely and reveal the truth for the
world and for history. Such courageous individuals include the Cuban author Reinaldo Arenas
(1943–90), the Czech dissident Vaclav Havel (1936–), the Russian author of the 1973 The
Gulag Archipelago, Alexander Solzhenitsyn (1918–), and many, many others. For these
individuals, intellectual freedom could not be compromised because it meant compromising
truth itself. Those who were imprisoned found ways both to write and to smuggle their works
out of their countries, creating a distinct new form of literature called prison writing. Their
pursuit of truth and their efforts to overcome censorship define the meaning of free expression.
Essential Principles II
Freedom of Expression: A Universal Standard
The apocalyptic destruction and murder carried out by Nazi Germany and other Axis powers
caused the international community to create new institutions and instruments after the war
to protect human rights and prevent a repeat of the war's atrocities. The UN's first act was to
create the Human Rights Council, chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt. For democratic countries, free
expression was among the primary goals of the new human rights regime. Article 19 of the
Universal
Declaration
of
Human
Rights
(1948)
thus
declares:
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to
213 hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas
through any media and regardless of frontiers.
Article 19 vs. Public Order
Eleanor Roosevelt, one of the original founders of Freedom House, understood that not
everyone in the council wanted clear declarations on human rights, most notably the Soviet
Union. Its ambassador, Andrei Vyshinsky, had been Stalin's chief prosecutor during the Great
Purges, which took place during the 1930s, and engaged in long-winded disputes with the
council's chairwoman. While Roosevelt prevailed in establishing clearly defined and
unqualified rights, subsequent documents, such as the International Covenants on Civil and
Political Rights and on Social, Cultural, and Economic Rights, included qualifications for the
temporary restriction of freedoms to preserve public order. While this qualification itself is
highly circumscribed (and the council rejected it, for example, to justify the imposition of
martial law in Poland), free speech organizations cite the Universal Declaration's Article 19 as
the preeminent international claim for freedom of expression.
Freedom's Next Threat: "The New International Information Order"
Later, through the UN General Assembly and UNESCO (the United Nations Educational,
Scientific, and Cultural Organization), the Soviet Union and many developing countries sought
to establish a "New International Information Order" (NEIO), which would impose restrictions
on the media to avoid unfavorable coverage of their countries. This attempt, among others
undertaken by developing countries, was weakened when Western countries responded with
threats to leave the UN system. Also, by the late 1980s, the main sponsor, the Soviet Union,
was near the point of collapse. Still, there remains no clear mechanism within the United
Nations human rights system for protecting free expression.
The Negative Balance of Dictatorship
The fights in the UN between developed and developing countries show that the international
struggle for free expression is ongoing, and one that generally sets democracies apart from
dictatorships. Many countries continue to impose censorship and propaganda regimes, from
Burma, to China, to Sudan. A total of 63 countries are categorized as "not free" in Freedom
House's Freedom of the Press 2007 survey. Some, like Belarus, Cuba, North Korea, and
Turkmenistan, go so far as to propagate "cults of personalities," as occurred in previous
totalitarian regimes, where public displays of adoration of the "leader" were a constant
practice. In nationalist conflicts that emerged after the collapse of communism, the world
witnessed another type of crime against intellectual freedom—the destruction of libraries.
Serbian forces destroyed the national library in Bosnia, and the Russian army did the same in
Chechnya, each an apparent attempt to wipe out national memories.
In the Middle East, some governments seek to disseminate messages against Israel and
Western countries through the state-controlled media, which help to deflect attention from
their domestic problems. A culture of intimidation is prevalent. Religious opinions (fatwas) are
issued by both state (such as theocratic leaders in Iran) and nonstate religious and political
movements (such as al-Qaeda) that sometimes threaten writers or broadcasters with death or
violence for materials deemed blasphemous or insulting to Muslims. In a world where
terrorism has become widespread, these threats place a chill on all forms of expression, which
is, arguably, their aim.
The Positive Increase in Freedom
214 Freedom House's press survey also shows the converse picture, namely the significant
increase in the number of countries that largely respect principles of free expression. Freedom
House's Freedom of the Press 2007 survey classified 74 countries (38 percent of the total) as
"free," whereas the Freedom of the Press 1997 survey classified only 64 countries as "free."
Similarly, the internet has opened up a new means of communication and form of free
expression for hundreds of millions of people. At the same time, unfree countries often prohibit
access to the internet or censor certain websites.
Freedom vs. Restriction: The Debates Continue
Even in democracies, controversies still remain on the issue of freedom of expression. Not
everyone in the United States agrees fully with the blanket libertarian view of the First
Amendment or Milton's Areopagitica, especially given the increased threat of terrorism. In the
United States, there is, in fact, an ongoing debate between the executive and judicial branches
over the balance between national security and free expression. Other important debates
continue over issues of obscenity, hate speech, political speech, intellectual property rights,
and accountability of the media, among others.
But the main threats to freedom of expression are the restrictions placed on it by repressive
governments and the ongoing ideological and physical attacks made on it by extremists.
Dozens of reporters are killed each year by repressive governments and extremists. Such
attacks were given religious encouragement through a fatwa to kill the novelist Salman
Rushdie, issued by the Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini in 1989 in response to Rushdie's
novel The Satanic Verses, which the clerics found insulting to Islam. The fatwah against
Rushdie forced him into hiding abroad, although the Iranian government retracted its fatwah
in
1998.
The 2002 assassination of Daniel Pearl, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, by al-Qaeda
operatives was further proof that freedom of expression has little protection in this area of the
world. Overall, the climate of religious and political extremism in the Middle East has limited
speech and ensured a limited debate about the region's future.
The Meaning of the Cartoon Wars
The most significant recent challenge to freedom of expression was the worldwide reaction to
the initial September 2006 publication of a cartoon that mocked the Prophet Muhammad in
the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten.
Months later, violent demonstrations erupted across the Middle East. Public anger was aimed
at Danish embassies, and Muslim leaders demanded that the prime minister of Denmark
apologize for the publication of the cartoons and shut down the newspaper. Throughout the
world, free speech organizations and some governments defended free expression, although a
number of Western leaders criticized the Danish newspaper and called for an apology,
believing that freedom of expression is a principle to be defended except when violent
demonstrations are organized against it. In the end, the Danish paper issued an apology to
defuse the international controversy, after an international boycott by Arab countries cost the
Danish economy several billion dollars. The Danish prime minister decided not to take action
against the paper, explaining that in free societies, free speech was too important to be
interfered with by the state.
The essence of freedom of expression, of course, is not the right to insult the beliefs of others,
but rather the freedom to report or convey facts, opinions, philosophies, and worldviews in an
effective manner, using both objective and subjective means. Freedom of expression empowers
citizens through knowledge, opinion, and the possibility to gain their own voice. Within
democracies, free expression allows citizens to challenge political leaders, journalists to
uncover information for the public, and the public to ensure the accountability of their
215 government. Without the principles of a free media and free speech, there could be no selfgovernment.
Source: http://www.democracyweb.org/expression/principles.php
The Eritrean Revolution: Born of a Shifta father, produced a Shifta system
September 20, 2012September 20, 2012 assenna
The Eritrean armed struggle was launched on September 1, 1961 by a
notorious shifta (bandit), Hamid Idris Awate. Hamid Idris Awate was from
Gash Barka Region. He served in the Italian army but when the Italian
army was defeated in 1941, he went back home to his village. Sooner in the
1940s he became a great shifta leader. During the British administration,
banditry was wide spread in Eritrea resulting in unbearable atrocities and
suffering on the people of Eritrea with Awate at the forefront.
I am compelled to write this article following the debate on the Eritrean websites regarding the
history of Awate and what he represents as he has left conflicting legacies. His conflicting
legacies have led to controversies as how to characterize Awate: a criminal shifta or a
revolutionary national hero and Icon? This debate was triggered by the statement issued by
the Democratic Movement for the Liberation of Eritrean Kunam (DMLEK) and posted in their
website: www.mesel-biherat.com on the occasion of the 51st anniversary of the launch of the
Eritrean armed struggle.
The Kunama movement condemned the celebration of Awate as a national hero and icon by
the main stream Eritreans claiming that he was a shifta leader who committed barbaric
crimes against the kunama people. According to their narrative, awate was a criminal with
the kunamas blood in his hands and a criminal should not be praised as a national hero and
icon but must be condemned for the crimes he had committed hence awate does not represent
their history.
On the other hand most of the self appointed nationalist and Islamic websites such
as www.awate.com,www.meskerem.net and the likes and the nationalist and Islamic
opposition political parties and movements have reacted with anger and outrage to the
characterization of Awate as a criminal claiming that Awate is a national hero and symbol.
They equate the narrative by the kunama movement to declaring war on the national symbol,
Eritrean nationality, identity and to a blasphemy. They declared that any Eritrean or
organisation that deviate from their narrative and does not accept Awate as a national hero
and Icon is considered a criminal, an outlaw and an outcast hence should be excluded from
the Eritrean society and coalitions of Eritrean organizations. Even some have gone to the
extreme and called for retaliation by targeting those individuals and organizations that talk of
Awate’s banditry legacy and do not respect Awate as a national hero and icon.
They are also engaged in an intensive and extensive campaign of political assassination
alleging that the statement was authored and posted by DMLEK leader, qornelios Osman
himself and that he has committed crimes against the kunama people. These people have
never raised claims of the criminal records regarding Qornelious Osman before the posting of
the statement. To the contrary, they formed an alliance with his organization and they have
been working together to topple the Eritrean regime for more than a decade. Then why did
they decide to associate themselves with a criminal in the first place? How did a good
fighter turn now a criminal for the sheer fact of issuing a statement? This is obvious for
every reader and observer; these people are now engaged in defamation campaigns as
retaliation for the statement. Many of them are intimidating and pressuring the DMLEK both
in private and public to withdraw the statement and apologize. And these are the very forces
216 that claim that they are fighting for democracy and justice including freedom of expression,
speech, access to information…etc.
Now imagine what would happen, if these people are armed and operating in the Eritrean
territory. As it had happened during the armed struggle era, they could have already declared
war on the Kunama movement; and if they have the means and capability, by now they could
have exterminated the Kunama movement even the kunama people.
Now let’s refer to the available documents at our disposal to shed light some facts about
Awate. It is unfortunate due to the shifta regime in Eritrea we cannot access the available
resources and archives to research and investigate the case so as to provide exhaustive
information on the level of crimes Awate had committed. However, let’s for the time being limit
ourselves to the available information about Awate.www.asmarino.com had in 2010 visited the
archives of the British administration based now in London and posted some information.
These documents were scanned and posted but the quality is poor and creates inconvenience
reading them in the formwww.asmarino.com had posted. Thus I have reproduced them by
typing them again so that the readers can read them easily and comfortably. These documents
concern the public notice the British administration issued in January 1950 regarding the
shiftas and criminals in Eritrea and the interview made between the police officer and shifta
Ghebre Tesfazien.
No. 003 – Public Notice – Asmara, January 1950: Issued by Chief Secretary (Sgd) C.F.B
pearce
Public Notice
1.
The normal life of the people of Eritrea is continually being disrupted and {???} by the
activities of the shifta bands. They are well known to you and it is unnecessary to relate in
detail what they have done. It is the administration’s intention to put an end to these
bandits by the use of all forces, both military and police, available. In addition
reinforcements are being called in. Everyone, however, must help. It is the plain duty of
every inhabitant to assist the administration in achieving its object by voluntarily and
promptly giving information regarding the shifta movements to the military or police
operating in his area. Those who do not co-operate with the administration are warned
that the law provides for the punishment of individuals, or groups of individuals, who
{aide???) shifta either directly by sheltering them, or indirectly by failing to communicate
promptly information regarding their movements and activities to the nearest military,
police or administrative authority.
2.
The rewards stated will be paid to those whose assistance leads to the capture, dead or
alive, of the shifta whose names are given on the attached list. Appropriate rewards will
also be paid to those giving information which may lead to the apprehension of the other
shifta or of the persons carrying arms without authorization. Alternatively, in appropriate
{cases???), rewards may take the form of presentation of an honorific weapon with
permission to carry it during the continuance of the British administration, subject to
good behaviour and the continued rendering of the assistance to the administration.
3.
Other shifta, whose names do not appear on the attached list, will be granted a free
pardon provided,
a)
They have not at any time been connected in crimes of murder;
b) They have not, subsequent to the date of this notice, been engaged in any action against
the forces of the administration nor committed any serious crime;
c)
They surrender themselves, with their arms, to the nearest public post; and
d)
They make a full disclosure of their association with shifta bands.
217 1.
The administration reserves to itself the right to withdraw this offer of amnesty at any
time, subject to fourteen days’ notice being given.
Asmara, 7th January, 1950
(Sgd) C.F. B Pearce,
Chief secretary, for chief administrator
Police Notice [this is attachment to the public notice)
The rewards mentioned below will be paid for information leading to the arrest of the following
shifta or to the person producing their bodies, dead or alive.
Name
of
wanted man
residenc
e
or
tribe
amount
of
rewards
crime for
which
wanted
Hamed
Awate
Antore
£300
Already
notified
Weldegebriel
Mossazghi
Berakit
Abbai
£200
Already
notified
Berhe
Mossazghi
Berakit
Abbai
£200
Already
notified
Hagos Temnewo
Debri Adi
Tsadek
£150
Already
notified
Assreskhenge
Embaye
Areza
£100
Already
notified
Oqbankiel Ijigu
Shimanu
gus
Tahtai
£50
Already
notified
Ghebre
Tesfazien
Deda
£100
Murder
Debbassai
Abraha
Habela
£25
Murder
Sebhatu
Demsas
Habela
£20
Murder
Tekle Asfha
Keranak
udo
£20
Murder
Kidane Demsas
Habela
£20
Murder
Teklehaimanot
Sereke
Kerenaku
do
£20
Murder
Berhe Habtezghi
Mekerka
(Anseba)
£30
Murder
Idris
218 Weldesellassie
Adal
Liban
(Serae)
£30
Murder
Abraha
Zemariam
Zigib
£25
Murder
Keranak
udo
£35
Murder
Megisteab Seum
Adi
Qontsi
£30
Murder
Bereketeab
Andemikiel
Deda
£20
Murder
Tarake Werede
Tigrai
(Ethiopia)
£20
Murder
Andemariam
Zere
Debri
(Liban)
£20
Murder
Berhe Lijam
DekiDashim
£20
Murder
Medhin Kahssay
Irob
(Ethiopia)
£20
Murder
Abraha Suba
Tigrai
(Ethiopia)
£20
Murder
Girmazion (who
was with Haile
Abay)
Tigrai
(Ethiopia)
£20
Murder
Mebrahtu
Teklenkiel
Haben
£20
Murder
Gheremedhin
Kefela
Adi Ewur
£20
Murder
Omer Aluru
{Asa
Esan???}
£20
Murder
Khalifa Omer
{Sukuru
Are???}
£20
Murder
{???} Maleh
Tigrai
(Ethiopia)
£20
Murder
Issak Ali
Tigrai
£20
Murder
Ali Idris
Hanzer
£20
Murder
Ali Hudera
Denkal
£20
Murder
Khalifa Ali
Hazu
£20
Murder
Ali Omer
Tigrai
(Ethiopia)
£20
Murder
Grazmac
Asfha
Ilfai
219 Girmay Hailu
Mog’o
£20
Murder
Amare Embaye
Areza
£20
Murder
Idris {Achem???}
Barya
tribe
£20
Murder
Gale anewri
Kunama
tribe
£20
Murder
Shababi Tana
Kunama
tribe
£20
Murder
Osman Longi
Kunama
tribe
£20
Murder
Abakair Gale
Kunama
tribe
£20
Murder
Agaje Haitin
Kunama
tribe
£20
Murder
Gale Ambi
Kunama
tribe
£20
Murder
{Achti???} Buzu
Kunama
tribe
£20
Murder
Tekle Gilagaber
DekiShehai
£20
Murder
Habte Gilagaber
DekiShehai
£20
Murder
Kidane Habtue
DekiShehai
£20
Murder
Kesete Tesfaldet
DekiShehai
£20
Murder
Fessehaye
Fessehazion
DekiDashim
£20
Murder
Melake Beyan
DekDashim
£20
Murder
Kelete
Gherezghiher
DekiDashim
£20
Murder
Asmara, 7th January, 1950
Commissioner of Police and Prisons,
(Sgd) T.W FITZPATRICK.
Eritrea.
No. 001 – Eritrea Police Force – 1951:
Extracts from a discussion between Supt. of
Police L.M. Braine and shifta leader Ghebry Tesfazien
220 Eritrea police Force
Ref: S/4/1/AS/RD/ Head quarters,
Date:22nd May,1951rural district police,
Asmara & Hamassien
To:
Commissioner of Police,
Eritrea police Force
Through:
Supt. Of police,
Asmara and Hamassien
Subject:
extracts from a discussion between S/A.S.P. L.M. Brane and Shifta leader
Ghebre Tesfazien, which took place on the 15th May, 1951, in the country near the
village of ADI RASI.
G.TI am very glad to see you; we have all heard so much about the work you are doing; when
will you bring us the good news from the British administration that we are free?
Self Nothing has been decided yet, but discussions are going on now. If you are given free
pardon, will you come in?
G.T Yes, of course, but I would not consider it a pardon, but my demobilization from the
British army. I have always served the British because you gave us back our country.
Self You did not serve the British when you killed a British officer at Amader recently.
G.T I expected you to bring this up. If you had not done so, I would have done. Firstly, I must
ask you to express my deepest regret to the family of this brave officer, also to commando
Truppe in Asmara. Let me tell you what happened.
I, with my band of about 50 shifta, came to the village of Amader to pray. We were in the
village and the priests were bringing out the cross for us to kiss. There were four guards in
the hills. Suddenly I heard firing and saw British troops moving towards us. I gave an order for
my men to withdraw and not to engage unless absolutely necessary. If you need proof of this,
the village of Amader will give it to you. I noticed your soldiers in their action were very young
and unexperienced, much too slow in deploying. Their fieldcraft was very poor, not like the
British soldiers in the Eritrean campaign.
Self Were you in this campaign?
G.T yes, I fought with the British right the way through. My corporal was from London, he
had a flat nose like a borer. My company commander was lame from a first world war wound. I
221 was in the battle of Metema – that was a bad spot. Before I came in with the British troops
from Sudan, I was working as an agent in Eritrea for the British in Ethiopia. I was sent from
Wolfakit with hundreds of small notes to distribute to the noted Eritreans telling them to fight
against the Italians.
Self How long have you been a shifta?
G.T
Fourteen years including my military service.
Self
What made you turn shift?
G.T The Italians, in 1935, I was a cattle merchant. I drove 160 head of cattle which I had
brought from Sudan up to Asmara to sell.
A certain Italian cattle merchant named Bartocchi saw my cattle were big and wanted to buy
them. The price he offered I would not accept. He then said, the cattle were all sick. I asked a
veterinary officer to look at them, and he said the cattle were healthy. Bartocchi was angry at
this. Bartocchi had a son, who had a friend in the veterinary department. This friend of the
Bartocchi’s son came to see my cattle and declared them all sick.
All my cattle, 160 head, were taken away from me and slaughtered. The meat was sold and I
did not receive a penny. I was told that I could not take the case to the court because it was
not possible for a black person to go in the same court with an Italian. You recall that there
was fascist law in 1935 and there was little I could, except develop a great hatred for the
Italians. As all my money was gone, I borrowed from various people to try and start up again.
One sum I borrowed from a native, who is now dead, was 12,000 Lire. His name does not
matter. My guarantor was Grazmac Fessehaie (still in Asmara). Grazmac Fessehaie then came
and asked me for the money. I paid him 12,000 Lire – a witness who saw the money paid over
by me {Casel???) Ghebresillasie Abraha of Deda.
I was then accused of not having paid the money. I was arrested and sent to court. The court
would not allow me to call my witness. I was sentenced to 18 months in prison. I was then
transferred from Asmara prison to Tessenei. I appealed against the sentence, but the appeal
was never sent forward. After serving six months, I escaped from Tessenei and joined the
British in Sudan. I was sent out as an agent to Ethiopia where I did the work already
mentioned. On one occasion, I waited six days in ambush in western province to kill Gasperini
– Gasperini did not come, but instead I shot the veterinary officer who had declared my cattle
all sick. Unfortunately, I only broke his leg with a bullet from my rifle.
Self
How many Italians have you killed, Ghebre?
G.T
I have not kept account; they are not worth it.
Self
didn’t you kill an Italian woman in 1941 on the Keren road?
G.T
Yes, Italian women breed Fascists.
Self
Are still bitter towards Italians?
222 G.T
Now that the British has united Eritrea with the mother country, I will not kill any
more, but I still want back the money the Italians stole from me. Let’s not talk any more about
Italians because I am beginning to tremble.
Self
What do you want to talk about?
G.T
How is Field Marshal Montgomery?
Self
Well at the moment, I believe.
G.T
How old is he now?
Self
About 70 years, I believe.
G.T
Great tactician, Marshal Montgomery.
Self
Yes, he is.
G.T
So am I, he is a religious man, too, isn’t he?
Self
I believe he is.
G.T
So am I, I pray twice a day in village churches. I never go near women. If I am
pardoned, I may become a priest or a hermit.
Self
If all shifta are pardoned, do you think they will all come in?
G.T
Yes, I think so. A few thieves may stay out, but we can deal with them. You should
be much stricter with your district chiefs. They can help a lot if they want to.
Self
Do not commit any offences until you hear from the British administration.
G.T
That is easy, too easy, I will go to Korea and fight with the British, if I am sent.
To be continued….
Comments
The Eritrean Revolution: Born of a Shifta father, produced a Shifta system — 45
Comments
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← Older Comments
223 Jaro on September 21, 2012 at 5:06 pm said:
1.
To Alem and others who seem to have an ax to grind with the Eritrean revolution. I
understand you may have personal reasons to hit at Awate in the name of freedom of
expression and try hard to revise history to suit your agenda. But whether you like it or not
the truth is on the side of those who fought to liberate Eritrea starting from Awate till the last
hero who died to liberate our land. Awate’s mission was accomplished when all those who were
inspired by his dream to see free Eritrea finally made it to Asmara. As for Kunama they have
every right to have their voice heard, but are you saying that Kernelios is their representative ?
. This is like saying Iseyas or anyone else for that matter represents the Tigrigna people and
take his words as if the Highlanders are speaking through him with one voice. The accusation
against Awate was never substantiated. Attempts by some people to insult the Eritrean
revolution, for the same old reasons most us know, is a cheap and malicious way of creating
tension and that will not lead nowhere.
2.
Jaro on September 21, 2012 at 5:21 pm said:
ftHi
I totally agree that all those who feel they have grievances should air it in public so that others
can hear it loudly and learn. But as I understand the Kunama are not the only ones whose
voice should be heard. We want here also your voice, I mean people like you who have a lot of
bitterness against ELF for reasons that you only know best. Such unusual levels of bitterness
are sometimes related to family history and I think it’s high time that you people start
speaking publicly instead of hiding it. Did the ELF kill your father, your brother, any member
of your family, for allegedly being a spy … just tell us your true story.
3.
Kabbire on September 21, 2012 at 9:41 pm said:
Jaro,
you must be one of Eritrea’s Janjawid criminals who killed innocents in Sryet Addis, Falul
Ubelite Afar kunama stealing eggs chicken sheep…
Fithi,
good
points
The history of the ethnic Kunama, before Jebha and after Jebha, had been raised by many
Kunama and non Kunama before but seeing the Kunamas as very marginalized and
discriminated,
the
issue
was
ignored.
As the documents indicate, the Kunama people had been pleading and crying for justice since
the time of the British administration in Eritrea. Many of the Kunama who later raised the
issue of justice in Barentu, Asmara and Addis Ababa were assassinated and murdered by
Jebha.
In many Eritrean web sites and radio stations of the government and opposition, we often read
and listen to many of the atrocities committed under the Dergue, the emperor and Higdef but
the crimes committed under Jebha or Qiada al Amma rarely appear. Even worse, very few
people and web sites had posted crimes committed on the ethnic Kunama by Idris Hamid
Awate and his group. This is the type of “history” what I believe one writer once called
“selective
outrage”.
There is a lot of cover ups, white washing still going in the recent history of Eritrea. I urge all
224 young Eritreans to read and listen to the history with open mind. Under any circumstances
should the young generation let the self appointed “security chiefs of history” to prevent or
forbid any ethnic Eritrean or individual from seeking justice or telling their history.
Kombishtato on September 22, 2012 at 12:58 am said:
4.
Forwarded from Erigazzette .org message board:
Is
is
hard
to
speak
the
truth.
HISTORY
cannot
be
hidden.
Hamad Idris Awate: The man who carried out a campaign of genocide against the Kunama:
1941 – 1951.
Hamad Idris Awate was a shifta (bandit) who preyed on the local inhabitants of southwestern
Eritrea. The British administration (1942-1952) viewed him as a useful tool through which
they were able to control the remote frontier areas along the Sudan -Ethiopia-Eritrea border
regions. Hamad Idriss Awate’s particular target were the Kunama people.
“The significance of what happened in Shambuco is highlighted by the knowledge of prior
events in the heartland of the Kunama area following the British defeat of the Italians in World
War Two. There is evidence from Italian written sources and Kunama oral testimonies of
planned hostilities with a genocidal character directed against the Kunama, which led to largescale warfare in 1949-50 involving all the neighbouring peoples in the Gash area.”
“Idris Awate, the national hero worshiped annually in Eritrea as the man who defiantly opened
the hostilities in Eritrea against Ethiopia in 1961, is remembered by the Kunama as the mass
murderer who was their main executioner in the period 1943-1949. He is now enshrined in the
foundation myth of the new country and his tomb has been erected as a monument on the
edges of Kunama territory. …
5.
…This denial of Kunama history activiates memories of events at the time and creates
amplification of feelings.”
Additional Information on Idris Awate Genocidal Campaign Against the Kunama.
I present here the Kunama version, but I also came across an unpublished document written
in 1951 by Giuseppe Puglisi, an Italian journalist who visited the area at the time. HIs
carefully documented report gives a thorough account of the casualties, losses in terms of
cattle, and huts that were burned on a ddaily basis.
It is a strong indictment of the British Military Administration of Eritrea. Puglisi incriminated
the British for having deliberately staged the disorders: “I am positive that there is an on-going
process of genocide directed against the Kunama, whether or not the parties or neighbouring
groups are conscious of this, but there is no doubt that this is being done with the assisstance
of the British Administration.”
225 Kunama description of how they tried to defend themselves using stones – the only weapons
available to them:
The Kunama shouted “Aula, Aula” and they blew their horns to rally. They gathered and
positioned in one line. They were throwing stones at the enemy, down to the river of Ashoshi
below. Dungus Arei became a member of Jabata (ELF) later on. It was him who started the war
in the first place. It was him who killed with his sword all the Kunama he could find. Hamad
Idris Awate was there with them …
6.
…
A group of people went to live close to the police station thinking that they would be safe. They
did the same in Dokinbia and other places. They went close to the police stations, all of them.
Bird’s tracks were the only traces left behind at the Gash river.
Starting in Aula, they killed the Kunama from Tika, Shikaba, Suba Suka, Amelia. The
pregnant women were hacked to death… The destruction was wild…
7.
Were you surprised of these ignoramus and imbeciles who accuse HGDEF on free press,
human rights, religious persecution … declaring a “Fatwa” to exclude the Kunama people from
all
Eritrean
political
activities?
These groups below have never posted any Rashaida or Bedouin crimes on their web sites nor
did they complain against Sudan or Egypt against all the crimes and slavery going against
Eritreans but they came together as a pack of dogs to declare “Fatwa” on the ethnic Kunama.
Awate .com,
Meskerem .net
1. ሕብረት ደሞክራስያዊ ምንቅስቓስ ኤርትራ
2. ሰልፊ ጉባኤ ኤርትራ
3. ሕዝብ ሙEተመር ኤርትራ ቕያዳ ኣልጀምEያ ፡
4.ሰልፊ ለውጣዊ ምንቕስቓስ ንደሞክራስያዊት ኤርትራ
5. ሰልፊ ንሰላምን ደሞክራስን ኤርትራ
6. ኤርትራዊ መርበብ ንሃገራዊ ዘተ
7. ኤርትራዊ ሃገራዊ ደሞክራስያዊ ግንባር
226 8. ከምUን ንጡፋት ነጻ ኣባላት ኣፍረይትን ሓብሓብትን ቃልሲ።
In the name of God the Merciful the most significant
The Eritrean Solidarity Front
The Eritrean Revolution: Born of a Shifta father, produced a Shifta system – part 2 and
final
We have read the documents in part one regarding the affairs of shiftas and their crimes
in the 1940-1950s. Let’s now see the issue critically. Whose narrative is true? Let us
start with open and curious mind and with open questions. Let us freeze our previous
knowledge and do not block our mind to receive new information we have never known
before. To do that we have to approach the issue using the following questions:
1. 1.
2. 2.
Was Awate a shifta?
If yes, was Awate involved in criminal activities during his banditry life?
As we can see from the public notice presented in part one, the answer is absolute yes that
Awate was a shifta. Nobody can refute the fact that Awate was a shifta because the documents
presented contain hard facts and evidence that prove so. I challenge anybody who denies this
reality. It is well documented and well known that awate was a notorious shifta leader in the
1940s- 1950s. Even his family members and his is own community do not deny this. Among
the Kunama, the whole kunama population know Awate as a shifta and criminal who killed
and looted them. Anyone who wishes to know the truth about Awate can get the real
information by interviewing the Kunama elders who witnessed Awate’s crimes with their own
eyes. Awate was not only a shifta but he was a great a shifta leader. This means there were
many armed men under his command who follow his commands and his instructions.
Regarding the question of Awate’s involvement in crimes, the document provides us the
answer in unequivocal manner that Awate had committed crimes - no doubt about that. The
document I have presented in part one however, does not provide us details of the nature of
crimes Awate had committed because according to the public notice, Awate’s crimes were
‘already notified’ in prior notices to this notice. And unfortunately, at the moment I do not have
the means and capacity to access the missed documents (I hope the Asmarino team will do it).
But one thing is crystal clear from the introductory part of the public notice and the attached
police notice regarding the nature and scale of the crimes. The public notice states that the
crimes had been committed against the Eritrean people emphasizing that ‘the normal life of
the people of Eritrea is continually being disrupted and {???} by the activities of the
shifta bands.’
From this public notice we can see that Awate had committed crimes against innocent people
and his crimes exceeded any crimes committed by other shiftas of his time. As we can see from
the specified crimes listed, all the crimes for which the shiftas were wanted for were capital
offences or murder. Hence, though the notice only tells us that Awate’s crimes were previously
notified and no need to repeat them, awate is listed at the top of all the murderers and this
indicates that awate was the number one murderer. According to the public notice, Awate is
the most wanted shifta and criminal. This means he must had committed crimes of the
highest order to be at the top of the list and that is why the British administration put on
Awate the highest financial rewards (£300). This huge amount of reward was being decided
based on the nature and scale of the crimes.
227 The irony is some websites such as http://www.awate.com/ (in 2009) had been posting
articles under the author name of Ali Salim, that the Tigrigna Christians are criminals and
that the Muslims have suffered by their criminal acts citing Shifta Ghebre Tesfazion but when
it comes to shifta Hamid Idris Awate, they are threatening the Kunama movement for calling
Awate shifta and they are trying their best to cover up the crimes of Awate. Not only that, they
are calling shifta and criminal awate, a national hero and they are imposing their will on the
rest of us. But Ghebre Tesfazien’s crimes are far less than Awate’s. Awate’s crimes have no
match at all. It is not me or the Kunama movement who are saying this, but the British
administration.
I have included the interview conducted by the British Administration police officer with shifta
Ghebre Tesfazien in order to be able to compare and contrast between the nature and scale of
the crimes committed by both shiftas. As we can see from the interview, first and foremost
Ghebre tesfazien was driven to turn to shifta because of the extreme hate he had against the
Italians resulting from the injustices he suffered by the Italians and the denial of justice under
their rule. As the result, he decided to be a shifta to avenge the Italians. His targets were the
Italians. From the Interview, it is clear that he killed many Italians and a British officer. He
admitted proudly for the killing of the Italians and he apologized for the killing of the British
officer. Leaving aside the British officer, the crimes he was accused of were for targeting
civilians (Italians) and the British are right to pursue him as criminal because though the
Italians were foreign settlers but still they were innocent civilians. We can also deduce from
the interview that shifta Ghebre was a religious and God fearing person and a nationalist who
advocated for Eritrean freedom. Some people may argue that he was advocating for the unity
of Ethiopia hence he did not stand for freedom. But for him as it was the case with the
majority of the Christian highlanders of his time, he believed that the Eritrean and Ethiopian
people are the same people who need to unite and be governed under one flag. Furthermore,
from the interview, we can understand that shifta Ghebre Tefazien had no hatred or negative
attitude against any ethnic groups, race, religion and region except the Italians. But as long as
he was a shifta, we can neither prove nor disprove allegations of looting animals and property
from the Tigre/Beni-Amer community in the western lowland of Eritrea as it is claimed by Ali
Salim (Awate team). The essence of this comparison is to show that nobody has come to defend
shifta Ghebre Tesfazien when he was accused of crimes by the Awate Team and others, the
very team who is defending Shifta Awate.
To the contrary, Awate’s victims were native Eritreans, mainly the Kunama and probably
others. Now if we compare the amount of money allocated as a reward for the capture or death
of shifta Ghebre Tesfazien with that of Awate, it stands at £100; i.e. one third of the amount
allocated for Awate’s capture or death. But those groups and individuals are defending Awate
and crowning him as national hero and icon and condemning Ghebre Tesfazien when Awate’s
crimes are far greater than Ghebre Tesfazien’s crimes. This shows they do not stand for
justice.
Now Awate team and all the Islamic movements and organizations together with some
elements who claim to belong to national movements or elements such as the founders of
http://www.meskerem.net/ are waging extensive and intensive campaigns against those who
are telling the truth to inform the public about the history of Awate. Awate team and the likes,
if you are embarrassed by the ugly legacy of Awate and you do not want to like the ugly truth
of Awate’s crimes, it is not the Kunama’s movement problem but your own problem. Stop
blaming the victims for exposing the ugly truth but you should blame the criminal and shifta
for his ugly acts. The sad thing is those who are waging intimidating and harassing campaigns
against the kunama movement claim to stand for justice, freedom, respect of human rights
and democracy. But your attitudes and actions show the contrary. You should stop being
selective advocate of justice and freedom based on race, religion ethnicity and region. I hope
the Kunama movement will come up with more information on the issue.
228 The of the Armed struggle
Now let’s come to the other ugly legacy of Awate. Why did those who founded the
Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF) in Cairo resort to Awate to declare the launch of the
Eritrean armed struggle on their behalf? It was not because Awate stands for justice, peace
and freedom. It was for the mere fact that Awate was a great shifta leader and a warrior with
high military experiences, tactics and knowledge of the area. This means, they realized from
the very beginning that if Awate had risked his life to challenge the authorities for his own
personal interests and material benefits and he could commit such grave crimes of such
magnitude, it was not difficult for Awate to challenge the authorities under any banner;
specifically when he was supported by the revolutionary individuals and funded by the Islamic
and Arab world.
For Awate who was a warrior,who used to fund his banditry activities by looting and killing, to
continue the profession he likes (being a warrior) supported and funded by an organization
and the Arab and Islamic world is more easier and preferable. We can compare this with
Ghebre Tesfazien’s readiness to go to Korea to fight- this is the attitudes of warriors as long as
the objective of the war does not contradict their objectives, interests, value systems and
perceptions. For example, though shifta Ghebre was ready to fight in Korea for fame, but
would not would had accepted to join the ELF because his vision was to see Ethiopia and
Eritrea United. But as for Awate, as most Muslims supported the Muslim league which was
calling for the independence of Eritrea in the 1940s – 1950s, it is possible Awate agrees with
principles of the Muslim league. After all the call for awate came from Muslim brothers.
Now can we say Awate and ELF had national agenda when they launched the armed
struggle? The answer is no. The following factors demonstrate that the ELF and awate had no
national agenda. Then what was their agenda? Leaving the name ‘ELF’, the ELF was Islamic
movement with Arab and Islamic project particularly in the period before 1970. However,
Awate who spent most of his life as Shifta is remembered as national hero for the nine
months (September 1961- May 1962) he had contributed for the Eritrean struggle and
the few shots he fired into the air at Adal mountain to declare the launch of the Eritrean
armed struggle. Apart from the few shots he fired into the air, there are no any historical
records of combat engagement of Awate with the enemy during the 9 months of his armed
struggle for the independence of Eritrea. The below listed facts show that the ELF and Awate
had Islamic and Arab agenda than national agenda:
1. ELF was fully funded, supported, trained, hosted and accommodated by the Arab and
Islamic countries not because the Arab and Islamic countries stand for justice and
democracy. On the contrary, they are the most oppressive, discriminatory and
undemocratic countries. For example, while the successive Sudanese regimes hosted
and supported the Eritrean revolution, they continued the islamization project of south
Sudanese through oppressive and criminal means and methods to the extent they made
them second class citizens in their own country. Muslims from Eritrea and other
countries such as Nigeria were given more right than the Christian South Sudanese.
The oppressive and unjust policies and actions of Sudan was supported and funded by
other arab and Islamic countries; i.e. they were complicit in the crimes committed
against the South Sudanese people by the successive Sudanese governments;
2. The ELF committed genocide crimes against the innocent Christian Tigrigna right from
the beginning of the armed struggle. Many villages and properties in Akeleguzay and
Seraye such as Qohain were destroyed and looted. Many Christian peasants and traders
were murdered in mass only for being Christians. I myself have lost a relative in the
mass murder of 49 innocent peasants committed by the ELF in July 1967 in Shimbare,
near Tokobya;
229 3. The ELF never concealed that its struggle serve the arab and Islamic agenda even when
later, after the 1970 tried to be more inclusive and nationalist movement. In their
communications with the Islamic and arab world, they claim Eritrea is an Islamic and
Arab state. On this basis, they established a good relationship with the Baath party of
Syria and Iraq. Even they formed their own secret Baath party within the ELF itself that
promotes the agenda of the Baath parties in Iraq and Syria. In their political
campaigns they were sensitizing the fighters and the Eritrean people that their
struggle is against Zionism – Fighting Zionism is purely an Arab and Islamic
agenda!
4. 4. The ELF opened itself to include Christians after the realizing that it cannot win
the war without the support and participation of the Christians. Though it was clear
that the ELF had Islamic and arab agenda, the Christians were fooled to support and
join the ELF and paid heavy price for that. The ELF leadership was afraid of the
Christian domination thus pursued a policy of marginalization and oppression against
the Christians. Those who split from the ELF claiming that the ELF murdered
Christian fighters never dared to talk of the crimes committed on the Christian
population by the ELF. Probably because people such as Issias Afeworki were
members of the ELF when the crimes were committed.
5. The ELF also mass mass massacred the Kunama people but unlike the Christian
Tigrigna, the Kunama stood for their rights and resisted the ELF. The resistance has
further contributed to the view held by the nationalist elements and organizations that
the Kunama people are against the Eritrean revolution and independence whilst
ignoring the injustices committed by the revolution and the current regime itself. As the
result, the kunama people are viewed with suspicion and lare abelled as anti –Eritean
identity by the so called nationalist forces and elements.
6. When the Islamic regime of Omer Al Beshir and Dr. Hassan Al Trabi came to power in
Sudan with jihadist agenda, in June 30, 1989, immediately, remnants of the ELF
splinter organizations and elements got conducive environment to launch their Eritrean
Jihad movements. How can individuals and organizations who claim they had been
fighting for national cause turn overnight jihadists to kill civil Christians? These groups
have now formed the block called ‘Tadamun’ within the Eritrean democratic alliance.
Considering the above outlined factors, the claim that the ELF and Awate had national agenda
is watered down. Any exclusionary and marginalizing agenda cannot qualify to be a national
agenda. Hence agenda such as that of the ELF and Awate that envisioned Eritrea a state
minus the Tigrigna Christians and the Kunama is not a national agenda. The worst thing is
both the ELF and EPLF committed crimes not only against civilians but also against fighters.
There was no any tolerance for difference of the opinion and views in the ELF and EPLF
culture except violence. History has recorded it how many people were killed by both
organizations for the mere fact that they differed in their opinion with the leadership. The list
goes from the extermination of Hareka (Mahber 7), Obel, Menkae, Yemin to Falul and the ELF
itself by the joint operations of the EPLF and TPLF.
The only difference between the ELF and TPLF is that the EPLF learned and mastered all the
criminal policies and practices of the ELF and applied it in a more systematic, aggressive,
effective, intensive and extensive way and scale, and with no discrimination. It is the ELF first
declared war against other Eritrean movements claiming that the Eritrean field cannot
accommodate more than one movement- except the ELF. After the Elimination of ELF from the
Field, EPLF declared that the Eritrean field cannot accommodate more than one organization.
The EPLF believes equality in suffering and injustices i.e. treat all Eritrean citizens as slaves
and objects. To my understanding those people who show some kind of resistance or
oppositions to the crimes committed are discriminated and treated more harshly. Hence
throughout the struggle period, peaceful means and dialogue as approaches and tools to
conflict resolutions were alien to the Eritrean revolution. Violence and injustices were the
norms of the revolution.
230 Actually, we can conclude that the Eritrean revolution was launched or planted by a shifta
criminal and produced a shifta criminal system. This means we are harvesting what we
planted. If we had ignored the issue of justice in 1961 when we launched the armed struggle,
it is natural for the injustices to build up, accumulate and develop to this level and scale and
produce the existing Shifta system. The only difference is the scale and intensity of the
crimes. The Issias regime has controlled all Eritrea and all aspects of our life: our culture; our
religion; our belief systems; our economy; our society; our family; our psychology and
mentality; our life; our education system…etc. The list is countless.
This concurs with the saying “you harvest what you plant”. Thus we cannot expect a
revolution launched by a shifta to produce the fruits of justice, democracy and freedom.
At the end, if we see some people crown shifta criminal awate as a national hero and figure, we
should not be surprised because we have also seen the crowning and praising of another
criminal shifta Issias Afwerki as a national hero and icon. A vivid example is the warm
welcome and reception accorded to criminal Issias Afewerki in New York by those
followers who came from all over the USA and Canada to show their respect for their
criminal leader.
However, the paradox here is that many of those who are crowning and praising criminal
shifta awate felt embarrassed and offended by the actions of those who crowned and praised
criminal Issias Afeworki as a national hero and icon.
My view is that those who are praising shiftas and criminals are offending the very
people who are victims of these criminals and shiftas. Even if you choose to respect
Shifta Awata and criminal Issias as your national heros and icons, please keep it for
yourself but do not try to impose your views and feelings on others so that you do not
offend others. Hence in order not to offend the victims of Awate and not to scratch their
wounds and scars I recommend the followings:
1. Organizations, individuals and others should refrain from provocative attitudes and
behaviours such as praising and crowning Awate as a national hero and icon in any
public communications and events;
2. All narratives in history books, education curriculum and media portraying Awate as a
national hero should be corrected in a way that do not present Awate as a national hero
and icon. To the contrary, true history should be told and accounted that include his
shifta life and crimes.
3. Any national symbols that represent Awate as a national hero should be removed and
erased;
4. His statue which is erected in Haikota adjacent to the Kunama territory is very
provocative and offensive to his victims- the Kunama people- thus it should be
dismantled.
5. If you want sustainable peace, coexistence and harmony among the Eritrean people,
those who harassed the Kunama movement should publicly apologize to redress your
offensive statements. Furthermore, you should work in collaboration with the victims to
research and document the crimes Awate committed. You can only win the hearts and
minds of the victims and heal the wounds only if you acknowledge the crimes
committed and try to redress them.
Merhawi Kunfu
231 Statement of disapproval against the Kunama Movement for its ugly contempt to the
symbol of Eritrean National Struggle, hero Hamid Idris Awate
In a move considered as a big sacrilege against Eritrean National sanctities and the
commitment to maintain National Unity, and while our people celebrated on the anniversary of
glorious September, the so called Kunama Movement came up with an unsightly blasphemy
against the heroic history of the Eritrean people, represented in the armed struggle and its
initiator hero martyred Hamid Idris Awate. This imprudent action of Qernilious Esman is
regarded as an anomalous departure from the more familiar and consensus of the Eritrean
people across more than half a century. The Eritrean familiar and consensus for the last half a
century were on the correctness of the armed revolution choice, and the gains achieved as its
consequences, represented by National Independence, and the birth of the Eritrean state.
The Eritrean Solidarity Front, while condemning the repugnant statement of the Kunama
Movement, it reckons its contents as a departure from the Eritrean national consensus, and a
Deride and defiance to our national choices, and our historical symbols.
Hereby, The Eritrean Solidarity Front :(1) confirms that the Qrnelios group does not represent our Kunama people , who were part
of this vibrant history and the march of the People's Liberation War . The Kunama, like
all other Eritreans, martyred, wounded and disabled in the liberation war.
(2) cautions our Kunama people that what Qrnelios did by insulting our people's history and
its National Symbol Hamid Awate, comes under a comprehensive conspiracy designed to cause
more division among the components of the Eritrean people. A scheme that seeks to isolate the
Kunama from their homeland, and cut them off the Eritrean national forces struggling against
dictatorship and for an Eritrea that accommodate all its citizens and open to them the doors of
a decent life.
(3) announces that the ESF is bringing to a close any kind of relation and cooperation with
this Movement until it takes the initiative soon to denounce its statement and apologize in
writing to the Eritrean people.
(4) calls upon all the national forces, organizations, parties, civil societies and collective bodies
and frames, and all Eritreans to condemn this outrageous situation, and to defend our
national history and the symbols of our national experience .
(5) demanding the expulsion of the Kunama Movement from all our collective frameworks for
national resistance forces unless it takes the initiative to apologize in writing and post it to the
public.
(6) confirms that blasphemy in the experience of the Eritrean people’s struggle and its
symbols, heroes and martyrs is reprehensible and unacceptable. We confirm that, we and our
people and all our national struggling forces will stand against these new fragmenting plots
with all our strength and stiffness .
Interim leadership body
2012/09/07
The Gulf Centre denounces the Kunama Movement
The Gulf Centre: 08/09/2012
The Gulf Centre for Media Services in the Horn of Africa Condemns in the strongest terms the
statement of the Kunama Movement, headed by “Qrnelios Othman ", whereby he affronted the
greatest Eritrean leader martyr Hamid Idris Awate the father of the Eritrean revolution .
We are shocked by this ominous statement and what it embodied of abuses and distortions of
our national symbol and founder of our blessed revolution. Any abuse and victimization
against the great leader martyr Awate is directed against every Eritrean .
The Gulf Centre for Media Services demands from the Kunama Movement to withdraw its
statement immediately and apologize to the Eritrean people. The Centre considers such a
232 behavior is seriously ugly and is unprecedented and should be condemned and dealt with
firmly .
The Gulf Centre appeals to all national forces to remain committed to our national principles.
AWATE IS A RED LINE, and the pick on of this Movement on the greatest stature of our
national edifice, as Awate, represents blatant infringement and a dangerous precedent where
no one dared during the past 50 years, whether they were in opposition or the regime, to even
raise their eye against the stature of the hero martyr Hamid Awate. What the Kunama
Movement has committed puts the opposition forces before a difficult test on its credibility. It
has to respond to the statement by the condemnation and denunciation it deserves.
The Center calls upon all the national forces to defend our national pillars and constants to
prevent the recurrence of such abuses that affect the heroes and martyrs of the Eritrean
people who have given their lives defending our sovereignty and dignity.
While the Gulf Centre reiterates its condemnations and denunciations in the strongest terms,
at the same time, it calls to hold accountable and punish such destructive elements which
defy our national symbols. Today, The Eritrean Democratic Alliance, the National Council for
Democratic Change, and all other national forces, are challenged to stand their day against
this deaf and dumb demon.
‫ﻣﺮآﺰ اﻟﺨﻠﻴﺞ ﻳﺸﺠﺐ ﺑﻴﺎن ﺣﺮآﺔ آﻮﻧﺎﻣﺎ‬
8.9.2012
‫ــــــ‬: ‫ﻣﺮآﺰ اﻟﺨﻠﻴﺞ‬
‫ﻳﺪﻳﻦ ﻣﺮآﺰ اﻟﺨﻠﻴﺞ ﻟﻠﺨﺪﻣﺎت اﻹﻋﻼﻣﻴﺔ ﻓﻲ اﻟﻘﺮن اﻹﻓﺮﻳﻘﻲ ﺑﻴﺎن ﺣﺮآﺔ اﻟﻜﻮﻧﺎﻣﺎ اﻟﺘﻲ ﻳﺘﺮأﺳﻬﺎ " ﻗﺮﻧﻠﻴﻮس ﻋﺜﻤﺎن"ﺑﺄﻗﻮى ﻋﺒﺎرات اﻹداﻧﺔ ﺑﺴﺒﺐ إﺳﺎءﺗﻬﺎ‬
.‫ﻟﻠﺸﻬﻴﺪ ﺣﺎﻣﺪ ادرﻳﺲ ﻋﻮاﺗﻲ ﻣﻔﺠﺮ اﻟﺜﻮرة اﻹرﺗﺮﻳﺔ‬
‫ وإن اﻹﺳﺎءة واﻟﺘﺠﻨﻲ ﻋﻠﻰ اﻟﻘﺎﺋﺪ اﻟﻔﺬ‬،‫ﻟﻘﺪ ﺻﺪﻣﻨﺎ ﻣﻦ هﺬا اﻟﺒﻴﺎن اﻟﻤﺸﺆوم وﻣﺎ ﺣﻤﻠﻪ ﻣﻦ اﻹﺳﺎءات واﻟﺘﺸﻮﻳﻪ ﻟﺮﻣﺰﻧﺎ اﻟﻮﻃﻨﻲ وﻣﻔﺠﺮ ﺛﻮرﺗﻨﺎ اﻟﻤﺒﺎرآﺔ‬
.‫اﻟﺸﻬﻴﺪ ﻋﻮاﺗﻲ ﺗﻌﺪ اﺳﺎءة ﻟﻜﻞ ﻣﻦ هﻮ إرﺗﺮي‬
‫ وﻳﻌﺘﺒﺮ اﻟﻤﺮآﺰ ﻣﺜﻞ هﺬا اﻟﺴﻠﻮك‬،‫وﻳﻄﺎﻟﺐ ﻣﺮآﺰ اﻟﺨﻠﻴﺞ ﻟﻠﺨﺪﻣﺎت اﻹﻋﻼﻣﻴﺔ ﺣﺮآﺔ آﻮﻧﺎﻣﺎ ﺑﺴﺤﺐ ﺑﻴﺎﻧﻬﺎ ﻋﻠﻰ اﻟﻔﻮر وﺗﻘﺪﻳﻢ اﻹﻋﺘﺬار إﻟﻰ اﻟﺸﻌﺐ اﻹرﺗﺮي‬
.‫اﻟﻘﺒﻴﺢ ﻣﺴﻠﻚ ﺧﻄﻴﺮ ﻏﻴﺮ ﻣﺴﺒﻮق وﻳﻨﺒﻐﻰ إداﻧﺘﻪ واﻟﺘﺼﺪي ﻟﻪ ﺑﻜﻞ ﺣﺰم‬
‫ واﻟﺘﺠﻨﻲ ﻣﻦ ﻗﺒﻞ هﺬﻩ اﻟﺤﺮآﺔ ﻋﻠﻰ ﻗﺎﻣﺔ ﻣﻦ ﻗﺎﻣﺎﺗﻨﺎ‬،‫ وإن ﻋﻮاﺗﻲ ﻳﻌﺘﺒﺮ ﺧﻂ أﺣﻤﺮ‬،‫وﻳﻨﺎﺷﺪ ﻣﺮآﺰ اﻟﺨﻠﻴﺞ آﺎﻓﺔ اﻟﻘﻮى اﻟﻮﻃﻨﻴﺔ اﻹﻟﺘﺰام ﺑﺎﻟﺜﻮاﺑﺖ اﻟﻮﻃﻨﻴﺔ‬
‫ ﺳﻨﺔ اﻟﻤﺎﺿﻴﺔ ﺳﻮاء ﻣﻦ آﺎﻧﻮا ﻓﻲ ﺻﻔﻮف اﻟﻤﻌﺎرﺿﺔ أو ﻣﻦ أﻧﺼﺎر‬50 ‫اﻟﻮﻃﻨﻴﺔ آﻌﻮاﺗﻲ ﻳﻤﺜﻞ ﺗﻌﺪﻳﺎ ﺻﺎرﺧﺎ وﺳﺎﺑﻘﺔ ﺧﻄﻴﺮة ﺣﻴﺚ ﻟﻢ ﻳﺘﺠﺮأ أﺣﺪ ﺧﻼل اﻟـ‬
‫ وإن ﻣﺎﻗﺎﻣﺖ ﺑﻪ ﺣﺮآﺔ آﻮﻧﺎﻣﺎ ﻳﻀﻊ ﻗﻮى اﻟﻤﻌﺎرﺿﺔ أﻣﺎم اﻣﺘﺤﺎن ﺻﻌﺐ ﻟﻤﺼﺪاﻗﻴﺘﻬﺎ إذ ﻋﻠﻴﻬﺎ أن ﺗﺮد‬،‫اﻟﻨﻈﺎم ﺑﺎﻟﺘﻄﺎول ﻋﻠﻰ اﻟﺸﻬﻴﺪ اﻟﺒﻄﻞ ﺣﺎﻣﺪ ﻋﻮاﺗﻲ‬
.‫ﻋﻠﻰ اﻟﺒﻴﺎن ﺑﻤﺎ ﻳﺴﺘﺤﻖ ﻣﻦ اداﻧﺔ واﺳﺘﻨﻜﺎر‬
‫وﺷﻬﺪاﺋﻪ اﻟﺬﻳﻦ‬, ‫وﻳﻄﺎﻟﺐ ﻣﺮآﺰ اﻟﺨﻠﻴﺞ آﺎﻓﺔ اﻟﻘﻮى اﻟﻮﻃﻨﻴﺔ ﺑﻮﺿﻊ ﻣﺮﺗﻜﺰات وﺛﻮاﺑﺖ ﻟﻤﻨﻊ ﺗﻜﺮار ﻣﺜﻞ هﺬﻩ اﻹﺳﺎءات اﻟﺘﻲ ﺗﻄﺎل أﺑﻄﺎل اﻟﺸﻌﺐ اﻹرﺗﺮي‬
.‫وهﺒﻮا ﺣﻴﺎﺗﻬﻢ ﻓﺪاء ﻟﻠﻮﻃﻦ وﺳﻴﺎدﺗﻪ وآﺮاﻣﺘﻪ‬
‫ ﻳﺪﻋﻮ ﻓﻲ ذات اﻟﻮﻗﺖ ﻟﻤﺤﺎﺳﺒﺔ وﻣﻌﺎﻗﺒﺔ ﻣﺜﻞ هﺬﻩ اﻟﻌﻨﺎﺻﺮ اﻟﻬﺪاﻣﺔ اﻟﺘﻲ ﺗﺴﺘﺨﻒ ﺑﺎﻟﺮﻣﻮز‬،‫وإن ﻣﺮآﺰ اﻟﺨﻠﻴﺞ إذ ﻳﻜﺮر اداﻧﺘﻪ ﺑﺄﻗﻮى ﻋﺒﺎرات اﻟﺘﻨﺪﻳﺪ‬
‫ واﻟﻴﻮم اﻟﺘﺤﺎﻟﻒ اﻟﻮﻃﻨﻲ اﻹرﻳﺘﺮي واﻟﻤﺠﻠﺲ اﻟﻮﻃﻨﻲ ﻟﻠﺘﻐﻴﻴﺮ اﻟﺪﻳﻤﻘﺮاﻃﻲ وآﺎﻓﺔ اﻟﻘﻮى اﻟﻮﻃﻨﻴﺔ اﻷﺧﺮى ﻣﻄﺎﻟﺒﺔ ﺑﺄن ﺗﻘﻮل آﻠﻤﺔ اﻟﺤﻖ ﺿﺪ هﺬا‬،‫اﻟﻮﻃﻨﻴﺔ‬
.‫اﻟﺸﻴﻄﺎن اﻷﺧﺮس‬
The Kunama organization’s and its leader’s suspension from the Eritrean democratic
change is a “Wake up call”, not only for the Kunama and their leader but for all
genuine, democratic forces in Eritrea.
In my writings, I never confronted my fellow Eritrean oppositions’ leaders or individuals or
political organizations before believing that we are fighting the same tyrant, Isayas Afewerki.
But when “push turns into shove” from the same oppositions or individuals, I do not have any
choice except to confront them or him and give them or him a “piece of my mind”. So let me
start with the main Awate’s apologist Sheikh and journalist Saleh Gadi Johar. According to
our research, Saleh Gadi Johar was born and grew up in the city of Keren, Eritrea. Saleh Gadi
barely crossed the winding road of Tunkunlahas to join the Eritrean Liberation Front, E.L.F, at
young age; and Jebha sent him to the Arab countries where he studied journalism and, finally,
he came to U.S.A. And now, from America and through books, he pretends to know his icon
Hamid Idris Awate and the Kunama history more than Kunama themselves. And that is
233 outrageous just to say the least. In his writing, Qernelios: Arte Mailam’s Political Recklessness,
Saleh Gadi Johar tried to reprimand Cornelius Esman for saying or writing, according to Saleh
Johar, ill about Hamid Idris Awate, his icon but mass murderer or rebel for Cornelius Esman
and Kunama in general . And staunch apologist, Saleh Gadi, tried to defend the indefensible.
The problem and difference between you, not Kunama, and the Kunama people are two
diametrically different realities. We Kunama knew Hamid Idris Awate and his infamous
activities in person or rather it happened to us; we all feel the venomous and painful pinch
even to this very day. We, therefore, could and would tell you live stories and history; real and
objective history; history of looting, history of raid, history of pillage and history of mass killing
by Hamid Idris Awate himself and his fellow shiftas. While others, the people who knew Idris
Awate from a distance, e. g. Saleh Gadi and the associates, would tell you a sugar coated
history; a personal cult history and pseudo-history; and then shamelessly they try to tell and
sell to you, the victims. This is the usual, distorted history of Eritrea we are experiencing and
talking about. You know what? Enough is enough. “O medice, cura te ipsum” or O Doctor cure
or take care for yourself first. And let the victims of Awate tell you what had happened to them
in 50 or so years of armed struggle in their territory: in Tika, Aimasa; Fode, Karkasha, Tole
Durna, Ugaro and Badumma…..
Saleh Gadi continued his blunder in Qernelios: Arte Mailam’s Political Recklessness, his
writing of 9/ 13/ 12; “Qernelios and his likes base their hate of Awate on primordial folktales
and ancient cattle rustling activities in the Gash Barka region, and that pre – dates the
creation of Eritrea, the dark times when Degiat Wube and other Abyssinia warlords plundered
and enslaved the people of the region. But leaving that old history of plundering episodes
aside, since time immemorial many tribes roamed the region with their cattle for grazing and
banditry; and cattle rustling was a sign of manhood (read Alemseghed Tesfai’s historical novel,
Wedi Hadera in Tigrinya). At one time, Awate’s intervention was critical in ameliorating the
rampant banditry and cattle rustling; in the absence of peace and security, and the nonexistence of an effective government. Awate and his colleagues took it upon themselves to
protect their people and property. They voluntarily resisted and fought to end banditry and
cattle rustling. Of course, he forced many bandits out of business while others tried to
challenge him by seeking imperial Ethiopian support which, as history attests, was always
forthcoming. Ethiopian feudal lords always encouraged banditry to fight Eritrean patriotism
and resistance”. Yours is a typical, sugar coated, blurry and “weghenawi” writing, Mr. Johar.
So for the sake of clarity let me divide the same writing in short and in three categories:
234 1
Primordial folktales and ancient cattle rustling activities in the Gash Barka region, and
that pre-date the creation of Eritrea……….. (Let us say, before the arrival of Italy).
2
During Italian colony, about 50 years; 1890 to 1940s.
3
1940s, 50s and 60s Idris Awate’s banditry pick time; and I stress on this period since I
am writing about Awate and his activities in Kunama land. Your icon Hamid Idris Awate was
not only a simple mass murderer of innocent Kunama, but he was leading a group of Shiftas
to terrorise, chase out, or kill and get rid of the Kunama from their fertile land, ethnic
cleansing in today’s language. This legacy continued from Awate to Jebha to Shabia to Shabia
Government. If I may borrow this sentence from Brother Merhawi Kunfu: The Eritrean
Revolution: born of a Shifta father (Awate) produced a Shifta system (Isayas
Government)
Evidence? Consult: a) Kunama victims; b) British Archives; c) Italian Archives; d) Ethiopian
Archives, and e) the present situation we are all experiencing.
Saleh Gadi’s blunder is not over yet, quote: Awate and his colleagues took it upon themselves
to protect their people, and property? Let me ask you these 2 questions: Who were their
people? And what was their property? Saleh Gadi, your logic doesn’t hold water. When you
continue to shut the truth, it will only grow more and brings more questions. Look Sale Gadi
Johar: Awate could be your icon but not Kunama icon; therefore, he cannot be a national
hero.
Saleh Gadi’s blunder on Qernelios: Arte Mailam’s political recklessness continues: this time on
religion, “Eritreans never worshiped Awate”, and that is an insult to many Eritreans who
worship only God, and their revering of Awate and all their other heroes, whose selflessness,
bravery and unflinching patriotism they wish to emulate, is not worship. If Qernelious or
anyone else has a problem with that, it is self-inflicted attempts to find a scapegoat for their
confusion and mischief will not yield buyers”.
Saleh Gadi, this is a pure manipulation and distortion of religion and is a very dangerous
game in the land of ours where the knowledge of religion is very limited. Let me explain to you,
sir. I do not know you and I do not think you know me either. But when you are married and
you want to express your affection to your wife you could say to her: I love you. I love more
than I can say. I adore you or I worship you etc. etc. And nothing is wrong whatsoever. In
English language and literature it is called metaphorical or figurative language and that means
not using words in their literal sense. So this use of
235 figurative language is for everybody including Cornelius’s use of your worshiping icon etc. I do
not believe you did not know this linguistic and cultural technic or mechanism of English
language. What I know our Eritrean political elites are very cruel and crook in manipulating
and distorting things in their interests: e.g. Ato Isayas Afewerki and the likes did so all their
lives pitting province against province; individuals against individuals; pitting Kunama against
Kunama…. so when 2 or more groups fight each other, the tyrant misrules the Country and its
people forever and undisturbed: tra due litiganti il terzo gode. N. Machiavelli.
Mr. Johar, are you following into Isayas footsteps? Agheb. Surprisingly, these days we see the
‘New Kids in the Block’: they are the Kunama-Agara Website and its Associates. They are a
very, very few Kunama elements that, in the past, had eloquently and rightly been writing
against Awate and Awate’s apologists. But overnight they changed their mind and heart in
support of, in their language, villain Awate and his apologists. Oh boy! Is this a political
immaturity or political prostitution, or both? I think these people have problem with good
reasoning, integrity, consistency and, above all, they lost trust in Kunama masses forever.
Maybe they got temporary dementia? Poor guys, I think they need help with good reasoning,
urgently. Finally, my observation on the Eritrean political spectrum.
In 50 plus years of Eritrean politics no shred of democracy in and out of the country you can
observe , feel and hope for; even after 20 plus years living in the lands of democracy and
human rights , Western Europe and North America , those former fighters of both fronts still
are not better than Ato Isayas Afewerki himself, unfortunately. So these forces, Jebha, Shabia
and Oppositions, always blame the victim(s). It is like hanging a person with no trial; certainly,
it is a stupid politics and it stings to its core. For a new idea they blindly declare a subtle
Fatwa that follows intimidation and threat of individuals’ assassinations. I wonder if there is a
human decency and morality in Eritrean politics. Arguably, there is no difference or there is a
little difference between religious and political icons. As a matter of fact, what is the difference
when you cannot even promote or demote your so called political icons? Over inflation, myth
and lie about icons or personalities is a politics of the land.
No academic freedom whatsoever in Eritrea and in Eritrean culture; even Eritrean democratic
oppositions are not exempt. So far, no objective and a true history in Eritrea; all full of biases
imposed by the elites of great divide of Islam/ Christian phenomenon and blindly supported by
majority tyranny and trying to force us, minority Kunama, to believe, to support and to defend
the indefensible . E.g. the case of Hamid Idris Awate, the Kunama arch enemy. And I just
wonder how long we have to tolerate this kind of backwardness created by human animal.
Just pause and think… who is supposed to say sorry, the criminal or the victims?
In Eritrea, in the land of infamous Shiftas, Idris Awate, Isayas Afewerki and others in between,
it is the other way around; and behind them there are many who believe so: Awate’s followers.
236 Although his murderous history is obvious, to many Eritreans it is anathema to say ill about
Idris Awate. But in minds and hearts of all Kunama, he was mass murderer and the Shifta at
the worst. We Kunama firmly stand by our message and messenger and, again, our warning to
all Eritrean democratic forces.
Odie mihi, cras tibi. Today’s my turn, yours tomorrow. N. Galla January/01/13
Theorizing Hamid Idris Awate In A Postmodern World
December 20, 2012December 20, 2012 Ambassador Teklemichael
The recent trend, in the opposition block, on the contestation of Awate’s Eritrean symbolism is
epic. The imagery of an afro-nilotic hero on a horse back, with a bandolier diagonally crossing
his protruded chest, with a dangling sword in a holder, proudly slinging a simonova rifle , as if,
projecting an appeal to our inner fears is-now- disrupted. The simplicity of this rather
comforting image vis-à-vis our perceived gargantuan fear has connotations that one may trace
back to the biblical story of David and Goliath. Our David, our simple God-fearing nomad of
conviction, who tossed the fist slingshot against our mortal enemy; not as in pursuance of his
selfish interest, but as in love for his people and their freedom; is now reduced to human.
Mind you, they reduce Awate to a human being. Isn’t this melancholic, upsetting, disquieting,
unsettling and dystopian? Believe me- it would if it weren’t for the postmodern world we live
in.
Introduction
We live in the era of visual imagery. We are constantly gravitated toward emotions for things
that are simulated through images, i.e. not real. In this time of visual inundation, what is real
hides the fact that there is none. The reality that equates Hamid Idris Awate with the biblical
saint is a forced truth mediated by this imagery and our inner need for comfort. What we
perceive as real pertinent to Awate is thus wasn’t and never been-except for its only purpose of
concealing this fact from us. Awate was a human in a non-real time. He lived and died decades
ago. The real time emotion that he commands is therefore attributed to his simulated image.
This image of Awate dictates our imaginations to the point of accepting the unreal fact of living
with him here and now. Through this image, we are made to think that we share the same
temporal and spatial dimension. We build on this premise to know him the way we know him,
and consequently authorize ourselves to appropriate disgust, anger or open resistance toward
deviations from what we know. But what we know is his simulation blurred as reality, which
blinds us from realizing that he isn’t real in time and real in space. Then, how do we reach to
this juncture of looking at Awate’s image and juxtapose an imagery of omnipresent existence
though it defies the rules of time and space? Are we prone to such delusion? How come the
imagery grows to be more real than the real that it represents, if any? How did we bring
ourselves to the defense of the imagery when doubt is casted at it?
Jean Baudrillard, one of the influential postmodern theorists, has an answer to this a rather
bleak picture of our current postmodern condition. He starts from our innate and insatiable
237 need to comprehend our sense experience—or a total understanding of the world—that
remains consistently elusive. He says that this fruitless search for total knowledge lead, almost
inevitably, to delusion. The subject matter that we always try to grasp can only be understood
according to what it signifies. And because the process of signification “immediately involves a
web of other signs from which it is distinguished, this process and web never produces the
desired results. The subject, rather, becomes seduced by the object. He therefore argued that,
in the last analysis, a complete understanding of the minutiae of human life is impossible, and
when people are seduced into thinking otherwise they become drawn toward a “simulated”
version of reality, or, to use one of his neologisms, a state of “hyperreality””. So, one may ask,
how does this hyperreality get manifested on Awate?
Let’s start with the simple accepted facts that we know as ‘real Awate’. For convenience, I
paraphrase, probably, tones of texts in a single sentence: “Awate is a national hero, a simple
gallant nomad who stood against the enemy to free his people.” The fact that he is dubbed as
the national hero makes him the symbol, or national father figure, if you will, that placates us
in our fatherless (or father-irrelevant) age. His simple statue appeals to the broader social
standing of ours. Gallantry is signified by his stern face, cavalry, bandolier, sword and rifle.
The moment we gaze at this image, we immediately transgress all natural reasoning and/or
intuition to see ourselves standing and triumphing against all follies. He stands as our
microcosm, as our universal model or symbol that signifies us. But, it is there that we lose the
track of him being as a model that we chose to accept to represent us. This image is thus no
longer of that of Hamid Idris Awate, a referential being or a substance, if you will. It is a chain
of self referential metaphors hardened into truth, without origin and without the real. The
metaphors that we use to refer to symbolism, to fatherhood, to equality and heroism precede
and become what wasn’t there. The object (means the image) now seduces the subject (means
Awate). A number of factors have contributed to and explain our detachment from reality.
What are these Factors?
1. Shallow History: we, as Eritreans, are people of shallow history of defiance. Our gallantry
lacks the temporal depth of maturity. Everything that we say to acquire or imply an extended
history of defiance is thus a myth. So, what we have lacked in depth is now sought in expanse.
Consequently, we go through painful exercises of explanations and depictions to show what
small we have is in fact big. In the process, we misrepresent the real. But that is not all. What
we use to represent becomes the reference to other representation, and other, and other. So
what we have now is eventually cause to be the real without the origin. As we look for available
near historical references to locate them in the distant past via stretching or over detailing, we
lose touch with their sense of reality. Even dead humans –hero or not- are now understood as
symbols, which is to say that they are defined in similarity to our aspirations. The imagery of
Awate; in certain specific ways, with certain selected metaphors; is therefore meant to satisfy
this quest for mature defiance. What we are aspiring for future takes a U-turn back to a
historical beginning to show continuity, and by extension, assure ourselves of our desired
destiny.
2. Mediatization: as humans, we are more receptive to crystallized images. That partly
explains our bias to perceived purity (at an abstract level) and the proliferation of 3D cinemas,
double digit mega pixel cameras, HD TV screens (at a concrete level) which depict reality more
enhanced than what it actually is. The terser an image (with no horizontal stripes, dark spots
and glares) is the more desirable, is thus more believable. That is the way Awate’s imagery is
mediated. The concept behind the image is concise (expressed without conjunctions like but,
however, although-perhaps human?), yet coherent; and the image itself is very accessible. It is
simplified to project this concise simple concept, which in the process eliminates (or hides) the
innate complexity of humans. We are detached from this reality though, because we are
238 deluded away from the fact that there is nothing called a human being (dead or alive) who
represents nothing but a single concept. This image is a simulation without the origin.
3. Consumerism: we live in the era of consumption; not merely to satisfy need, but also to
symbolize an object and be signified in a certain way. One may wonder cf. that we haven’t yet
started to sale Awate buttons, t-shirts or bring his image in billboards, TV ads etc… However,
in this seemingly absent traded commodity, we still are consuming an idea-an idea that Awate
is symbolizing, most importantly our signified heroism. We consume this idea so much so that
our ways of thinking is filtered through the logics of this consumption value. Any alternative
idea then provokes buyer’s remorse, ergo we respond to it violently (the initiated may call it
heroically). But what is obscured from us is that we weren’t treating ourselves as humans
when we defend Awate’s image, but as consumers. And inherent in consumption is
compliance; not defiance. What we thought would represent us as rebellious inevitably
produces us as slaves.
4. Language and Ideology in Time Frames: ideology gives foundation to our very perception
of reality. There is nothing outside ideology that can be articulated in language. Since we are
too dependent on language to structure our perceptions, any representation of reality is
already ideological; means a subset of a hegemonic metanarrative. Metanarrative is a narrative
about narrative. It is a second order schema in meaning making of experience, knowledge,
historical account, or a fleeting event. It is a broader schema, from which society derives
legitimacy to its knowing. It is self-fulfilling, and violent to other modes of knowing for it
renders them irrelevant. Thus any modes of communication- speaking, writing, image or
imagery- can only be articulated and understood within this ideology, which, again, is a
representation of what is already represented. The comprehension of imagery of Hamid Idris
Awate is therefore, falls into this meaning making process. Furthermore, we couldn’t
comprehend his representation without first been dominated by an ideology of steadfastness,
self-reliance, heroism, patriotism, freedom; all of which, arguably, are constituted in the
metanarrative of nationalism. Yet, they too constitute goals, expectations and actions. When
we look forward to goals, expectations and actions-we are looking toward the future. When we
use past or present imagery to convey our desires for the future, we already lost reality for we
are conflating time references (or frames). Past and future are confused to mean somethingthus nothing. That is what the imagery of Awate eventually means-a confused time reference
to mean nothing.
Conclusion
Here- I am not talking about Awate as a person, as a freedom fighter or as a father. What I am
talking about is his imagery-the construed image –while positioned as a representation of the
reference-yet ended up to be it. So, is there a way out from our bleak postmodern squabble
over this confusion, means over nothing? The answer is yes, though very, very hard. When
symbols come into prominence, they go through a process that put egos, integrities and
feelings on the line. There are real humans behind this symbolization. And these people won’t
let it go easy. They are brothers and sisters who went the extra mile to internalize these
symbols; and more than often, with good intentions. Some even find a way to express identity
through them. Any attack on these symbols may thus risks an attack on their identity, their
good intention, their ego and integrity. It may alienate them, and can even be a cause for
cleavage. But tolerance will solve it all (tolerance of prominent symbols, and tolerance towards
alternative others). And the beauty is that, both can be entertained. If we say that Awate had
died for freedom, why can’t we honor that by giving others the freedom to deny it? Aren’t we
affirming our acceptance of him as a symbol of freedom through our tolerance? And attackersremember this. For every attack we throw, a brother may have been severing his ties with us.
We will eventually grow thin and weak, and no other symbol will return us strong. So, let us be
happy and celebrate the idea, which is symbolized by Awate.
239 Merry Christmas and Millions of love
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ትኹረትና ንቕድሚት Eምበር ንድሕሪት ክኸውን የብሉን
Written by ቤት ጽሕፈት ዜና ሰዲህኤ Friday, 21 December 2012 14:45
ብዛEባ ዝሓለፈ ታሪኽና ዘለና ሚዛን Eተፈላለየ ምዃኑ ንህሉውን መጻEን ስራሕና ዝEንቅፍ ክኸውን ኣይግብOን።ታሪኽ ንተመራመርቲ ታሪኽ
ክንገድፎ’ዩ ዘሎና።
ኣብ ዘለናዮ መድረኽ ብቓላትና Eነጸብቖ ይኹን EነኽፍO ታሪኽ ክህሉ ኣይክEልን Eዩ። ታሪኽና Eንተስ ክጽብቕ Eንተስ ክሓምቕ ዝተፈጸመ
ሕሉፍ ፍጻሜ ስለዝኾነ ከምዘለዎ ከም ጭብጢ ተቐሚጡ’ዩ ዘሎ። ፈቲናዮ ይኹን ጸሊEናዮ ከነጉድለሉ ይኹን ክንምልኣሉ ዘኽEለና ስልጣንን
ሓይልን ከኣ የብልናን። EንተኽIልና ንተማራመርቲ ታሪኽ ዝኸውን ጭብጥታት ክንEቅብን ክንቅርብን’ዩ ዘሎና። ካብ ከም’ዚ ዝመስል ግንዛበ
ተበጊስና ነቲ ኣብ ኣናብባ ታሪኽ ዘሎና ፍልልይ ንህልውን መጻEን ቃልስና ክEንቅፍ ከነፍቅድ የብልናን ንብል።
ጆን Oፍ ከነዲ “ነቲ ዝሓለፈ ወቐሳ ከነዓሪ ካብ ምጽዓር፡ ንዝመጽE ብሓላፍነት ምስራሕ ይሓይሽ” Iሉ ነይሩ። ብዝሓለፈ ጌጋታት ዝሓሙ
ኤርትራውያን ከምዘለው ኣይንዘንግE። ኣብ ዝሓለፈ ታሪኽና Eንተስ ብፍላጥ Eንተስ ሰኣን ዓቕምና ብዝፈጸምናዮ ጌጋታት ኣብ ልEሊ ገለ
ዜጋታትና ከቢድ በሰላ ከምዘሎ ማንም ክዝንግO የብሉን። ሰውራ ኤርትራ ክልተ ሴፍ’ዩ ነይሩዎ። Eቲ ሓደ ሴፍ ንጸላEቲ ዝቑርምድ’ዩ ነይሩ።
Eቲ ካልኣይ ሴፍ ግን ንገዛE ኣሕዋትና ዝቖረጸ ብምዃኑ ኣብ ውሽጥና ቃንዛ ከምዘሎ ወይ ከምዝገደፈ ክንዝንግE የብልናን። ነዚ ከይዘንጋEና
ግን ንድሕሪት ተመሊስና ንምንጪ ሑሉፍ ቃንዛታትና ኣናዘከርና ንህሉው ቃልስና ብዝEንቅፍ መንገዲ ክንዋሳE ግን ቁምነገር የብሉን። Eቲ
ዝሐሸ ክንገብሮ ዘሎና ካብ ዝሓለፈ ተማሂርና ተወሳኺ ቃንዛ ከይርከብ ብEቱብ ኣብ ህሉውን መጻEን ክንሰርሕ’ዩ ዘሎና።
Eቶም ንሰልፊ ዲሞክራሲ ህዝቢ ኤርትራ ዘቖምና ሓይልታት ንሕሉፍ ታሪኽ ዝያዳ ክብሪ Eንተንህቦ ሰልፊ ዲሞክራሲ ህዝቢ ኤርትራ ተመስሪቱ
ክቕጽል ኣይምኸኣለን። Eዚ ማለት ከኣ Eቶም ኣብ ሰልፊ ዲሞክራሲ ህዝቢ ኤርትራ Eንርከብ ኣባላት፡ ንታሪኽ ዘለና Eተፈላለየ ኣናብባ ንህሉው
240 ቃልስና Eንቅፋት ክኸውን ኣየፍቀድናን ማለት Eዩ። ኣብ ህልውን መጻEን Eድል ሃገርና ተመሳሳሊ ርEይቶ ዘለና ምዃንና ጥራይ፡ ዝያዳ ክብርን
ዋጋን ስለ ዝሃብናዮ ኣብ ሓደ ሰልፊ ተጠርኒፍና ክንቃለስ በቒEና።
ኣብ ደምበ ተቓውሞ ክንርEዮ Eንደሊ'ውን ተመሳሳሊ ጠባይ Eዩ። ውድባት ኤርትራ ኣናብባና ንታሪኽ Eተፈላለና Iና። ንታሪኽ ዘሎና ኣናብባ
ሓደ ክኸውን ኣለዎ ኣብ ዝብል ርEይቶ Eንተኣቲና ከኣ፡ ፍጹም ክንሰማማE ኣይንኽEልን Iና። ንሕሉፍ ታሪኽ ንተረኽቲ ገዲፍና ኣብ ህልውን
መጻEን Eላማታት ህዝብና ኣትኲርና Eንተሰሪሕና ግን ብርግጽ ስምምE ክርከብ Eዩ።
Eቲ ኣብ ቅድመና ዘሎ ምርጫ Eምበኣር ንጹር Eዩ። ንታሪኽ ንተረኽቲ ገዲፍካ ንቕድሚት ምስጓም ወይ ከኣ ንሕሉፍ ታሪኽ ዝያዳ ክብሪ ሂብካ
ንህልውን መጻEን ቃልስና ኣብ ዝEንቅፍ ሓሸውየ ምEታው Eዩ። ንህሉው መላኺ ስርዓት ስIርና ንህዝብና ካብ ዘለዎ ስቓይ ከነውጽO
Eንተደሊና Eቲ ክንመርጾ ዘለና ንጹር Eዩ። ንዝሓለፈ ታሪኽ ከነዓሪ ወይ ክንወቅስ ግዜና ካብ ምጥፍE ንህልውን መጻEን ቃልስና ዝጠቅም ስራሕ
ክንሰርሕ’ዩ ዘለና።
ነልሰን ማንደላ ነቶም ኣብ ልEሊ ጸለምቲ ግፍI ዝፈጸሙ ጸዓዱ ክቐጽE Eንተዝብገስ፡ ታሪኽ ደቡብ ኣፍሪቃ ፍጹም ምተቐየረ ነይሩ። Eዚ ሕጂ
ኣብ ደቡብ ኣፍሪቃ EንርEዮ ዘለና ሰላምን ቅሳነትን ምናልባት ክርከብ ኣይምስተኻEለን። ማንደላ ግን Eቲ ዝሓለፈ ታሪኽ ምስ’ቲ ዘቐንዙ ዛንታቱ
ክርሳE’ዩ ጸዊU። ጸለምትን ጸዓዱን ደቡብ ኣፍሪቃውያን ብሓደ ንህሉውን መጻEን Eድል ሃገሮም ክጥምቱ’ዩ መኺሩ። ንሃገርና ዘድሕን'ውን
ከምዚ ዝመስል ልቦና Eምበር ኣብ ስሚEት ዝምርኮስ ተጻይ መልስታት ኣይኮነን። Eቶም ሎሚ ኣብ ፖለቲካ ኤርትራ EንዋሳE ዘሎና ኣካላት
Eምበኣር ንታሪኽ መጓሰጢ መድረኽ ካብ ምግባሩ ተቖጢብና ንቕድሚት ክንጥምት የድልየና።
ባህግታት ህዝብና ክንምልስ፡ ግስጋሰ ክርከብ ምEንቲ፡ ትኹረትና ንቕድሚት Eምበር ንድሕሪት ክኸውን የብሉን። ዝሓለፉ በሰላታትና ሓኺኽና
ከነቑስሎም Eንተመሪጽና ዝያዳ ቃንዛ ክንEድግ Eምበር ካልE ቁምነገር ክንገብር ኣይኮናን። ስለዚ ንሕሉፍ በሰላታትና ከይተንከፍና ሓዲሽ ቁስሊ
ከይርከብ ብጥንቃቐ ክንሰርሕ’ዩ ዝሓሸ። መጻIና ብህሉው ኣተሓሕዛና ንጉዳያትና’ዩ ዝውሰን። በዚ ምኽንያት ኣሉታዊ ታሪኽና ከይድገም
ኣተሓሕዛና ንጉዳያት ንብሩህ መጻI ህዝቢ ኤርትራ ዝድግፍ ክንገብሮ ክንቃለስ’ዩ ዘለና። ኣብ Eዋናዊ ዘይኮነ ጉዳያት ንገዛE ነብስና ተፈላሊና
ንህዝብና ፋሕ Eንተቢልናዮ ግን Eቲ Eንሓፍሶ ንኹልና ዘሐጉስ ክኸውን ኣይኮነን።ካብ’ዚ ነቒልና ትኹረትና ንቕድሚት Eምበር ንድሕሪ ክኸውን
የብሉን ንብል።
Waiting to Exhale…
Wednesday, 19 September 2012 14:45 Selam Kidane
Waiting to Exhale…
… oh look the Eritrean Resistance is waiting to exhale again!… and we are all waiting with the
same anticipation that one applies to watching paint dry…reelaax…it is not as boring as it
sounds… many people specialise in providing the alternative entertainment and break the
tedium of watching paint dry.
True to nature our young people are the first to get a tad bored and likely to go off in search of
alternative engagements… but I will come back to that in a bit…
I haven’t followed the latest saga with EPDP… because the divisions have now officially
stopped adding up… (thinking mathematically here!)…ok first there was DP… which divided
into DP1 and DP2… then DP2 divided into… ummm I forgot the part that became Ambasador
Adhanom’s share of the pie that then divided into the bit that joined DP1 when DP1 joined EPP
to make up EPDP (are you still with me?)… now EPDP survived one more division and when
Ambasador Adhanom (and his share of the original DP) divided from EPDP, but didn’t join the
other half that stayed off EPDP! And a year later there is another split in EPDP and another
group has now left…If an organisation is made up of people and as we all know there is a very
small pool of people in the Eritrean Resistance and every time the divisions happen this
represents a reduction in the pool of people under the respective acronyms… surely divisibility
(mathematics speaking again!) becomes impossible at some point...! the next time I read that
EPDP had a successful congress, I am going to take that with pinch of salt… and if that is the
case for EPDP proper, then the splinters must be in an even unenviable position when it
241 comes to real people making up the organisation (and when you put… committed people,
resourceful people, even plain old nice to be around with people…the picture looks hopeless!)
… oh yeah I remember now… I did read some of the reason for the splinter (apart from the
usual… we are not told… we are not consulted… etc… which is probably true… knowing what
I know about how Eritrean men conduct business!) there was a complaint about lack of
mobilisation and grassroots appeal… so the splinter group have cleared the deck and have
started a fresh mobilisation on paltalk probably!
….Paltalk for those uninitiated in politika Eritra is where it all happens… pfdj have been wiped
clean a thousand times over… look at their ‘empty rooms!’ never mind the fact that they are all
sitting in our ‘rooms’ to enjoy our undisciplined squabbles and our empty rhetoric! Not to
mention revisionist lectures from hitherto unheard of historian pilots!
Which brings me to my favourite people in the entire eritrosphere… despite the fact that they
threw me out of their paltalk room for asking the above mentioned historian his name… even
after I told him mine… I still like the folk at simerr room for shattering the silence and pushing
the Eritrean resistance to the realms of near mainstream… they have the makings of a real
revolution starters… I am sure of that…granted they need to learn to rebel properly! Which is
where they started back in the days… ‘the opposition organisations have failed and failed big
time and PFDJ is vile to the core and we reject both!’. By this point in time I consider myself a
parcel of the ‘traditional opposition’ and that message was difficult to hear but it was true…! It
therefore saddens me to watch the Simerrr folk morph into their older predecessors down to
the division lines they adopt (luckily the numbers involved are such that divisibility by two and
then continued viability is still possible!). But morph they have… I will give you one
example…there is the attempt to start a squabble between EYSC and EYNSC… you got to love
the acronyms… does that make two examples of morphdom already? But the squabbles is one
example that if I wasn’t chickening in, I would have I wanted to hone in on …but even I
wouldn’t dream of going there…! Why? Because… well because I still subscribe to the adage:
‘neger ya deytsegebes gual waTa yimirO!’…
The ‘safer’ example is where everyone bickers about mode of struggle (yes that old chestnut) …
remember EDA? Remember project minimum agenda and miniscule effort? … these debates
on pal and FB go on and on and on until one asks ‘what is your role as an individual or even
as an organisation based thousands of miles away from anywhere near ground zero…?’ And
then everyone talks about: ‘agreements in principle and moral support and financial
support’…if you ask…’but who carries the guns that would be bought by the financial support,
we would collect say by organising ‘dirar tegadalay’?’... after a pause people would tell you
‘EMDJ, ENSF….etc etc…etc’ I will ignore the etc and ENSF for based on viable divisibility
discussed above I have a feeling there are about 7 and 3/4 people in the ENSF ‘army’ (this is
a guesstimate so don’t all do a monkey impression all at once!)…
But EMDJ, I want to talk about… EMDJ were so cute at one point… they came to pal and very
articulately talked about what they wanted to do… they stood up to the WaEla Commission on
the issue of youth involvement everyone was impressed… then things began to emerge and
some of what was written from both sides of the feuding circles sounded like a excerpt from
what we would one day write about pfdj gang leaders… people trafficking, womanising, alcohol
abuse, corruption, espionage, money laundering… tribalism etc etc murky allegations… that
left a really bad taste… we are going to overthrow pfdj there? I know some friends including
some really dear ones that are as dear to me as my own siblings are going to be upset… but
this is what I see and all I see… besides I have yet to see any evidence of their engagement…
so for people in a hurry to depose pfdj… creating (or recreating), recruiting, training, arming
and deploying EMDJ doesn’t somehow fall into the time frame that many talk about…. and
give as a reason for why the alternative approach won’t work…
242 If the slogan really is: ‘National Salvation as a Matter of Priority’…Priority one should be
coming to terms with the fact that there is dire shortage of people to carry guns… Priority two
should be recognising that even after we have mobilised people there aren’t any guns to give
them… then there is munitions, gear, food, medicine…. The list goes on!… sloganeering off a
mic in paltalk and saying Segud! (that word have no translation in modern day English!) Is an
insult on injury to the Resistance movement (especially coming from the more matured
political figures who should bloody well know better!)
People who know how high emotions around this subject tend to rise would by now fear a
lynch mob… but I should be ok for a good few days… the traffic of information from the
written media to paltalk is rather slow!
But before I go and to deflect what I just said above (damage limitation my style!)… let me tell
you what else was a good interval as we wait to exhale… a squabble between SGJ and my
friend Qernelious… apparently QO and his outfit (sorry I can’t be bothered to go check the
acronym) said something about Idriss Awate that is not to the liking of people who got offended
and then drew more attention to what was said when no one was watching, reading or
listening… (the tree in the desert….)… the funny thing is SGJ was concerned about the
desecration of an Eritrean icon when us lot over at EYSC FB were declaring ‘We are All Awate!’
(bless our cotton socks…! Especially given the fact that all we had to do to be the iconic Awate
was change our profile pictures on FB… I don’t know maybe it is all those lovely images that
probably drove Qernelious over the cliff!?)…. The really funny thing is how SGJ was
demanding that Qernelious and his group to apologise to the ENCDC and EDA… if he was
clever QO should have responded I tried to phone them but there was a strange answer phone
message… the person you have tried is unavailable… please try tomorrow when 1/8th of him
might be available to take your call… they have divided infinitly and ended up in multiples
none able to effect anything! … where it currently stands: Defeating pfdj= ENCDC +/- EDA EPDP/2 x EYSNC+/- EYSC+ many more acronyms and fragments of acronyms….
Pheeeewwww!
Filmon Fetwi · Field Lab at Ketek Group Inc.
Was u high when u write this article
Reply · Like · Follow Post · 21 April at 09:16
brhane5k (signed in using yahoo)
DEAR GHOST POSTERS, WHAT YOU THE GHOST WRITERS ARE TRYING TO TELL THE
READERS IS WHAT WE ARE TELLING OR WE ARE WRITING YOU ARE BASED WITH THE
TRUTH BUT THEY FORGOT TO TO KNOW ALSO THAT THE WORLD IS NOT SITTING DOWN
AND WAIT FOR THEIR LIES THE PEOPLE OF THE WORLD HAS ALSO A BIG EYES TO SEE,
TO READ AND TO FEEL OR TO HEAR WHAT IS RIGHT AND WHAT IS WRONG,. SO IF THERE
ARE VERY FEW ERITREAN AND THEIR COUNTERPART WOYANIS GHOST WRITERS TRYING
TO DEFAME ERITREA THROUGH ELECTRONIC MEDIA WITH A FABRICATED AND
BASELESS E STORIES DO YOU THING THE READERS ARE BLIND TO ACCEPT SUCH OF
LIES
OF
YOUR
THE
GHOST
WRITERS?
THE TRUTH IS YOUR FAKE STORIES THAT ARE MOSTLY PREPARED WITH A GRAPHIC
SIMULATED PICTURES AND WITH A DECORATED LIES WILL NOT TAKE YOU ANY WHERE,
THEREFORE UNDER WHAT EVER CONDITIONS THE TRUTH CAN NOT BE TWISTED....See
more
Reply · Like · Follow Post · 24 September 2012 at 22:28
243 Amanuel Samuel · Top commenter
cracks high felling blog.
r.dachuben (signed in using yahoo)
Hi Selam. This tops them ALL. And Azazi’s comment is simply superb. I love his ending >> “but
we never learn”! How true! May I toss a little peanut to it: “thus Ere shall live happily ever
after”! Amen +/-x Inshalah.
dahlak10021 (signed in using yahoo)
Selam Selam. When I go to a hospital, I expect to see a lot of sick people and a few attendants.
Paltalk is like a hospital. So it is no surprise that the number of the sick should be far more
than those of the doctors and nurses. If is hilarious that you think you are winning!
Azazi Mehari · StreetWise
Run Selam, run. Now you will be the next target of the dividends, quotients and remainders. A
crystal clear picture of Eritrean politics in the diaspora, but we never learn.

Selam Kidane · Top commenter
I was hoping I had survived three days and no one has picked on me yet... Long live
freedom of expression eh?!
Reply · 2 · Like · 21 September 2012 at 11:54
HandyMan George
I really don't get your point, it sounds like a riddle.
Samuel Sam · Top commenter
all the bitter divisions based on "we are not told… we are not consulted..." sad story.
Thomas Kebedom · Works at Self Employed (Business)
What
244 Reply · Like · Follow Post · 23 September 2012 at 08:07
Solomon Seyoum · Gent, Belgium
we are used to that..and we have accepted them, although unhappily... But the dictator will
die or overthrown one day, but I hope the Eritrean diaspora habits of divisions, noncompromise, etc will not reach the shores of post-dictator Eritrea....(Assuming that the
dictator will not leave his son as the second dictator of the wounded nation, to use Prof.
Bereket's word.)l
Victory on the road
Qrnelios not criminalized in Awate right or right ...
... Look for the real culprit!!!
09/15/2012
By / Ali Aaffh Idris
Despite that the number of political organizations and civic centers and media sites in the
Internet has exceeded Fifty percent, but the opinion said in a statement Qrnelios not
numbering more than a ten (Solidarity Front Eritrean Liberation Front Eritrean Network for
National Dialogue National Council for change Democratic Branch Australia Gulf Centre for
Media Services Forum Alertra for Democratic Dialogue site spaced site Tles), and the
catastrophe that the rest sought refuge with silence, or at best be delayed in determining the
position of which reportedly made a statement Qrnelios although their opinion and their
position was important in central issue is for granted that you do not need to central council
meeting, national, revolutionary, Assyrian ... Etc., especially as the delay in identifying
positions is a negative indicator of the state of the three cases the first to have some similar
view to the opinion Qrnelios and therefore is inconsistent with Qrnelios and this PLAGUE, and
the second case that some believe that the subject is not worth all the hype and this ignorance
of the kind that hurt the most important constants and pillars in constants and fundamentals
does not work unless the discount is not this topic only but for the coming of topics, and the
third case to be delays in identifying positions pending the outcome of the meetings of the
National Democratic Alliance or the Executive Office of the National Council for Democratic
Change and the latter case is no less in the passivity of cases First and second because it
required a decision which is one of the things that are supposed to be one of the constants
that indisputable around way Qrnelios or any other methods and thus no benefit to wait for a
decision on the method of death with the group's mercy.
I am not going to defend Awate man ever brilliant whiteness defend him Valokaveb not
withstand the facts, and Awate and his companions have been targeted by a long period of
group Eritrea considered the strongest groups Alertria ever a Popular Front, they bowed to the
inevitable without changing its position, but that he was targeted From inside the Liberation
Front ‫ ةيرترألا‬that are supposed to be members all committed to the line in the sand that
245 Awate and his companions in Miami, and the emergence of image truth which was hidden in
the files of security services front after entering the front of the land Sudanese only a simple
guide of a group other evidence that war against him, and throughout The long history that
has passed from the age revolution Eritrean people there was no defender of Awate and his
companions even by who owned good intentions to defend them, as these did not have the
tools to defend to defend them, for this entire time was defending them is their history bright
which settled in conscience and reason Alertra, and I should not we have wronged called
Qrnelios perhaps he or his father or his clan kinsmen were members of gangs Allowagayt
Ethiopian, especially that called history all linked Ethiopia, and is known to all is that the
gangs Allowagayt that were invading the Gash before the revolution to loot livestock saved
Awate and disappeared those bands with the spread of the revolution, then appeared again at
the beginning of the eighties of the last century after the Liberation Army Alertra land
Sudanese had not kept all that army Aermmerm only simple units were led by Commander
Martyr Mohammed Hamid Othman (crocodile) God rest his Vtsdy and his boldly to those gangs
Vtqlst evils and confined again in the border Alertria Ethiopian and only looted and killed not
pay her tax or the so-called (and Arko) of which are compelled conditions pastures to go to
those areas and this continues to this day, the first question asks people area at the onset of
the fall season when the cows return ((God willing cow and the owners have returned safely
this year)) and this is not only known sons Gash area and Georhm.
It is also no coincidence that targeted martyr crocodile (the man who was in his character
many similarities Bawata), have been targeted is the other Ibnaakec intended stripped of
status certificate and the reader can see the debate that can not be described only Baltavh in
the following link: Photo martyr crocodile in Page Martyrs Eritrea k y you happened discussed
a similar but worse than the debate on the image of the martyr crocodile, about a common
image of the commanders martyrs Said Saleh and Abdulkadir Ramadan was published on
page personal brother Mohamed Hassan Ibrahim but thankfully removed those comments
because she was ugly to the point you can not afford it.
The question y j imposes itself in e y here is: Are Awate and his companions they need us to
defend them or us for ourselves in the need to defend them? Awate and his companions had
fulfilled their duty and recorded history letters of light or y a wronged history once will come
again and ‫مﻩفصني‬, as most of them go for the companion top and thus are in Rehab Lord and
will not benefit from the defense for them, it is true that the y and matter Satatheroa those
unjust campaigns but y you is in a position to afford it, and that we know that Awate and his
companions not need us to defend them, y Valnaguib the second part of the question, and to
answer you should look for Awate importance to us!!! Awate and his companions for us are
the main link in the history of ancient and modern wa y a broken the vicious lost history of y j
was before the first of September (the Muslim League and the Movement for the Emancipation
Eritrea) and k y you to the right in the loss subsequent history on the first of September (the
date of the fight armed and independence) It is true that e y a history means home Alertra
whole but Muslims Eritrea lost their history full loss Date Awate and his companions because
key link that connects the old talk, e y a We the y yen in dire need for the defense of Awate and
his companions and not vice versa, and thus I find it odd strongly in the lag and the chill y j
met statement called Qrnelios.
C
246 Before this event I did not know about Qrnelios only that President Democratic Movement for
the Liberation of Kunama, but what I have read of information about him in statements and
articles denunciation and condemnation amazed me (most of the information and not the
whole learned from an article Mr. Omar Jaber may Allah old and fun health), including that
Qrnelios Throughout the struggle was a fighter to the side of the enemy Ethiopian, and he
walked out with the Ethiopian army defeated the moment Gelah from Eritrea, and it has been
prepared and qualifying military as a cadre Advanced in the era of hypothyroidism, and the
man remained true to Ethiopia even after the demise of the system Mengistu Haile Mariam He
holds the rank of officer and receives a monthly stipend and full rights like any other employee
Ethiopian great, and that it had in 2002 executed a constellation of sons Kunama national
shot dead are: Nuri Tokk and Hussein ‫ وميج‬and Jacob Assyrian and Adkko Oka, and
everything you read new information worse than before that come to y Honey group
questions,,, how allowed our leaders to themselves to sit down with such e y a man? And y
were doing with him? And any kinds of democracies were discussing with him? In what they
are coordinating with him? After that we knew that Qrnelios former and current criminal Do
you actually have is of ‫ مرجأ‬in our right and the right of Awate or we have to look for the real
culprit, which allowed him to do so? Does such a man if I apologize accept his apology? Could
our leaders expelled from their communities who enjoy all those relations with Ethiopia? Try to
Otanasy all those questions for that I find answers to me on e y a simple question is,,,, from
the y j offended Awate Is Qrnelios mother who was meet and coordinate with Qrnelios despite
all y you Black History y j talked about stirrups?
In the name of God the Merciful the most significant
The Eritrean Solidarity Front
Reply to Qornelius and his minions it is impossible for history to repeats itself
By: Abdu Saad Hamid
23/10/2012
We have observed since the beginning of September 2012 political statement issued by
Qrnelius Osman Agar and his organization of Kunama ethnic group by resorting to distort the
history of Hamid Idris Awate and in reference to the articles of knavery spirit that have been
published in English language in Asmarino website by Ghirmay Yeibio and other in Assena
website aimed to discredit the history of heroism for the founder of Eritrean armed struggle.
Hamid Idris Awate was not a bandit and/or outlaw (shifta) like those who were looting cattle
of peaceful people, the Bandits and thieves who invaded villages of Bani Amir during the era of
British mandate for Eritrea, the strange thoughts of Ghirmay Yeibio that indicates explicitly
hatred spirit on Awate without any reliable evidence and actually it is a clear treason to
homeland, all his articles are based on lies or not based on the facts and are not convincing for
all Eritreans regardless their ethnicity, religious beliefs, cultural disparities and political
opinions, allegations which are in reality fabricated behind the scenes aimed to distort the
Eritrean armed struggle and the independent state of Eritrea in general, the alleged writer
247 should has to be aware, when Awate fired the courageous spark or fired shot at Adal hill in
western Eritrea province of Barka in September 01,1961.
Thence the Ethiopian colonial authorities couldn't sleep in tranquility and they have had
resorted to temptations and of primitive seditions based on divide and rule policies in Eritrea
and mad several attempts to convince Hamid Awate to give up of the armed struggle through
mediating elders and leaders of the province of Barka and Gash Setit in that period, but he did
not give up of the glorious national principle for igniting armed struggle forgetting his personal
gains on the expense of the oppressed people in Eritrea in contrary intentions as had been
done by Qrnelius Osman Agar, who was an active agent and obedient spy of the Intelligence of
Ethiopian colonial authorities during the Era of former Derge repressive regime.
Therefore all Eritrean accepted voluntarily the armed struggle and gave heavy scarifies,
including Kunama ethnic group, despite distortions which were broadcasted by the Ethiopian
authorities secretly by using churches to accuse Eritrean Liberation Front by Islamic belief
and loyal organization to Arabs and in spite of the fueling ethnic and religious strife by the
colonial authorities, all Eritrean people struggled strongly under the banner of the armed
struggle which was ignited by Awate to achieve a decisive victory in May 24,1991, so it is true
to say that such conspiracies and negative articles will go in vain and meaningless written only
on papers or like bubbles of a soap, moreover such kind of articles are the same like a devil
who desires to enter heaven.
Undoubtedly Qarnelius Osman Agar practiced and still is practicing the same treacherous
roles derived from knavery spirit to discredit the positive goals of Hamid Idris Awate which
brought the full independence of Eritrea via armed struggle that achieved independence in
May 27, 1993 for Eritrea as a sovereign state like all countries in the modern world
immediately after the free referendum conducted in the presence and supervision by the
international community and it is impossible to change the situations, no matter how you
tried to distort the facts about the brave leader Awate and his history of heroism which is
rooted in the minds and hearts of all Eritreans, when Hamid Idris Awate ignited armed
struggle, the Ethiopian colonial authorities arrested his wife and his son Karrar and his son
was a baby not exceeded year-old only, his wife and son Karar were freed by the Guarantee of
tribal leader of Lebet (Hedareb) shum Kaboro and at that time the Haile Selassie
representatives confiscated all the cattle owned by him and was aimed to be sold in several
markets of cities in Eritrea, but Eritrean people in Tesseney, Barentu, Agordat, Keren and
Asmara refused to buy the cattle of Awate, accordingly had been given cattle of Awate to
Anakonda Company where were slaughtered and were sold in the form of canned meat abroad.
Qornelius and his blind minions are exercising distortion to the symbol of the people of
Eritrea, this is not principles of free press as you have claimed, but are assaults distorts
dignity of a respectable society, who deserved full independence under legitimate referendum
held under the supervision of the entire international community, so why you antagonize the
people who had fought for freedom and independence by resorting to the deployment of such
bad articles, surely you are invisible customer and loyal activist who is working clandestinely
in favor of the powers who have hostility to the aspirations of the people of Eritrea as a whole.
In my conclusion Hamid Idris awate is rooted forever in the minds and hearts of Eritrean
people. It is impossible for such kind of traitors to blur the sacrifices and courage of the leader
248 Awate and the sacrifices of the people of Eritrea as a whole, whether in the present or in the
future aslo as well. Thus cannot at all obliterate knavery allegations the heroism and unique
courageous history of Martyr Hamid Idris Awate and history will never repeat itself. already
Hamid Idris Awate goals had been achieved by the independence of Eritrea, nowadays we are
struggling how to get rid of the repressive regime of PFDJ that commits deliberate crimes
against all Eritrean including the ethnic group of Kunama, sooner or later we will achieve
success if we be able to unite ourselves in reality. Whether we live in East or west home is
best for us, that is why we are struggling to restore human dignity, freedoms and tolerance
among all Eritreans under the rule of law.
Immature Interpretation of History Disrupts the Notion of Tolerance: Awate and the
Foundation of Eritrean Armed Struggle in Focus.
Part One
Establishing well structured of historiography, what Eritrea missed for more than a couple of
decades, allows various segments of the societies to develop a notion of tolerance
understanding the roots, identity, culture, traditions, state foundation, nationalism,
contributions, developments and failures as well. Genuine national history extracts the
strength and the weakness of the state and helps to design workable, sustainable and
productive policies which can bear the expected peaceful, united, democratic and developed
Eritrea. Nonetheless, the frequent biases, omission, prejudices, and other errors in writing
history often occur in Eritrea that bring confusion, misunderstanding and conflicts in various
media outlets, academics and in various political parties or organizations. In fact most of the
times interested groups attempt to manipulate historical facts to meet their desired objectives
or to promote their cause using the tactics of selectivity, omission, distorting, and other forms
of biases.
Currently, there is hot debate among different political parties, websites and individuals to
define Hamid Idris Awate who began the long armed struggle for independence. The group can
be mainly categorized into two sections: those who acknowledged Eritrean armed struggle for
independence and those discredited the struggle for independence as false nationalism.
Others may be free from such categories; they will not be in focus. In spite of the fact that
there is no official declaration against the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Eritrea, there
are different forms of tendency or campaigns are going to refute the armed struggle as a
national struggle for independence, and questions the existence of Eritrea as sovereign state.
Previously, I have produced an article, “History Is Not a Choice…” (www.unitedheartz.com)
concerned about the general nature of Eritrean historiography that could help Eritreans to see
their history from historical perspectives rather than using any form of political motivated
interpretation.
Source:
http://www.geschichteinchronologie.ch/afrika/kol/Eritrea-Munzingerd/kriegsfoto01-beginn-widerstand-Hamid-Idris-Awate.PNG
On the occasion of the 51st anniversary of the launch of the Eritrean armed struggle, the
Democratic Movement for the Liberation of Eritrean Kunama (DMLEK) led by Qornelios
Osman, issues a statement which denied Hamid Idirs Awate as “national hero”. In its website,
(www.mesel-biherat.com) the movement defined Hamid Idris Awate as criminal rather than
national figure or icon. This statement provoked different political motivated feelings, opinions
and interpretations flowing from various political parties, websites and individuals and many
warned Qornelios Osman to apologize for his issued statement. In response, various groups
underline Hamid Idris Awate as “National Hero”, “National Icon”, “Father of Eritrean Armed
249 Struggle” etc. Some posted the snaps Hamid Idris Awate echoing “We are all Awate”
(www.meskerem.net); Saleh “Gadi” Johar called for independent academic research
(www.awate.com) to define who is who; and Merhawi Kinfu wrote an article “The Eritrean
Revolution: Born A Shifta Father, Produced A Shifta System” which attempted to refute the
struggle initially as “Islamic Movement” stating its attachment mainly with Iraq and Syria; and
later transformed into “Barbaric and Criminal Movement” pointing out the dissolved groups
like Hareka (Mahber 7), Obel, Menkae, Yemin and Falul (www.assenna.com).
Whether we like or not Hamid Idris Awate is a history, and his biography must be designed
from historical perspective. If the history is genuine what we intend to do, it does not use
or entertain with political oriented and motivated concepts like “Hero” or “Criminal”,
because it is very hard to use a sort of description in history. Hamid Idris Awate might be
hero for the people Bene Amir, but might be criminal for the people of Kunama in their eyes.
The question here is: was Awate a “Hero” or “Criminal” in our history? Was he a “Shifta” or
“National Icon”? There is an easy mechanism to respond such controversial question allowing
to investigate the activities Hamid Idris Awate respecting time and space in history with the
right context and analysis.
Once up on a time Awate was a “Shifta” having his own cause and motive
and later transformed into a national fighter in history of Eritrean armed
struggle. Nobody denies the first shot of Hamid Idris Awate sparked the
long and bitter Eritrean armed struggle for independence. In fact the form,
nature, character and motive of “Shiftnet” in Eritrea should not be viewed
only from the side of the British Administration in Eritrea. We need a
critical investigation on indigenous institutions which led to widespread
banditry in Eritrea. Even though the coding of “Shifta” has negative
implication in our society correlated with stealing or being outlaw, it can serve as means to
protest against unfair system; and can serve as mechanisms to defend the defenseless people.
Thus, “Shiftnet” has been viewed with different parameters and right context of that specified
period of time, for example the political and socio-economic circumstances of 1940’s and early
1950’s. However, ill management of controversial concepts in history may lead to confusion
and conflict complicated the process of building the culture of tolerance, harmony and unity
among citizens.
Willingness to establish a democratic state is not enough without sincere and sustainable
commitment. The essence of democracy could not emerge without building the culture of
tolerance. In fact in circles of forbearance, there are various elements like patience, respect,
equality, differences, will, knowledge, and culture which intermingled with each other to form
a strong company of tolerance. The easiest meaning of tolerance is normally to accept and
respect differences that could exist in race, religion, age, gender, opinions, and ideologies of
other people or groups. Nonetheless, the nature and level of tolerance is different to different
people who have different background, experience, educational level, personality and
perception. Besides, we should not forget that there is a phenomena of zero degree of tolerance
to any tendency which disrupts the national interest and national security, but it has to be
done in more advanced and legal manner to build a safe state.
Mebrahtu Teclesion
250 Immature Interpretation of History Disrupts the Notion of Tolerance: Awate and the
Foundation of Eritrean Armed Struggle in Focus. – Part Two
October 4, 2012October 4, 2012 assenna
Basically, the level of tolerance in most African states is least, because of
various attributing factors- nature of state establishments, diversity in
customs and tradition, level of education, chronic poverty, unbalanced
distribution power and resource, undefined ideological systems, the nature of
governance, less advanced technology and so on. But, I need to focus on the
nature and level of tolerance in Eritrea considering the flow of conflicting
information and feelings about veteran Hamid Idris Awate and the foundation
of Eritrean struggle. Most of the time immature interpretation of history
disrupts the notion of tolerance, and directs the state towards hatred, tension, division and
conflict.
Partially, in my previous article, “History Is Not a Choice…”, I have dealt with some techniques
of approaching history dedicated to historical perspectives (www.unitedheartz.com).
Nonetheless, in this article, I need to shed some light on the causes, character and motive of
“Shiftnet” in Eritrea on the basis of meager source that I have which can possibly eliminate
the flowing irrational thinking, approach and analysis about the national history of Eritrea;
and optimistically, that work may lead to further independent research. I could not narrate the
history of “Shiftnet” in detailed form without having accessible source, but I concentrate on the
systematic approaches that may help to shape our history. What best thing is that the British
Archive documented in Research and Documentation Center of Eritrea is very rich; and this
area is open to research, unlike the other areas, for example civil war in armed struggle for
independence. The data are very vast and detailed; historians inside Eritrea can do deep
research to eliminate such confusions. In fact some research papers about “Shifta” have
already been done though it is not in my disposal.
So far the project of building tolerance and peaceful coexistence in African states produced
less fruits, and most of them left in chronic sufferings, because of consistent internal crises
and conflicts that destroy the synchronized social setting; that fail to build disciplined political
interactions; and that lose skills, sincerity and dedication to foster economic progress. After
Ethio-Eritrean conflict (1998), various interested group or politically motivated individuals
have been seen to produce sensitive, emotional, divisive, provocative and biased literature
without having access to valid, reliable, and objective sources. This unethical and immoral
literature, produced without intensive research, can negatively affect the territorial integrity,
harmony, unity, tolerance and sovereignty of the state, Eritrea.
Most of the time, the “abnormal” birth of the states in Africa, with the exception of Ethiopia
and Liberia, baptized by colonialists emerged without wise consideration of tradition, culture,
history, economic realities, and geographical linkages. Indigenous people who had/have the
same history, culture, belief and origin found themselves in various states which complicate
the solidarity, coexistence, justice, equity and tolerance of the modern states in Africa. We
need to develop well disciplined and constructive approaches and analysis to establish a well
concerted national history instead of practicing emotional, aggressive, hostile and provocative
ill researched literatures that we are blindly producing. What do Eritreans benefit in struggle
for changes?
In fact Eritrea has embraced nine or more ethnic groups which could not have the same
history, belief, customs and traditions; we need to accept the diversity of the societies. In spite
of its positive legacy, Italians practiced high degree of racism, discrimination, segregation,
251 exploitation and oppression. Eritreans attempted to get better privilege and salary joining the
Italian army which participated in various wars conducted inside Africa. But later with
collapse of Italian Colonization, a substantial number of Eritreans had a great expectation
from British occupation (1941) since they considered them as liberators, not colonizers.
The established British Military Administration could not manage the growing socio-economic
crises in Eritrea resulted by destructive wars and prevailing social disorders. The new British
system preferred to retain Italian human power in various positions to address the problems;
Eritreans got confused, dissatisfied and protested in different forms, for example “Shiftnet”.
Because of Second World War, many Eritrean children became orphan and homeless; a
number of fathers became jobless, and failed to maintain their families. Hunger, frustration,
despair, conflict, looting, robbery and crime invaded Eritrea; and began disrupting the whole
social settings, values and norms of the societies.
source: http://www.ehrea.org/images/SHI.gif
Despite of the fact that the British Administration introduced better education, reduced the
scale of racism, established native courts, practiced free press, and allowed political pluralism,
its occupation ended up with disgraced mission- dismantling and destroying almost all
economic infrastructure of the country. Consequently, more than one hundred thousand
Eritreans migrated to get better jobs in Ethiopia, and others dispersed in different countries.
Besides, thousands of Eritreans became involved in “Shiftnet” or banditry for various purposes
aimed at looting, robbery, revenge, and protection with or without political motivations.
In fact later, “Shiftnet” was being used as integrated political instruments to terrorize those
who supported independence in 1940’s. As I stated earlier the forms, nature, distribution and
task of “Shiftnet” have to be investigated distinctively and independently accounting the
historical context of 1940’s and early 1950’s as the motive varied from individuals to
individuals; from group to group, from village to village. They did have their own distinctive
cause, whether it is blessing or cursing, to be bandits to confront the situation disrupted the
life of the indigenous people. We can look at the extent and nature of the banditries posted as
public notice by British Administration. This table has been taken from Assenna Website.
No.
Name of wanted man
residence or tribe
amount
of
rewards
1
HamedIdrisAwate
Antore
£300
Already
notified
£200
Already
notified
£200
Already
notified
2
3
WeldegebrielMossazghi
BerheMossazghi
BerakitAbbai
BerakitAbbai
252 crime
for
which
wanted
4
HagosTemnewo
DebriAdiTsadek
£150
Already
notified
5
AssreskhengeEmbaye
Areza
£100
Already
notified
6
OqbankielIjigu
ShimanugusTahtai
£50
Already
notified
7
GhebreTesfazien
Deda
£100
Murder
8
DebbassaiAbraha
Habela
£25
Murder
9
SebhatuDemsas
Habela
£20
Murder
10
TekleAsfha
Keranakudo
£20
Murder
11
KidaneDemsas
Habela
£20
Murder
12
Teklehaimanot Sereke
Kerenakudo
£20
Murder
13
BerheHabtezghi
Mekerka (Anseba)
£30
Murder
14
WeldesellassieAdal
Liban (Serae)
£30
Murder
15
AbrahaZemariam
Zigib
£25
Murder
16
GrazmacIlfaiAsfha
Keranakudo
£35
Murder
17
MegisteabSeum
AdiQontsi
£30
Murder
18
BereketeabAndemikiel
Deda
£20
Murder
19
TarakeWerede
Tigrai (Ethiopia)
£20
Murder
20
AndemariamZere
Debri (Liban)
£20
Murder
21
BerheLijam
Deki-Dashim
£20
Murder
22
MedhinKahssay
Irob (Ethiopia)
£20
Murder
253 23
AbrahaSuba
Tigrai (Ethiopia)
£20
Murder
24
Girmazion (who
with Haile Abay)
Tigrai (Ethiopia)
£20
Murder
25
MebrahtuTeklenkiel
Haben
£20
Murder
26
GheremedhinKefela
AdiEwur
£20
Murder
27
Omer Aluru
{AsaEsan???}
£20
Murder
28
Khalifa Omer
{Sukuru Are???}
£20
Murder
29
{???} Maleh
Tigrai (Ethiopia)
£20
Murder
30
Issak Ali
Tigrai
£20
Murder
31
Ali Idris
Hanzer
£20
Murder
32
Ali Hudera
Denkal
£20
Murder
33
Khalifa Ali
Hazu
£20
Murder
34
Ali Omer
Tigrai (Ethiopia)
£20
Murder
35
GirmayHailu
Mog’o
£20
Murder
36
AmareEmbaye
Areza
£20
Murder
37
Idris {Achem???}
Barya tribe
£20
Murder
38
Gale anewri
Kunama tribe
£20
Murder
39
Shababi Tana
Kunama tribe
£20
Murder
40
Osman Longi
Kunama tribe
£20
Murder
41
Abakair Gale
Kunama tribe
£20
Murder
42
AgajeHaitin
Kunama tribe
£20
Murder
was
254 43
Gale Ambi
Kunama tribe
£20
Murder
44
{Achti???} Buzu
Kunama tribe
£20
Murder
45
TekleGilagaber
Deki-Shehai
£20
Murder
46
HabteGilagaber
Deki-Shehai
£20
Murder
47
KidaneHabtue
Deki- Shehai
£20
Murder
48
KeseteTesfaldet
Deki-Shehai
£20
Murder
49
Fessehaye
Fessehazion
Deki-Dashim
£20
Murder
50
MelakeBeyan
Dek-Dashim
£20
Murder
51
KeleteGherezghiher
Deki-Dashim
£20
Murder
Asmara, 7th January, 1950 (Sgd) T.W FITZPATRICK.
Commissioner of Police and Prisons, Eritrea.
Source: Source: http://assenna.com/the-eritrean-revolution-born-of-a-shifta-father-produceda-shifta-system/
No.
1.
2.
Bandits in terms
of region
Eritrean
Lowlanders
Eritrean
Highlanders
Religion
No.
Bandits
Moslems
5
Christians
None
Unknown
7
Moslems
None
Christians
30
255 Total
12
30
No.
Bandits
in
Percentile
23.6%
58.8%
3
Ethiopians
Unknown
None
Moslems
1
Christians
7
Unknown
None
8
17.6%
This table analysis has been done to show primarily the nature and distribution of banditry
among Eritrean ethnic groups as the accusation is coming Democratic Movement for the
Liberation of Eritrean Kunama (DMLEK) which is ethnic based movement. Secondly, there is
tendency from certain group or individuals to associate the Eritrean armed struggle for
independence with “Islamic Movement”, and started without any “national agenda” stating
that for example “Eritrean Revolution: Born A Shifta Father, Produced A Shifta System”. I
attempted to display how the distribution of banditry religious wise which helps to investigate
the armed struggle whether it is a national movement or Islamic one. However, this article has
no any form of ethnic, region and religious inclination. I believe that Eritrea has a national
problem which is knocking each family, and it has to be tackled at nation level.
According to the above stated public notice out of 23. 6% of wanted bandits in
lowlands, 13.8% comes only from Kunama ethnic group. The whole ethnic groups in
lowlands covered only 9.8%. Accounting that statistical information, members of Kunama
society involved in Shiftnet more than any ethnic group in the lowlands. Out of the total report
of the public notice, 58.8% of the wanted bandits comes from the highlands of Eritrea, mainly
from Hamassien.
Shiftas in highlands actively engaged in systematic looting, terrorization, killing and mutilating
the defenseless Jeberti of Serae, Saho of Hazomo and Kunama of Tokombia area
(http://www.ehrea.org/images/SHI.gif). These bandits usually involved in cattle looting in
Gash Barka areas in larger scale. Ethiopians, mainly from Tigray, also engaged in banditry
covered 13.7%. In fact if we compare the involvement of Ethiopia in banditry was greater than
the whole ethnic group in the lowlands as the figure in the lawlands was only 9.8%. If we see
the public notice in terms of religion accounting the name of the bandits and
location: Christians 72.6%, Muslims 11. 8% and Unknown 15.6%. Therefore, the Christian
Highlanders involved in Shiftnet almost six times of Muslim community in the lowlands.
Therefore, according to statistical information of the public notice, the dominant bandits were
the Kunama ethnic group in lowlands of Eritrea covered 13.8%, though the British
Administration put huge reward for searching Awate who might be the most wanted person.
Even though it needs deep research, it is very hard to say that the only Kunama ethnic group
was victims of “Shiftas” or bandits as far as the treat coming from other ethnic groups is less
in figure, though the figures could not give us clear information of thickness of the banditry.
On contrary, we should not forget the victims hurt by “Shiftas” activities coming from the side
of Kunama people; it is wrong that DMLEK’s presentation which sounds that the only Kunama
people are the victims of Hamid Idris Awate. In fact the concentration of “Shiftnet” was much
higher and worse in the highlands and extended its damage to all areas in lowlands. Political
motivated accusation only directed against Hamid Idris Awate intending to eliminate his role in
national armed struggle is not fair and acceptable, because there must be an independent
research which studies the gravity and magnitude of “Shiftnet” that caused horrible
destruction, permanent fear, torture and death of many innocent people in different part of the
country. Who were responsible for these devastations? Presenting Hamid Idris Awate as
criminal and Kunama ethnic group as victims questions the validity of the accusation as far as
the Kunamam societies were not free from the practices of “Shiftnet” which holds the greatest
figure in the lowlands.
256 Mebrahtu Teclesion
Statement condemning the prolonged Democratic Movement for the Liberation of
Kunama Eritrea hero martyr Hamid Idris Awate
Live these days Nfhat pride, and ‫ ﺗﺒﺎرﻳﺢ‬Hui and adoration National lavish,
the Shada breaths anniversary per session for the launch of the
revolution Eritrean, led by our symbol, and the address of pride, and
Abu struggle greatest leader martyr hero Hamid Idris Awate, that man
men, and the lion Commando, which instill love And respect and
appreciation at the same every Eritrean national for days and
successively times, Commander Awate is the image reflected the manifestation of the
Eritrean people, and Oagafth majestic against all attempts monstrosity colonial national
identity, and break his will iron self-determination, and determine its course of national
independent all calls gluing others, and mortgage national will and destiny of the country
in the hands of the enemy, the martyr Awate and his comrades in Miami Kano voice of
the people who said no .. Humiliation .. No .. Meek .. They said their guns eloquent
voice, Vtnaqltha peaks and valleys throughout Eritrea to all Almsama, ‫ ﻓﺎوﻗﻔﺖ‬ambitions,
and the thread first dawn is completed morning in the twenty-fourth of May 1991.
Qrnelios .. I have come and your party that did not come by early, and as we deplore
and condemn what Takiotm its ugly say, Conception sin Choho home icon first, we
deplore more every your attempts to drive a wedge between the people of one nation, and
ethnic groups, multiple religions, and beliefs, and cultures, which constitute the panel
stunning national unity, and a common destiny. And announce explicitly that it is not
for the sacrilege of the code hero martyr Hamid Idris Awate, or which any of his
colleagues who represent mole Ezz in brow home, and calls for self-determination, and
fragmentation of the country, which launched the parties who claim to represent some
nationalities Eritrean, and yes to justice, and the devolution of power ladder, and to live
together in mutual consent under the state of justice and equality, and democratic
system stemming from the heart of the people's will.
Atr congratulations and blessings to our people inside and outside the country on the
occasion of the 51 anniversary of our glorious revolution.
Light lived remembrance of September, and its leader, the hero martyr Hamid Idris
Awate and loyal companions.
Lived student movement, the pride of the nation and future Alaudhae.
Feltkhsa all attempts to break up national unity, but each takes aim to bounce throats
enemies of the people and the nation.
Executive Committee
Qernelios: Arte Mailam’s Political Recklessness
September 10, 2012September 10, 2012 Saleh "Gadi" Johar
257 When the Pharaohs built the Sphinx of Giza it must have been finished with high quality
plaster and colourful paintings, but with time, wind, heat and rain eroded the structure and
left it with a dull facade. The Obelisks of Aksum and the stellaes of Metera faced the same fate;
and though the elements are to blame, it is mainly the lack of maintenance that reduced the
marvellous edifices to rubble.
The largest Eritrean Sphinx is Hamid Idris Awate and no Eritrean patriot should allow that
edifice to be vandalized by anyone; the name of Awate must not suffer from lack of protection
and maintenance. And after reading the tens of condemnations against the transgression on
Awate’s history that I read over the last few days, I am content; swift responses are necessary
in such a situation.
Symbols Are Us
In 1990 when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, his regime immediately changed the street
names and erased anything considered a Kuwaiti symbol to demoralize the people and force
them to forget their identity. Haile Sellassie had launched his project in a similar way to erase
the Eritrean identity beginning by lowering the national Eritrean flag.
If a pillar that supports a bridge is destroyed, the bridge crumples; anyone whose goal is to
destroy a nation begins by demolishing its symbols and watches it crumple. Symbols are
important to a nation, they cement unity and re-enforce the national identity of citizens
Over the years, provocateurs have repeatedly targeted Eritrean symbols to test the resolve of
the people; they failed to kill the nation’s spirit. But since the PFDJ openly betrayed the
people, and itself began to undermine Eritrean symbols, the provocateurs were emboldened
and wrongly concluded it was an open season for assaulting Eritrean symbols.
The PFDJ undermined Eritrean heroes and symbols in an attempt to clear the memory of the
people so that they can start with a clean slate to mould Eritrea as a cult state with Isaias at
its helm. The cult followed on the footsteps of Haile Sellasie and imposed Isaias’ ugly avatar as
a national flag in an attempt to erase the memory of Khedra, Awali’e, the Eritrean people’s flag
of choice. Thus, Isaias’ cult endorsed the blatant aggression of Haile Sellassie on the Eritrean
flag, and on Awate, an a few other main symbols of the nation’s identity. Unfortunately, those
who are supposedly struggling against the status-quo that Isaias’ cult has created have joined
it in targeting Eritrean symbols.
Eritrean nationalism is a result of bloody struggles waged by many generations; and one
cannot separate that nationalism without acknowledging September first 1961 and Mt. Adal,
from where the first bullet whistled. Likewise, it is impossible to remember September first
without imagining Hamid Idris Awate; and denigrating Hamid Idris Awate is equal to
denigrating the struggle that made Eritrea a nation. It is an assault on the Eritrean identity,
and anyone who besmirches the name of Awate, the revered Eritrean symbol, is an enemy
trying to weaken the resolve of Eritreans, one who doesn’t wish the nation well and is a
revisionist of the worst kind.
The provocation
For the last five decades, Eritrean patriots have been celebrating September first and
remembering their hero Hamid Idris Awate and the struggle that he launched. Ironically on
September first of this year, the Democratic Movement for The Liberation of Eritrean Kunama
(DMLEK) chose to issue a provocative statement defaming Awate. That in itself is nothing new
since for a while, a few have been following the footsteps of Haile Sellassie and Derg regimes
and indulging themselves in Awate-bashing though many Eritreans tolerated that. As tasteless
258 as it is, the DMLEK statement shows knowledge deficiency and ignorance on their part about
the contemporary Eritrean history. The statement claims that, “the issue of heroic nationalism
of Hamid Idris Awate that was deceitfully conceived by the PFDJ…” It is astounding to discover
that the DMLEK thinks the PFDJ regime reveres Awate! If DMLEK lives with this twisted
perception, any other blunder it commits is understandable.
However, it didn’t stop there, for on September 8, Qernelios Esman, the leader of DMLEK
posted the following follow-up on his facebook page which is registered under “Arte Mailam,”
his fictitious name:
The rise and fall of Idris Awate is not equal to September,1,the commencing of liberation
struggle. I hope, Idris Awate is not Emperor Hailesillase of Jemaican instead of Bahta Hagos for
the Eritrtean Tigringa speakers. So followers of Idris Awate should look and think otherwise.
DMLEK and its followers have reservation on the role modeling of Idris Awate as a national icon
and its their opinion, period. The true democrat and democratic Eritreans and Eritrea should
take this in to account. Intimidations and statements will not help for the future Eritrea. Eritrea
that doesnot account the pain of Eritrean Kunama and other nationalities is and will not be
Eritrea of all. People should watch out!! DMLEK and its members do not be afraid of statements
and intimidations. Had it been that, we would have not wage war against the shaabiya
regime!!!!!!!
His poor writing style must have betrayed him but Awate never had a “rise and fall,” he only
arose and made his wish come true. And though his writing is not easy to understand,
Qernelios suggested that the children of Awate venerate him just like the Jamaicans venerate
Haile Sellassie. He also identified “Bahta Hagos for the Eritrean Tigringa speakers.”
Being the expert of compartmentalization that he is, Qernelios ignores the fact that Eritrean
heroes belong to all Eritreans, including Bahta Hagos, and not only to the region of tribe they
come from. If not so, why would he claim that only “Tigrigna speakers” venerate Bahta Hagos?
He also insinuates that those who do not give in to his blackmailing tactic, and refuse to let
him get away with his unbecoming behaviour, do not “account the pain of Eritrean Kunama
and other nationalities…” But without going into that, since Qernelios believes that many of
Eritreans revere Awate while Jamaicans worship Haile Sellassie, it would be interesting to
know which of the two was Qernelios’ idol?
Eritreans never worshiped Awate, and that is an insult to many Eritreans who worship only
God, and their revering of Awate and all their other heroes, whose selflessness, bravery and
unflinching patriotism they wish to emulate, is not worship. If Qernelios or anyone else has a
problem with that, it is self-inflicted; attempts to find a scapegoat for their confusion and
mischief will not yield buyers.
But Haile Sellassie is a bit far removed from our times (though the pain of his brutality is fresh
in the minds of his Eritrean victims who wish to see a closure for the sake of the region), the
recent Ethiopian Derg regime, however, had some Eritreans in their ranks, and the idea that
Awate championed has always been their nightmare…meaning, they hated the idea of freedom
as envisioned by Awate. And I do not see many people going into that kind of analysis, so far,
though if provoked more, they might.
A friend laughed at the fire-cracker crisis that Qernelios started and said: “if a dwarf attacks a
giant, the giant should run away least he hurts the dwarf.” I wish it was that easy because I do
not consider Qernelios a common dwarf, he is a leader of the opposition and sits in the
executive committee of the Eritrean National Council for Democratic Change (ENCDC), the
highest institution of the opposition; he is also the leader of DMLEK, which is a member of the
Eritrean Democratic Alliance (EDA), an umbrella organization in which he holds a leadership
259 position. And in addition to that, I know him personally in better situations and I abhor the
moment in which he pushed me to respond to his provocation to the extent that I thought he
deserves a public comment.
When I first read the DMLEK statement, I was irritated like any decent Eritrean, yet, I decided
to contact Qernelios privately to offer him my advice hoping he would convince his
organization to withdraw its provocative statement, and to desist from poking the eyes of the
opposition camp, especially since DMLEK is an entity under which brave combatants are
falling while fighting for their freedom, and it is a member of the ENCDC and EDA. But before I
could contact him, Qernelios shed off all his formal affiliations and repeated what appeared on
the DMLEK statement (which smells of his signature by the way) on his personal facebook
page. And this issue of Negarit was kindled by that second provocation that forced me to
challenge him publicly on the way he is leading DMLK on an antagonistic path.
The Context
Qernelios and his likes base their hate of Awate on primordial folktales and ancient cattle
rustling activities in the Gash Barka region, and that pre-dates the creation of Eritrea, the
dark times when Degiat Wube and other Abyssinian warlords plundered and enslaved the
people of the region. But leaving that old history of plundering episodes aside, since time
immemorial many tribes roamed the region with their cattle for grazing and banditry; and
cattle rustling was a sign of manhood (read Alemseghed Tesfai’s historical novel, ‘Wedi Hadera’
in Tigrinya). At one time, Awate’s intervention was critical in ameliorating the rampant
banditry and cattle rustling; in the absence of peace and security, and the non-existence of an
effective government, Awate and his colleagues took it upon themselves to protect their people
and property. They voluntarily resisted and fought to end banditry and cattle rustling. Of
course, he forced many bandits out of business while others tried to challenge him by seeking
imperial Ethiopian support which, as history attests, was always forthcoming. Ethiopian
feudal lords always encouraged banditry to fight Eritrean patriotism and resistance.
The history of the Gash Barka is so intricate and is full of sad episodes and gallantry;
Qernelios and his likes can try, but they cannot succeed in revising it. There were always
conflicts between sedentary farmers and pastoralists, and that was further aggravated, mainly,
by Colonel (or Degiat) Gebreqal who operated out of Barentu. This Ethiopian official executed
his government’s policies of establishing settlements which he accomplished by chasing away
pastoralists from the Gash region. Gebreqal had provided tractors, financial support and
armed protection for the settlers, and it was in such a situation that the Ethiopian government
created militia forces to help it pursue its policies, mainly that of eradicating any opposition to
the Ethiopian government. Indeed, since Awate’s days, local militia forces have been chasing
and fighting the Eritrean freedom fighter on behalf of the Ethiopian government. Any
confrontation with Awate, or his followers after his death, should be seen in such a context. It
is also important to note that such activities didn’t happen in the Gash region alone, it
happened in many parts of Eritrea, wherever Ethiopian operatives and militias were active.
It was in this context that the Gash Barka situation has to be seen (minus the insane
exaggerations). Unfortunately, Qernelios’ hate of Awate is not based on any rational judgement
or unbiased researched scholarly findings, but on foolish tribal hate and warped
understanding of primordial conflicts. Sadly, Qernelios’ provocation has reappeared in 2012,
and purposely on September first, when Qernelios is supposed to be a leader of the Eritrean
opposition and celebrating the day. Is it possible that Qerenlios is a novice in politics? Is he so
foolish to insult the symbol of the entire opposition (including his allies) which he supposedly
leads? Has he become a victim of an inflated ego and arrogance has crept into his mind? For
now, I only have questions.
260 The background
There are many people who have decided to ignore Qernelios’ provocation discounting it as a
result of frustration, and that he will grow out of it. Maybe Qernelios had a different
upbringing and that could have influenced his thinking and mannerism. But what Qernelios
and his likes say about Awate is copied word for word from the books of the Haile Sellassie
and Derg regimes, and that is sad.
Conveniently, Qernelios and his likes do not mention the many stories of militias who betrayed
their own Eritrean combatant relatives and caused their arrest and death. But if one is
tempted to speak or write about cold-blooded mass murders, Eritrean memories carry stories
of the massacre of Ona, Besekdira, Gemhot, Ad Ibrahim, Weki Dba, She’eb, and countless
others that are too many to list here. Indeed, Qernelios knows that if one had sided with the
Ethiopian regime, and was armed and salaried by it to fight openly against his compatriots, he
does not have the moral high ground to question Awate’s dedication to his people and country.
And if a sell-out militia force is engaged in a battle against the freedom fighters, well…it was
just a battle, and in a battle there are losers and winners depending on the situation. Those
who were killed in such confrontations are casualties of our sad history; Awate just had to
follow the natural course of history.
It is important to remember that the organization that Awate started never gave up on trying to
bring all Eritreans who were on the wrong side of history to the fold of the struggle, including
the Derg paid militia. And we all know that by the seventies, that arduous and long struggle
succeeded: every Eritrean group, ethnicity, region and religion was part of the struggle and
fought for the freedom of Eritrea. That was the accomplishment of Awate’s mission, and vision.
Awate was a hero who saw Eritrea as one inseparable entity whose people were destined to
prosper and suffer together. Anyone who doesn’t recognize that and doesn’t respect it has a
problem within himself; sadly, Qernelios chose to undermine Awate’s nationalism instead of
being proud of it.
Looking foreword
Qernelios has a tendency to think that he is the link, the gate-keeper, between Kunama
Eritreans and non-Kunama Eritreans. If he has it his way, he would isolate the Kunama
Eritreans from the rest. Kunama or not Kunama, Eritrean patriots are all the children of Awate
and they will not allow anyone to police the communications and outreach among Eritrean
citizens, whatever their faith, creed, or language. The wall that is being erected between
different Eritrea linguistic groups and segments should be demolished.
Incidentally, hundreds of brave Kunama fighters sacrificed their lives pursuing the dream of
Awate and left a legacy of humility, bravery and loyalty. Ask anyone who had a chance to fight
alongside Kunama combatants and you will hear only praises and stories that would seem like
fairytales to those who didn’t experience it firsthand. On one unfortunate night in a clash with
an Ethiopian force, myself and about a dozen others were saved from an imminent death by
Abu Riha, a Kunama combatant who was in the ranks of the ELF. If not for Abu Riha’s bravery
and selflessness, we would have all perished. Abu Riha was a brave Eritrean warrior and
certainly a son of Awate, may God bless Abu Riha wherever he is.
Qernelios has been behaving out of character for a while; like a cowboy in a Western movie, he
is the only one who attends the EDA meetings carrying a pistol and finding a way to make the
attendants notice it. Maybe that makes him feel more important than the rest; but why would
he try to intimidate men who have been in worse situation and were not intimidated? Does
that make him feel more powerful than the rest? Who empowers him to that extent, and why
261 him alone? Those questions are open to scrutiny and I hope someone somewhere has an
answer to that and would share it with the public.
I wish Qernelios would understand that every Eritrean should be concerned, and should
struggle to alleviate the suffering of any citizen, whatever the ethnicity of the victim. Taking
national initiatives is the responsibility of all citizens, national concerns should not be
apportioned based on one’s tribal or ethnic affiliation. It is upon all Eritreans to feel the
sufferings of other Eritreans. Linguistic groups should not be treated like a MacDonald’s
franchise.
Conclusion:
I personally encourage Qernelios and his organization to withdraw their statement and to stop
their obsession with Awate bashing. If they have grievances against Awate, real or perceived, I
encourage them to present it in a coherent scholarly manner for a debate. If Qernelios
continues on his current path, I am afraid he will lose the legitimacy to lead the diverse
Eritrean opposition and I do not think anyone wishes to lose him. As it is now, it is obvious
that there is a serious violation of all political decorum and ethics, and that has exposed the
unity of the opposition to unnecessary risks. The ENCDC and the EDA should sternly demand
rectification of the blunder and if that is not forthcoming, they should not be blackmailed and
must take disciplinary actions in a manner they see fit. Someone who doesn’t share the
inspiration of the opposition camp has no business leading it or partnering with it.
Long live the spirit of Awate
POLITICAL RECKLESSNESS HAD BEGAN IN SALEH “GADI” JOHAR
The response by Saleh Johar to the article posted by DMLEK leadership on September 01,
2012 concerning about the Hamid Idris Awate, the so called Eritrean icon was good to see in
different angles. The article of Saleh “Gadi” Johar; Qernelios: Arte Mailam’s Political
Recklessness on September 10, 2012; would have been good if he argues only to the
concerned subject. But he went beyond the point and indulges in character assassination to
the leadership of DMLEK. Such kind of disrespectfulness cannot yield any fruit in our struggle
to overthrow the dictator regime of PFDJ in Asmara. Therefore, the kunama people as Eritrean
citizens and the leadership of DMLEK will not accept such kind of blunder to our leaders who
are fighting for our freedom. And it’s not only bad but also a shame to mock on the kunama
intelligence as if kunama is still in stone ages.
First of all distorting the history of someone cannot conceal his real and controversial life
history. In his article, Saleh “Gadi” Johar has painted only the good side of Hamid Idris Awate
in which he wants to be known; ignoring the other, unfortunate bad side in which he
persecuted the innocent kunama women and children.
As a leader of vanguard kunama organization DMLEK, Kornellios Osman has to write and
utter what his people feel, think and say. However, in this context not only Kornelleos but also
the leadership of DMLEK has put it in a lucent way. Accordingly, he has emphasized that,
“Hamid Idris Awate is not a national icon to all the nine Eritrean nationalities. But we can
agree that September 1st could be the beginning day of Eritrean independence struggle.
However, we have to conduct study to unveil whether he has committed evil deeds upon the
kunama nationalities and others or not.” And finally he gave the alternative that, “…those who
wish to be the son of Awate can be the son of Awate, and those who do not want to be the son
of Awate can be the son of nine nationalities of Eritrea; and it has to be known at least in
political view that ‘we all are not the son of Awate’.” This was written in the article posted in
DMLEK’s website www.mesel-biherat.com and other opposition websites.
262 Up to now the atrocities committed against kunama by Hamid Idris Awate were not revealed
exclusively. That is why study is needed to know the truth for the reason I will mention in the
last. Any kunama wherever and in which political affiliation he/she is will not forget what
Hamid has done on the kunama people and can tell you his anguish. There are survivals of the
victim whose mothers and infant brothers and sisters were slaughtered in front of them by
Hamid Idris Awate and his colleagues. At the same time we have elders alive who fought for
defending their people and properties against this warrior or shifta.
Saleh “Gadi” Johar have said that,
“Hamid Idris Awate was critical in ameliorating banditry cattle rustling in the absence of peace
and security and non existence of an effective government, Awate and his colleagues took it up
on themselves to protect their people and property. They voluntarily resisted and fought to end
banditry and cattle rustling.”
Ironically enough, it was Awate and his colleagues who killed innocent kunama people and
loot their cattles endangering peace and security in the region. Those kunama women and
children who were killed by Hamid Idris Awate and his colleagues were not bandits nor were
they supporters of Ethiopian government. Saleh Johar explicitly knows that the kunama
people have done nothing with annexation of Eritrea to; as was said its “mother land”, Ethiopia
after the Federation era. It was done by the then “Hager Fikir” or “Andinet Party” and their
supporters. For your information, kunama as one of the nationalities has opposed the
annexation of Eritrea to Ethiopia at that time. It was written in the book that most of the
kunama history was defending from neighboring warriors who wage war incessantly. DMLEK
has prepared to reveal in the near future about the atrocities committed against kunama
people before and after Eritrean Nationhood begins. Therefore it is shame and insult to say to
those kunama women and children who were killed by Hamid idris Awate and his colleagues
were bandits and supporters of Ethiopian government.
If Saleh “Gadi” Johar is telling us the true history of Eritrea especially about how the ‘Gedli’
started and what atrocities have committed by every involving party, it has to be full-fledged
history, not partial.
After all Johar has told us the distorted history of Hamid Idris awate and his bandits. He has
exploited this opportunity to provoke in planting hatred towards the DMLEK leader, Mr.
Kornellios Osman. However, this is the feeling of kunama people and their organization, so
that your trial to isolate Kornellios from his people is futile. The kunama people who have real
history of tragedy can tell you what you have consciously omitted the evil deeds of Hamid Idris
Awate.
It is better to understand that by concealing the bad history can only hold grudge in the hearts
of victims, the kunama people on one side and gruesome and provocative movement by
persons like Saleh “Gadi” Johar on the other side will not bring everlasting unity and peaceful
coexistence in our beloved country, Eritrea. Nevertheless, if you conceal the history for the
sake that there might be revenge or any other reasons; don’t worry, DMLEK have made it clear
in his congresses that no kunama nor the DMLEK leadership nor its freedom fighters have an
intention to revenge or will commit tit for tat. Therefore, Johar has to write the true history of
Hamid Idris Awate so that every citizen will learn from it and tries to defend in order not to
happen such kind of evil things anymore. At the same time by knowing our drawbacks we will
concentrate on the future so that all nationalities or citizens of Eritrea will work hand in hand
to overthrow the dictator regime of PDFJ and consolidate the Eritrean unity and sovereignty as
a whole.
Shame on You!! The leaderships of the so called “secular forces”- EPDF (Sagem) and
263 ESNF (Dihnet)
Am boiled, irritated but in vain when the conspirators’ statements of both organizations heard
and read. “Am writing from an unusual place, Tessenei, the hinter land of our Kunama leaderBadumme Kasu. Today, Tesseney (Sanay, as the original inhabitants Kunama used to call) is
not the home of the indigenous Kunama. As usually, they are pushed off to the out skirts with
out compensation. I am veteran fighter of ELF/sagem but “retired.” My experiences of Bahti
Meskerem’s anniversary vary from place and time. I experienced the forceful expulsion of
urbanized Kunama of Barentu town for the burial ceremony of Hamid idris Awate. Till today, I
never had encountered a jubilat Bahti Meskerem for the Kunama because the dramas, poems
and messages on this event, always, hurts and creates an awkward situation for Kunama in
Eritrea.
My experience of 51st anniversary celebration was rather ugly and specifically painful for
those living and remnants of Takalamba villages. A school boy from the Nara nationality was
made to read a poen in Arabic that glorifies of Hamed idris Awate’s “courageous” and “herioic”
deeds at a Kunama village called Takalamba. The residents of this village were pillaged, looted
and killed. To day apart from those exiled, a very few remnants are in Sumbare village,
confined in a small pocket surrounded by Tigre speaking Eritreans. The moment they heard
the poem, the eyes of over all Kunama is changed in to pepper. You can read a stress on their
face and fatigue on their muscles as they used the utmost labor or sweat to distance them
selves from that scene as soon as possible. It was bad and felt bad as to where I belong.” (It’s a
testimony of an eye witness from inside Eritrea and translated to English from)
Behold Eritreans! This is a personal account of a Kunama from in side Eritrea and written in
Kunama language. Many an unnecessary expressions are omitted to avoid un necessary
perceptions. By the way, every Eritrean should know that, whenever a new Septemper 1,
approaches, you can read a bad temper, stress and discomfort on the face of every Kunama.
Let me give you simple examples; at the Akaki national conference of 2010, the kunama
representatives were with their tears when see the picture of Awate. Were up set as they see
the work shop made in his name and called the leadership of DMLEK and expressed their
resentments, call it first? At the Hawassa conference, when brother Mohammed Saleh-the
representative and member of ELF, read the poem that praised Awate, the entire 19 Kunama
representatives were in tears and swore to leave the hall. But the leadership has eased. In
other words, September1 is becoming a challenge for the DMLEK to convince its members and
the entire Kunama. To day, the entire Kunama, regardless of their political inclination and
belief, rallied around their organizational statement of DMLEK and ironically the hatred on
Awate has sealed off their internal grievance and secondary conflicts which is a blurred reality
for dihnet and sagem’s leadership. As they heard the contents of both organizations
statements, they prefer to remain on their stand, be proud Kunama and face any eventualities
than to hear the name of Hamed Idris hereafter.
While facts look as such, the two member organizations EDA,( EPDF and ESNF) to test their
loyalty to Tadamun and to express their insatiable greed of worshipping their boss,t the
Tadamun, want to twist the wrist of DMLEK and Kunama for an apology. On top, derailed from
the main stem issue, ignored the pain of our Kunama at any anniversary or conference venues
of September, want to force us to
264 apologize and adorn their “hero.” As they have their hero, the Democratic Movement for the
Liberation of Eritrean Kunama-DMLEK has its own symbolic flag but never pressed to member
organizations to recognize or accept. Then, why should DMLEK, its members and Kunama be
forced to worship the symbol they feel bad and painful? Why should DMLEK, Its members and
Kunama be forced to take an appointment and permission to express their resentment and
explain their pain? If they are not willing to share our pains, they should even not contemplate
to forbid us to express our pains and pleasures. Who gave them the mandate and right to
scale our pains? Who is the Thermo meter for the Kunama pain? I say shame on them!! We all
know the conspirator theory of these two organizations: Expel all the national, ethnic and
secular forces from all Eritrean coalitions and forums and be the sole alternatives for the
Tadamun forces and to remain life long leading organizations, being first, and propelling and
promoting minorities to a better positions and ruling behind the curtain is the second, they
used to marketing them selves as sole power brokers and contenders at the mercy of the
Islamic organizations. The leadership of DMLEK, friendly ethnic organizations and secular
forces are totally against the so called Sagem-Dihnet satanic axis. The two organizations are
hell bents to feel, sense and scale the pain of the Kunama. While the reality seems as said,
their theory of isolation looks exactly to that of PFDJ. DMLEK, as a democrat organization,
never intends to impose its priorities on others and expects a reciprocal approach from. If
ready to compromise and want to put the regime’s departure a prior, then, come to the terms
DMLEK has stipulated to their God Father, Saleh Gadi, and if not leave DMLEK, other ethnic,
democratic and secular forces alone. We can be on our selves with or with out all the anti
unity, anti change, obsolete and depreciated leaderships of the two organizations and their
likes.
Sittal Meram
The Kunama organization’s and its leader’s suspension from the Eritrean democratic
change is a “Wake up call”, not only for the Kunama and their leader but for all
genuine, democratic forces in Eritrea.
In my writings, I never confronted my fellow Eritrean oppositions’ leaders or individuals or
political organizations before believing that we are fighting the same tyrant, Isayas Afewerki.
But when “push turns into shove” from the same oppositions or individuals, I do not have any
choice except to confront them or him and give them or him a “piece of my mind”. So let me
start with the main Awate’s apologist Sheikh and journalist Saleh Gadi Johar. According to
our research, Saleh Gadi Johar was born and grew up in the city of Keren, Eritrea. Saleh Gadi
barely crossed the winding road of Tunkunlahas to join the Eritrean Liberation Front, E.L.F, at
young age; and Jebha sent him to the Arab countries where he studied journalism and, finally,
he came to U.S.A. And now, from America and through books, he pretends to know his icon
Hamid Idris Awate and the Kunama history more than Kunama themselves. And that is
outrageous just to say the least. In his writing, Qernelios: Arte Mailam’s Political Recklessness,
Saleh Gadi Johar tried to reprimand Cornelius Esman for saying or writing, according to Saleh
Johar, ill about Hamid Idris Awate, his icon but mass murderer or rebel for Cornelius Esman
and Kunama in general . And staunch apologist, Saleh Gadi, tried to defend the indefensible.
The problem and difference between you, not Kunama, and the Kunama people are two
diametrically different realities. We Kunama knew Hamid Idris Awate and his infamous
activities in person or rather it happened to us; we all feel the venomous and painful pinch
even to this very day. We, therefore, could and would tell you live stories and history; real and
265 objective history; history of looting, history of raid, history of pillage and history of mass killing
by Hamid Idris Awate himself and his fellow shiftas. While others, the people who knew Idris
Awate from a distance, e. g. Saleh Gadi and the associates, would tell you a sugar coated
history; a personal cult history and pseudo-history; and then shamelessly they try to tell and
sell to you, the victims. This is the usual, distorted history of Eritrea we are experiencing and
talking about. You know what? Enough is enough. “O medice, cura te ipsum” or O Doctor cure
or take care for yourself first. And let the victims of Awate tell you what had happened to them
in 50 or so years of armed struggle in their territory: in Tika, Aimasa; Fode, Karkasha, Tole
Durna, Ugaro and Badumma…..
Saleh Gadi continued his blunder in Qernelios: Arte Mailam’s Political Recklessness, his
writing of 9/ 13/ 12; “Qernelios and his likes base their hate of Awate on primordial folktales
and ancient cattle rustling activities in the Gash Barka region, and that pre – dates the
creation of Eritrea, the dark times when Degiat Wube and other Abyssinia warlords plundered
and enslaved the people of the region. But leaving that old history of plundering episodes
aside, since time immemorial many tribes roamed the region with their cattle for grazing and
banditry; and cattle rustling was a sign of manhood (read Alemseghed Tesfai’s historical novel,
Wedi Hadera in Tigrinya). At one time, Awate’s intervention was critical in ameliorating the
rampant banditry and cattle rustling; in the absence of peace and security, and the nonexistence of an effective government. Awate and his colleagues took it upon themselves to
protect their people and property. They voluntarily resisted and fought to end banditry and
cattle rustling. Of course, he forced many bandits out of business while others tried to
challenge him by seeking imperial Ethiopian support which, as history attests, was always
forthcoming. Ethiopian feudal lords always encouraged banditry to fight Eritrean patriotism
and resistance”. Yours is a typical, sugar coated, blurry and “weghenawi” writing, Mr. Johar.
So for the sake of clarity let me divide the same writing in short and in three categories:
Primordial folktales and ancient cattle rustling activities in the Gash Barka region, and that
pre-date the creation of Eritrea……….. (Let us say, before the arrival of Italy).
During Italian colony, about 50 years; 1890 to 1940s.
1940s, 50s and 60s Idris Awate’s banditry pick time; and I stress on this period since I am
writing about Awate and his activities in Kunama land. Your icon Hamid Idris Awate was not
only a simple mass murderer of innocent Kunama, but he was leading a group of Shiftas to
terrorise, chase out, or kill and get rid of the Kunama from their fertile land, ethnic cleansing
in today’s language. This legacy continued from Awate to Jebha to Shabia to Shabia
Government. If I may borrow this sentence from Brother Merhawi Kunfu: The Eritrean
Revolution: born of a Shifta father (Awate) produced a Shifta system (Isayas
Government)
Evidence? Consult: a) Kunama victims; b) British Archives; c) Italian Archives; d) Ethiopian
Archives, and e) the present situation we are all experiencing.
Saleh Gadi’s blunder is not over yet, quote: Awate and his colleagues took it upon themselves
to protect their people, and property? Let me ask you these 2 questions: Who were their
people? And what was their property? Saleh Gadi, your logic doesn’t hold water. When you
continue to shut the truth, it will only grow more and brings more questions. Look Sale Gadi
Johar: Awate could be your icon but not Kunama icon; therefore, he cannot be a national
hero.
266 Saleh Gadi’s blunder on Qernelios: Arte Mailam’s political recklessness continues: this time on
religion, “Eritreans never worshiped Awate”, and that is an insult to many Eritreans who
worship only God, and their revering of Awate and all their other heroes, whose selflessness,
bravery and unflinching patriotism they wish to emulate, is not worship. If Qernelious or
anyone else has a problem with that, it is self-inflicted attempts to find a scapegoat for their
confusion and mischief will not yield buyers”.
Saleh Gadi, this is a pure manipulation and distortion of religion and is a very dangerous
game in the land of ours where the knowledge of religion is very limited. Let me explain to you,
sir. I do not know you and I do not think you know me either. But when you are married and
you want to express your affection to your wife you could say to her: I love you. I love more
than I can say. I adore you or I worship you etc. etc. And nothing is wrong whatsoever. In
English language and literature it is called metaphorical or figurative language and that means
not using words in their literal sense. So this use of figurative language is for everybody
including Cornelius’s use of your worshiping icon etc. I do not believe you did not know this
linguistic and cultural technic or mechanism of English language. What I know our Eritrean
political elites are very cruel and crook in manipulating and distorting things in their interests:
e.g. Ato Isayas Afewerki and the likes did so all their lives pitting province against province;
individuals against individuals; pitting Kunama against Kunama…. so when 2 or more groups
fight each other, the tyrant misrules the Country and its people forever and undisturbed: tra
due litiganti il terzo gode. N. Machiavelli.
Mr. Johar, are you following into Isayas footsteps? Agheb. Surprisingly, these days we see the
‘New Kids in the Block’: they are the Kunama-Agara Website and its Associates. They are a
very, very few Kunama elements that, in the past, had eloquently and rightly been writing
against Awate and Awate’s apologists. But overnight they changed their mind and heart in
support of, in their language, villain Awate and his apologists. Oh boy! Is this a political
immaturity or political prostitution, or both? I think these people have problem with good
reasoning, integrity, consistency and, above all, they lost trust in Kunama masses forever.
Maybe they got temporary dementia? Poor guys, I think they need help with good reasoning,
urgently. Finally, my observation on the Eritrean political spectrum.
In 50 plus years of Eritrean politics no shred of democracy in and out of the country you can
observe , feel and hope for; even after 20 plus years living in the lands of democracy and
human rights , Western Europe and North America , those former fighters of both fronts still
are not better than Ato Isayas Afewerki himself, unfortunately. So these forces, Jebha, Shabia
and Oppositions, always blame the victim(s). It is like hanging a person with no trial; certainly,
it is a stupid politics and it stings to its core. For a new idea they blindly declare a subtle
Fatwa that follows intimidation and threat of individuals’ assassinations. I wonder if there is a
human decency and morality in Eritrean politics. Arguably, there is no difference or there is a
little difference between religious and political icons. As a matter of fact, what is the difference
when you cannot even promote or demote your so called political icons? Over inflation, myth
and lie about icons or personalities is a politics of the land.
No academic freedom whatsoever in Eritrea and in Eritrean culture; even Eritrean democratic
oppositions are not exempt. So far, no objective and a true history in Eritrea; all full of biases
imposed by the elites of great divide of Islam/ Christian phenomenon and blindly supported by
majority tyranny and trying to force us, minority Kunama, to believe, to support and to defend
the indefensible . E.g. the case of Hamid Idris Awate, the Kunama arch enemy. And I just
wonder how long we have to tolerate this kind of backwardness created by human animal.
Just pause and think… who is supposed to say sorry, the criminal or the victims?
267 In Eritrea, in the land of infamous Shiftas, Idris Awate, Isayas Afewerki and others in between,
it is the other way around; and behind them there are many who believe so: Awate’s followers.
268 Although his murderous history is obvious, to many Eritreans it is anathema to say ill about
Idris Awate. But in minds and hearts of all Kunama, he was mass murderer and the Shifta at
the worst. We Kunama firmly stand by our message and messenger and, again, our warning to
all Eritrean democratic forces.
Odie mihi, cras tibi.
Today’s my turn, yours tomorrow.
N. Galla January/01/13
269

Hamid Idris Awate, in the minds of the Eritreans: A

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