Paulos , you wrote :
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>Hamed Idris Awate, or Awate,(...) was a member of the Sudanese army or
>police prior to his recruitment by the "High Council" or LaEleway BAito.
> When the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF) was organized in
>Cairo in 1961, the council (LaEleway Baito) started looking for someone who
>could lead the armed resistance inside Eritrea. These folks were basically
>politicians who led the political struggle before they fled the country in
>the late fifties or early sixties but knew nothing about armed resistance.
>Among them were Idris Mohammed Adem (the chairman), Idris Gelawdios,
>Woldeab Woldemariam, Tedla Bairu. They managed to recruit Awate, who was a
>true patriot and he proved a hero, but probably might not have had a
>"grander vision," as you put it.
> Awate(...) unfortunately, didn't last long, and died in November 1962.
>The cause of
>his death is variously said to have been a snake bite or an illness of some
>sort.
>Paulos
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Allow me, since we celebrate the anniversary, to propose slighlty
different version around this most celebrated event :
1) I thought ,till now, that Awate had been a former italian
soldier (before WW2) but not a member of the sudanese army. Among the first
ELF's fighters, there were of course several former sudanese soldiers ,
like Omar Damer or Abou Tayara, but they joined Awate in january 62 only. I
never heard that Awate had joined the Sudanese forces. Can you document
that ?
2) It's difficult to assert the precise membership of the LaEleway
BAito (Supreme Council) before the fighter's conference of december 62 in
Barka: it was then a self-appointed body and eritean politics in Cairo was
rather confused in those months . But i am pretty sure that Tedla Bairu was
not part of it at that time. (As far as Woldeab, I don't know , but surely
Tekie knows).
3) The exact date of Awate's death is not known. But I believe it
was in may 1962. I met, years ago, several old fighters who were with him.
They told me this story : After a two hours's battle in Shakatt Below
where 2 fighters were killed , the ELF fighters who were at that time all
together dispersed themselves in three directions ( towards Keren , Agordat
and Bahri) . Awate and few companions ( a dozen) took the road to Bahri .
They walked the all day . They stopped for rest at night. They had little
to eat, drank milk, and slept. In the early morning, Awate was founded dead
by his companions. He was not wounded, nor had he been the victim of a
snake and was only 51 years old. Was the milk corrupted ? Nobody knows.
If this story is true , the last words of Awate, before going to sleep ,
were to Kouboub Haje , to whom he said " if I die one day, take care of
this gun". He was the only one,at that time, to carry a good rifle with ten
bullets... Since he was the most popular fighter and very appreciated in
villages, his companions kept his death secret for several months.
I hope i did'nt bother you with these details,
Respectfully,
Jean-Louis Peninou