I am glad you wrote the details surrounding Awate's death as told by his
comrades. I will write more tomorrow. In the meantime, I will wait for
Tekie (I assume you meant Dr. Tekie Fesshazion) and others historians to
tell us more.
Paulos
At 04:54 PM 9/3/97 +0200, jean-louis Peninou wrote:
>Selam Paulos,Biniam and others,
>
>Paulos , you wrote :
>____
>>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
>______
>
> 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
>
>
>
>