I, too, agree with Jean-Louis that Hamid Idris Awate was an ex-Italian
soldier and an ex-shifta (in the sense of rebel rather than bandit)
during the Brtish Military Adminstration of Eritrea. It's people like
Mohammed Omar Abdellah (Abu Tayara) Osman Abu Shanab, Omar Hamid Ezaz,
who joined him shortly after the first skirmish in September 1, 1961,
who had served in the Sudanese army/police force. I believe much
historical research needs to be done on the-now almost mythic heroic
figure of Awate. I remember a series of informative articles on Awate
were done in the early days of "Haddas Ertra" in 1991-1992. These
articles relied on information and interviews with the surviving early
ELF comrades of Awate who had come to free Eritrea from exile in the
Sudan. As a matter of fact, I remember having translated one of the
Haddas Ertra stories myself, and posted it for the benfit of Dehaiers in
1993. I'll see if I can still retrieve it from my old Mac and re-post
it. Nonetheless, that was interesting information on the martyrdom of
Awate, Jean-Louis.
On the founding of ELF and the members of the early ELF Supreme Council
("la'Eleway bayto" in Tigrinya, "al-Majlis al-A'Ela" (sp?) in Arabic):
Al-Amin Mohammed Said in his book "SEWRA ERTRA: MSGUAMN MNQULQUALN"
(Trans. "The Eritrean Revolution, Advances and Pitfals") tells us that
the ELF was establishjed in Cairo in July 1960 and the prominent
founders were: 1) Idris Mohammed Adem, one-time president of the
Eritrean Assembly in the 50s; 2) Idris Osman Galaidos, a graduate of the
Law school of Cairo University; 3) Mohammed Saleh Hummed, who was also a
graduate of the Law School of Cairo University and had served as an
advisor in the Foreign Ministry of Saudi Arabia before joining the ELF;
4) Said Hussein (martyred), who was a student at Al-Azhar University and
was imprisoned by Ethiopia earlier in an operation in Aqordat; 5) Adem
Mohammed-ali Akete, a graduate from Cairo; and 6) Taha Mohammed Nur, a
law graduate from an Italian school (Al-Amin, p.28). Al-Amin also
points out that the president of the newly-founded organization, Idris
Mohammed Adem, then established contact with Hamid Idris Awate through
the intermidiacy of some meshaikhs in Aqordat. The prominent Sheikh
Suleiman of Duluk played an improtant role in establishing the link
between the Cairo-based ELF and Awate, who by then had achieved a
popular and famous stature among the peoples of Barka and was getting
restless and ready to rebel against Ethiopian occupation.
Wolde-Yesus Ammar, in his article "The Role of Asmara Students in the
Eritrean Nationalist Movement: 1958 - 1968" in the Spring '97 issue of
the journal "Eritrean Studies Review" lists "the following students [as]
the key founders of the ELF in Cairo in the spring of 1960: Abdulkerim
Ahmed, Adem Akte, Hamid Turki, Ibrahim idris (Blenai, Idris Osman
Ghelaidos, Mohammed Saleh Hummed, Mohamed Ali Omaro, Mohammed Ali
Afarora, Mohammed Saied Omar (Antata), Ramadan Mohammed Nur, Saied
Hussein and Taha Mohammed Nur." In the same article, in the endnote
reference, Wolde-Yesus notes, "During the Suez Canal war of 1956, Saied
Hussein, a student at Al-Azhar University, joined the Fedayeen Brigades
comprised as volunteers near Port Said (Egypt) [during the Arab-Israeli
war of that time]. It was the same Saied Hussein who headed "the student
group" that became ELF in 1960; he is said to have relinquished the
chairmanship to Idris Mohammed Adem, former president of the Eritrean
Assembly, who was brought from Eritrea in 1959 with the assistance of
the Cairo student group."
In any case, I thought the real decision-makers of the Supreme Council
were the troika of Idris Mohammed Adem, Idris Osman Gelaidos and Osman
Saleh Sabe, who were self-appointed and who decided to add to their rank
(I beleive, after '65?) Wolde-Ab Wolde-Mariam and Taha Mohammed Nur.
But, up to the time of the Adobha conference in '69, real power rested
in the hands of the former three. Wolde-Ab himself felt alienated from
the decision-making and was put-off by the sectarianism that marked that
dark period of our struggle. He indicated this in his later writings.
I think a good historical work and excellent reading that covers this
period (the best so far, in my opinion) is John Markakis's NATIONAL AND
CLASS STRUGGLE IN THE HORN OF AFRICA (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1987). Tom
Killion's forthcoming HSITORICAL DICTIONARY OF ERITREA has also a wealth
of information for any student of Eritrean history.
aKbariKum,
Elias Amare Gebrezgheir
Lawrenceville, NJ