Thanks for your input to this importat history of Eritrea. Any chance
that the books you mentioned are translated to english? My arabic is
rather, well...
shukran
Jonathan A. Andemicael
----------
From: Kamal M Ibrahim[SMTP:k.ibrahim@UEA.AC.UK]
Sent: Friday, September 12, 1997 8:49 AM
To: dehai@primenet.com
Subject: Re: [DEHAI] The death of Hamed Idris Awate
Selamat seb Dehai
Can I add the following on how Hamed Idris Awate was recruited
to
lead the armed struggle from a book I am reading. The book is by
Osman Saleh Denden, a "first generation" fighter who joined the
ELF
in 1963. I'll say more about the book after I finish reading it.
I dare say the book is going to be indispensable to anyone who
wants
to actually understand, and not just chronicle, the events of
the
first ten years of our struggle for independence.
For those who have access to Middle Eastern publications, here
is
the full citation:
(mAreket eritrea, al-juzE al-awel, 1961-1970, al-bdaya, yomiyat
al-mArek, al-aHdas; talif Osman Saleh Denden; esdar Am 1995
(llasef
al-nasher ma-mezkur fiQlaf al-ketab))
Translation:
Battle for (of) Eritrea, Part 1, 1961-1970, The Beginning,
diary(?)
of battles and events. By Osamn Saleh Denden, published in 1995,
(publishing House unknown).
This is a highly abridged translation of pages 44 to 53.
Since 1952, Egypt was a refuge for many Eritrean students
seeking
education and their numbers were increasing year by year. They
established a very active student union whose launch in 1957 was
attended by Muhammed Anwer Al-Sadat when he was, among other
things,
secretary of the Muslim Congress which included Egypt Saudi
Arabia
and Pakistan.
Idris Mohammed Adem, ex-head of the Eritrean Parliament, and
Ibrahim
Sultan Ali former secretary of RabiTa eslamya arrived in Egypt
in 1959
and were granted political asylum by the Egyptian government.
The
student met these nationalist leaders many times.
>>
I have omitted a couple of pages detailing the activities of
Idris
Mohammed Adem and Ibrahim Sulatan in Egypt and Saudi and how
Osman
Saleh Sabbe joined them in Jeddah having arrived from Eritrea
via
Yemen.
>>
On the 29th of August 1960, the first founding meeting
(ejtmaA tasisi) of the ELF was held in Cairo chaired by Idris
Mohammed Adem. The students chose from among themselves the
following founding members: Mohammed Saleh Humed (martyr), Said
Housein (martyr), Taha Mohammed Nur, Osman Ibrahim Beshi,
Mohammed
Said AnTeTa, Ibrahim Idris Ahmed (martyr), Idris Osman Gelaidos,
Said Ahmed Mohammed Hashem, Adem Akte, Mohammed Said Ahmeddin.
The meeting called for the complete independence for Eritrea and
endorsed armed struggle as the means of achieving it in a
document
that was declared the constitution of the Eritrean Liberation
Front.
>>
Again I have omitted commentary on how, only three months after
this
historic moment, the attempted coup d'etat in Ethiopia (by Brig
General
Menghistu Nway), affected the image of "Emperor Haile Selassie,
King
of Kings, Lion of Juddah" which the fledgling organization was
trying
to dismantle.
This is followed by a discussion of the status of other African
states
which were still under European colonization (only 17 were
independent
in 1960).
>>
In the same year that it was founded, the ELF made contacts with
many
influential personalities in Western Eritrea via Eastern Sudan.
Among
the first to respond was Sheikh Muhammed Ben Dawud Ben Saidna
MusTafa
from a famous religious family known and respected throughout
the
region. In the middle of 1961, Sheikh Muhammed organized a
meeting
at "ariray" in Barka district. 160 attended the meeting, headed
by
the father of the eritrean revolution, Hamed Idris Awate. The
attendees
decided to endorse the call by ELF for armed struggle against
the
Ethiopian occupation. Awate, who at that time owned eight old
Italian
rifles (?) (I am not sure, the word used in the book is
"benadeQ") and
a single English "bendGya marka arbaA" was far sighted enough to
warn
the attendees about how much preparation needed to be urgently
carried out.
In August, 1961 Awate handed over his eight guns to the
compatriots he
trusted most. He told them to hide in the jungl and wait for his
orders
while he continued his contacts with the outside via Kessela in
the
hope of acquiring more arms.
On the 20th of August 1961, Awate received a letter from
nationalist
elements within the police force in "geluj" telling him that the
government intends to arrest him. He had no choice but to join
his
compatriots although he strongly felt more time and more arms
were
required. This he did on September 1, 1961 a date which ever
since
we have celebrated as "Yom Id Al-sewra".
>>>
The author goes on to tell the events that followed in an
authoritative
and extremely well informed manner detailing dates, names of
people
and places, Awate's leadership and achievements, etc.. For
examples
>>>
Sept 29, 1961 at six AM, Ethiopian special forces named -
anti-gorilla
field forces? - "Qwat al-medan l'mukafeHet al-Asabat" numbering
200
surrounded Awate's small group from all sides of "Ad THay". The
samll
group consisted of 18 fighters. Eight of them were armed with
swords
only. The rest carried very old Italian "guns". They used 303
caliber
British ammunition which got stuck inside the guns and had to be
pushed
using metal rods known as "sheQshaQ".
This was the first battle; one of the enemy officers knew Awate
personally and started shouting "Don't run now, Awate, were you
not
saying that we would meet in the battle field?" Awate did not
reply
to the taunt but aimed and fired where the voice was coming
from. A
loud shriek was heard and that officer was no more.
Awate's group broke through after three hours of fighting; he
killed
three of the enemy and wounded two. One of his men, BeyreQ Humed
(or
Hmed, it is not possible to say which from the way it is written
in Arabic). BeyreQ, who was killed in prison was the first
prisoner
and the first martyr of our revolution. Another fighter was
slightly
wounded.
>>> I wish I had the time to go on ...
PS: Another new book (1996) I can recommend strongly is "tariK
al-Hareka al-Eritriya" by Muhammed Said Nawd, also an ELF
veteran.
Kamal
Norwich, UK