Fact and Evidence Part IIX:

Leadership rivalry among leaders of the oppostion groups from 1981 to 1991

Researched and comipled by Resoum Kidane[07/06/10]

Accusation and counter- accusation among the Eritrean opposition leaders is not a new phenomenon has a history that goes back to the 1960s. As has been mentioned in this document, there was an allegation against Haraka during the formation of the ELF by Idris M.Adem; in the 1970s there was an allegation against the ELF by the EPLF; in the early 1980s there was an allegation against the ELF-RC by Abdela Idris. After the EPLF defeated the ELF in 1981, there were a number of rival groups within the ELF to mention but a few : Abdella Idris group, Ahmed Nassir group, Ibrahim Totil group and a number of others, all rivals at one time or another. Consequently, the ELF broke into three major factions and gradually fragmented into several groups over the years. This section gives a brief overview of the oppostion leaders' role which none of those leaders worked in practice.

1981-1991
Abdella Idris organized a coup against Revolutionary Council (RC) leadership Ahmed Nassir and his secular colleague in 1982.Barole(2003) ";Rasai is the notorious place in ELF history in the border of Sudan where Abdella Idris took the law on his own hands and did military coup d’etat in 1982. Keshi(2003) adds that Abdella Idris succeeded in snatching power and eliminating his political opponents, and it was a bloody seizure of power, which resulted in the death of Melake Tecle and others. This illegal seizure of power by Abdella Idris created a massive anger and hopelessness within the Eritrean Liberation Army. The splitting of organisation was more exacerabated  after the coup of 1982

Ahmed Nassir the leader of Eritrean Liberation Front-Revolutionary Council (ELF-RC) from 1982-2002.

After the ELF split into three factions, the EPLF leaders designed another intrigue to divided the ELF forces through announcing the proposal of national unity which was adpted on 6/1982 at the meeting of Politbureau which caused for the split of Eritrean Liberation Front-Central Command (ELF-CC/Sagim) into 2 functions in 1982. One by Zemhret Yohannes and Ibrahim Totil joined EPLF in 1987, and the other ed by Tewelde Gebresslasie Another group led. This group which led by Tewelde Gebreslassie split again into two, mainly over self-determination policy and Tewelde's leadership style:One led by Tewelde Gebreslassie (retains the name Sagim), now known as Eritrean Peoples Democratic Liberation Front (EPDLF). Another one led by Abdella Mahmoud, now known as Eritrean Revolutionary Democratic Front (ERDF).
When the EPLF and TPLF relation detorarted in late 1982. One the ELF faction started to improve its relation with the TPLF to attack the EPLF. Based on the principle "The enemy of my enemy is my friend".
TESFAMEHRET ተስፋምህረት ጀብሃ ንሱዳን ክትኣቱ ኸላ ምስ ውሑዳት ሰዓብቱ ኣብ ጋሽ Eዩ ተሪፉ። በዓል ዓብደላ Eድሪስ ነዚ ምስርኣዩ ክልተ ጋንታ ዝኸውን ሰራዊት ኣዋጺOም፣ ንጋሽ ከEትው ፈቲኖም ነይሮም። “ቱምሳሕ ዝመርሖ ናይ ደባይ ኣሃዱታት ክንምስርት Iና” Eዮም Iሎም። ቱምሳሕ ናብU ምስ ከደ ግን፣ በዓል ተስፋምህረት ቀቲሎሞ። ንጠንቂ ናይቲ ቕትለት ብዝምልከት ብልክE ዝፈልጦ Eኳ Eንተዘይብለይ፣ ከም ግምተይ ሕነ ናይ መልኣከ Eዩ ዝመስል። (ኣብቲ ድሓር ዝቐጸለ ምEባለታት ተስፋምህረት ምስ በዓል ዓብደላ ርክብ ዘይብሉ፣ ኣብ ከባቢ ጋሽ ከምዞም ናይ ውግE ጎይቶት (ዎርሎርድ) ኮይኑ በይኑ Eዩ ተሪፉ። መርገጺU ዝያዳ ናብ ጉጅለ ትያር ዝዛዘወ Eዩ ነይሩ። ድሓር ግን ምስ ትያር Eውን ተባቲኹ፣ ምስ ሳበ ኮይኑ። ካብ ሳበ ተፈልዩ Eውን መሊሱ ምስ ጃስር ኮይኑ። ነዊሕ ጸኒሑ ድማ ምስ ሻEብያ ርክብ ጀሚሩ። ፈለማ ሻEብያ ኣይነጸግዎን። ከምዝዝከር ኣብ 2ይ ጉባኤ ህ.ግ. ጉጅለ ጃስር ወኪል ሰዲዶም ነይሮም Eዮም። ጸኒሑ ግን ተስፋምህረት መገዱ ስለዘይቕንA ምስ ሻEብያ ተገራጭዩ። ስጉምቲ ተወሲዱሉ። መዓስከሩ ተደምሲሱ። ኣብቲ መዓስከር ኣሲሩዎም ዝጸንሐ ናይ Eንዳ ትያር ኣባላት ተፈቲሖም። ተስፋምህረት ከኣ ኣብ ከባቢ ተከዘ ኮይኑ ክቃወም ኣብ ዝፈተነሉ ተቐቲሉ።)


Sheik Abu Sihel

Sheik Abu Sihel left the ELF in 1975, and he founded the Eritrean Islamic Jihad Movement (EIJM) when a group of Islamist-minded guerillas split off from the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF) that had been fighting since the beginning of the Eritrean independence movement. In the 1980s, the Jabhat Tahrir al-Iritriyya al-Islamiyya al-Wataniyya (The National Eritrean Islamic Liberation Front), the Munzamat al-Ruwwad al-Muslimin al-Iritria (The Organization of Eritrean Pioneer Muslims), al-Intifada al-Islamiyya (Islamic Awakening) and others were founded, some in Sudan. De,Waal (Human Rights Watch :1991:252) adds that the Eritrean Islamic Liberation Front ("Mujuhideen") headed by Ibrahim Ali, Islamic fundamentalist in orientation, and supported by the International Muslem Brothers and the Sudanese National Islamic Front. After  the 1991, the ELF, ELF the National Council , ELF the United Organization, the Eritrean Islamic Jihad Movement issued a memorandum of political declaration for national reconcillation, but ELF- the Revolutionary Council boycotted the meetings of the four organizations that had issued the memo opposing the participation of the Eritrean Islamic Jihad Movement in the meeting.
The EDM which was founded by Hiury in 1977 split into three groups: in 1982:1.Democratic Movement for the Liberation of Eritrea (DMLE), led by Gerebrhan Zeriewas, 2.Eritrean Peoples Democratic Movement (EPDM), led by senior ex-EDM members and 3.EDM (Retained the original name), led by Hiruy Tedla Bairu
In March 1982 Abdalla Idris faction represented an increase sectarian muslim element that received substatial support from Saudi Arabia (Killon 194). In the 1980s, the Jabhat Tahrir al-Iritriyya al-Islamiyya al-Wataniyya (The National Eritrean Islamic Liberation Front), the Munzamat al-Ruwwad al-Muslimin al-Iritria (The Organization of Eritrean Pioneer Muslims), al-Intifada al-Islamiyya (Islamic Awakening) and others were founded, some in Sudan. During 1982-83, Abdalla toured Arab capitals claiming to represent the main stream ELF and using Islamist rhetoric to gain support.
There was a dialogues among the Eritrean Liberation Front; the Eritrean Popular Liberation Front, Eritrean Liberation Front- Revolutionary Committee and the Eritrean Liberation Front – Popular Liberation Forces. These dialogues brought about an agreement known as Tunisia Accord. Following the failure of the Tunisia Accord; the ELF factions under the leadership of Abdullah Idris, ELF the Revolutionary Committee under the leadership of Abdulgadir Jailani and ELF the Popular Liberation Forces under the leadership of Osman Saleh Sabe engaged in dialogues under the sponsorship of Saudi Arabia and Sudan. These dialogues led to the emergence of what was known as the Eritrean Liberation Front - the United Organization. However, that experience relapsed because of differences led to its split into two parties under the Eritrean Liberation Front - the National Council under the leadership of Abdullah Idris and the Eritrean Liberation Front - the United Organization under the leadership of Osman Saleh Sabe. And then the Eritrean Liberation Front of Abdullah Idris divided into two parts; the one under the leadership of Abdullah Idris and the other under the leadership of Abdulgadir Jailani, while the United Organization remained united under the leadership of Osman Saleh Sabe. Source Abdulrazig Karar
There are still fresh in the memory of every  Eritrean the events of May, 1988 when the Ethiopian forces crushed to death  400 people, mostly women and children when their tanks rolled into the village of She'eb. Despite this atrocity was committed by the Mengistu government, from late 1986 until about 1989 the ELF leader Abdella Idris was involved in negotiating with the Mengistu government (De, Waal 1991:252) As the progress of this could be the Mengistu regime in late 1988 met with five former ELF members (who claimed to represent 750,000 Eritreans) to accept their proposal for the creation of an autonomous Eritrean region in the predominantly Muslim lowlands.
Killon (194) The finall disintegration of the old ELF, followed by the death of Osman Saleh Sabe in 1987, and the rise of a strong movement towards Islamism among Abdella faction, the newly formed Islamic Jihad and another ELF-UO faction led by Omer Burj.According Awate. com Eritrean Islamic Islah Movement (Islah) & Eritrean Islamic Party for Justice & Development (Alkhalas):  One of the by products of the collapse of the ELF, which had largely managed to subdue Islamist tendencies, these two Islamist groups owe their origins to the late 1980s when the EPLF, following the collapse of the ELF, took control of the Western lowlands regions. Alkhalas was originally called the Eritrean Islamic Jihad Movement but changed its name to Alkhalas in 1998. Over the years, like most of Eritrea's organizations, the group now has other splinter groups including Eritrean Islamic Congress led by Hassen Salman (aka Abu-Bara’e) and other smaller groups. Alkhalas is led by Amir Mohammed Aamr and AlIslah is led by Mohammed Ahmed Saleh (aka Abu Suhail.) Websites: Islah – islaher.org ;  AlKhalas: alkhalas.org. The two organizations were at their peak in the late 1980s and 1990s when the environment, particularly the prevailing environment between Eritrea and Sudan, provided them with safe sanctuary and moral/financial assistance. Despite aggressive campaigns by the Eritrean regime to list these two organizations as "terrorists", they are classified as a pressure groups because they have no cross-national aims and they do not target civilians. [Source Proliferation Of Armed Resistance In Eritrea-http://www.awate.com/portal/content/view/4660/9/

 

Fact and Evidence Part IIX:[1961-2010 The consequent disunity of political leaders