Your brother
Ogbai Fesseha
San Diego, CA
>>> <TS81@AOL.COM> 09/23/97 08:25pm
>>>
Selam Paulos, Berahan and Dehai,
Paulos hawei I donnow how to thank you for making me aware of what
I
have
missed in Berahan's posting.
Berhan hawei what you have said about Serawit Harnet is
outragious
and
intolelrable. I always tried to be careful not to write my
opinion when I
am
not very familiar with a certain isssue. On this one,
count me in. I can
do it with my eyes closed.
Your statements about Shaabias infiltration into the ranks of ELA is
very
familiar to me. I heard it fifteen years ago, when I was 'retained' (
which
in fact was inprisoned) in Abdallah Idris Semien Camps. These were
the
exact
accusations Abdellah Idris made about Jebha's (ELA) army. First
of all it
is
a total nonsense, because ELA forces' tenacious believe and
trust in
thier
organization Jebha held them firm long time in Korocon and
Tahdai with
little
or no leadership to guide them or support them. They
were being
humiliated
and demeaned to the lowest level of indignity while
their tegadelty sisters
were continuously being harassed by the Sudanese army
- no guns to
protect
them. Why did they have to suffer like that ? Why
didnt they go and join
EPLF rightaway?
If Shaabia had inflitrated ELF, why is it only about 15% of them joined
it?
And this 15% joined EPLF based on pure political stand point:
not
religious,
regionalism or any other biased or croocked purposes. From
their point
of
view, they believed that they could ultimately bring about
political justice
and democracy in EPLF through their struggle. Therefore
they jioned
regardless for their political views against that organization.
There
were
also others who stayed with Abdellah Idris for the same
reason.
Unfortunately, there were also who betraid their own country and
joined
the
Ethiopian army for pure vengence against Shaabia, and ELF
leaders.
Ethiopia
called them Wedo Gheba. About 25% of the army was
scrambled
between the two
groups of ELF-RC and ELF Saghem. The rest (by
far the majority,
Berhan
hawei and unlike your false statements) prefered
to quit rather be a
weapon
of power hungry and corrupt leaders and were
dispersed all over in
diaspora.
It is very sad to see this once best army
of loyalty, of principle, and of
unlimited courage, be discredited,
humiliated, and spitted upon
mercilessly
time and again. But one day, I
assure you that the murderer Abdellah
Idris
and his other carbon copies,
will have their rightous places in our
history,
and the hero Melaake Tecle
and his other carbon copies will have their
rightous places in our history.
I am a living witness to the execution of Melaake. I was there
when
Abdellah
mudered him in cold blood. I knew I shouldn't have gone
there, but I was
ellected by my unit, I was scared, to tell you the truth,
but I didnt have
choice. Melaake Tecle as well, went there when he new what
awaited
him. He
had to go, because he said he was responsible for what had
happened
to
Serawit Harnet - you figure it out what he meant by that. As
to how I
escaped from there, is another story to be told another time and as
it is
irrelevant to the discussion here.
I am not accusing you of siding with Abdellah. I donnow what side
you
are,
and I really don't care. But, when you come with such
distorted
accounts of
my own history and the history of my comrades, I
will respond.
Peace!!
Debesai Solomon.
In a message dated 97-09-23 17:57:48 EDT, Paulos wrote:
<<Selam Berhan,
Writing about the EPLF's rise and its
consolidation of power between
"1977
upto 1988" you wrote:
"..It
[EPLF] applied the "Trojan horse" tactic and infiltrated the ELF from
bottom
to head with active loyal 'agent-cell' by 1980 EPLF established a
strong
coalition with the TPLF of Ethiopia and opened channels
with
western
circles especially USA."
Never mind that you're mixing
two different things but you are making a
serious accusation in the above
statement. The coalition between the
EPLF
and TPLF against the ELF is a
well documented fact. I am interested in
the
first part of your statement
which evidently needs a lot of explanation.
Here is the problem: As I
remember it, that same allegation (EPLF
infiltration in the rank of the ELF)
was Abdella Idris' excuse for
ultimately abandoning the ELA (serawit Harnet)
in the final hours in
August
1981 while the latter was besieged by the
Sudanese army and was
forced to
surrender its weapons to the Sudanese
authorities inside Sudanese
territory.
During the civil war (HadHd QWinat)
of July 1980-August 1981, while,
unfortunately, the war raged in all corners
of Eritrea, brother killing
brother, Abdella Idris and his cronies incredibly
accused the ELA of
retreating unnecessarily and uncharacteristically when it
faced the
advancing EPLF/TPLF forces. And he, Abdella Idris, was supposed
to
have
been the commander-in-chief! Their theory was that the ELA didn't
want
to
kill their brothers - which was true to the extent that the ELF
fighters
hated the idea of killing their own brothers and sisters, period,
not
because any other religious issue that was later raised in some
corners
-
and that there were agents of the EPLF in the ELA. The
accusation by
these
unsavory characters was a fabrication of the truth,
which to date lacks
a
scintilla of evidence supporting it, and an attempt
to cover up their dismal
failures as political leaders and/or military
commanders.
Note: At the end of the 70s, the majority of the ELA were
Christian
highlanders.
Berhan, if there was such a thing as
infiltration by "active loyal
'agent-cells,'" as you put it, I, and many
others I'm sure, if nothing else
just for historical purposes, would like to
know about it; please present
us the evidence. Unless you are prepared to
support your statments
with
facts, you will not convince this reader, and
as such the truth suffers,
because you are repeating today in 1997 what
Abdella Idris, more or
less,
said in 1981.
I had to say the above
because such assaults amount to defaming the
name of
the ELA. And to keep
silent is tantamount to accepting the accusations,
since this discussion is
supposed to be something "we can offer for our
young generation," as Berhan
put it.
Paulos (wedi Mikiel)
(Fairfax, VA, USA)
P.S. This is
not meant to exonerate the EPLF or the role of the EPLF
leadership on the
civil war, I am merely objecting to Berhan's
specific
statements.
>>