Crime committed against civilians by the ELF and EPLF during the armed struggle

During the liberation struggle Eritrean people not only became the victims of the Ethiopian government but were also killed by the ELF and EPLF. The crimes against the Kunama people which is committed by the PFDJ is not new but has history go back before Idris Awate started the armed struggle. The legacy of Hamid Idris Awate, to the Eritrean „Gedli“ (struggle), seen, experienced and analysed from the Kunama perspective The VKP/KAM: (September 30, 2009). In the 1960s the Kunamas people became the first victim of the ELF leaders. According to Yosef 2009, many houses with their inhabitants inside; men, women and children indiscriminately killed; entire fertile areas abandoned (later to be settled mainly by the Tigrignas), their cattle plundered and sold in Kessela; etc. Here is how the VK/ KAM team of the baden-kunama.com website puts it “To a very considerable number of Kunama, who had not only known Hamid Idris Awate personally, but they had also had to abandon their land and villages set ablaze by him and their entire cattle raided and sold in the market places of Kassala (Sudan), the news of this same Hamid Idris Awate, been chosen as the leader of a national liberation movement was not only very surprising but profoundly shocking. As a continuation of this atrocity, in the early sixties (1960s) and late seventies (1970s), started to conduct retaliatory activities against the Kunama people, burning Kunama villages, even with their inhabitants inside their huts. VKP/KAM (May 18, 2009) [About the background history of Hamid Idris Awate? October 30, 2012)

	The late Barambars Sila Abel Fagi 1974+ The first Kunama SDO (Senior District Officer) of Barentu. A man of courage and total dedication to and commitment for the welfare and well-being of his Kunama people on whose behalf had to sacrifice his own life by falling victim of that ruthless Jebha command in the Kunama land. source baden-kunama.com
	LT. Venanzio (Naite) Araia +1981. The late LT. Venanzio (Naite) Araia: One of the Kunama heroes, fallen victim, struggling against the recial hatred and discrimination against the Kunama people, perpetrated by the Jebha-Al-Teharir´s unit, operating in the Kunama land, from the early 1967 1982. source baden-kunama.comi

Alexander Naty in his reaech paper " potential conflict in the former Gash-Setit regine" states that the killing of two Kunama brothers by a Tigrinnya policeman in Shambakko in 1995 was a symbolic reminder of the historical animosity between the Kunams people and the Eritrea Liberation Front. During the early 1960s the ELF killed a Kunama man from the village of Taikanaba .[Read more]

The people of the Red Sea area were also among the first groups to be victims of ELF; although the people waited patiently [read more] In the 1960s the Red Sea Afar people also became victims of the ELF leaders, ccording to Afar Forum, many civilians mostly innocent children, the elderly and women were mass murdered and buried in a barbaric manner at a place called Nabro. That was the response the people got from the so called “liberators”. Afar Forum adds that. Some of the blind measures taken by the so called political groups are:-The Ramlo (Ar’anu) forced genocide in 1968 by ELF; The 1974 direct and indirect mass killings by ELF and The 1968 genocide by the EPLF in 1968 in a place called Bori Asela.Source Destructive strategies of the EPLF regime

In the 1960s there was a report of the ELF leadership crimes on highlanders. Megesteab (2005: 43) states that fifty Christian peasants were also executed at the behest of the ELF leadership . Another version of this story between 15 and 25 civilians were killed by the ELF in Shimbare, they were killed by vigilante off duty tegadelti of ELF, who were thought to be avenging after their village was burned by Ethiopian soldiers. (Araya 2005). However, the ELF leadership should be blamed for the death of civilians who were killed by the ELF fighters (tegadelti).

ብዕለት 20/11/1965 ዓ.ም. ድማ ሓንቲ “ብቐዳመይቲ ክፍሊ” እትፍለጥ፡ ብተጋዳላይ ማሕሙድ ዲናይ እትምራሕ ሓይሊ ተጋድሎ ሓርነት ኤርትራ (ተ.ሓ.ኤ.) ካብ ባርካ ተበጊሳ ናብ ቆሓይን ብምኻድ፡ ናብ ዓዲ ሓንስ ኣተወት።

ሰራዊት ተ.ሓ.ኤ (ጀብሃ) ናብ ዓዲ ሓንስ ምስ ኣተዉ፡ ብቐጥታ ነቲ ህዝቢ ኣኪቦም፡ መደረ ከስምዑ ጀመሩ። ሻቡ ሓው ሻምበል ኣሰፋ ስላምሳ ዚኾኑ፡ ባሻይ በርሀ ስላምሳ ዚተባህሉ ምስሌነ ዓዲ ብድድ ኢሎም፡ “ስምዑ እዞም ደቀይ፡ ንስኻትኩም እንታዎት እኹም? ናብዙ ዓድና መምጺእኹም ምኽንያትከ እንታይ እዩ?” ክብሉ ተወከሱዎም። መራሒ ኣታ ክፍሊ ተ.ጋ. ማሕሙድ ዲናይ፡ “ንሕና ጀብሃ ኣልታሓሪር ኣል ኤለትርያ” ኢና ንብሃል፤ ንኣኻትኩም ናጻ ከነወጽእ ድማ ኢና መጺእና” በሎም። እኩብ ህዝቢ ዓዲ ሓንስ፡ እተን “ጀብሃ ኣልታሓሪር ኣል ኤለትርያ” ዝብላ ናይ ቋንቋ ዓረብ ቃላት፡ ትርጉመን ስለ ዘይተረድኦ ትሒም ትሒም በለ።

ሻቡ ምስሌነ ዓዲ ዚነበሩ ባሻይ በርሀ ስላምሳ፡ “እሕሕ” ኢሎም ጎረሮኦም ድሕሪ ምጽራይ፡ “ስምዑ እዞም ደቀይ፡ ንሕና ደቂ ጋንዛይን ደማስን ደቂ ኣድከመ-ምልጋእ እና። ኣብ ትሕቲ እግዚኣብሄር ኣምላኽና ኴንና ከዓ ኣብ ሓቅን ፍትሕን ዝተመስረተን እንምርሓሉን ናትና ሕግን ናትና ባይቶን ኣሎና፣ በዙይ እናተዳነናን እናተመራሕናን ከዓመ ምስ ኩሉ ህዝቢ ብሰላም እንነብር ሓረስቶት እና። ስለዙይ ንሕና ፈታዊ’ምበር ጸላኢ የብልናን። ኣብ መሬትናን ዓድናን መጺኡ ዘሸግረና ሓይሊ ስለ ዘየለ ከዓ ብረትን ሓውን ኣየድልየናን እዩ። ስለዙይ፡ ንሎሚ ሽሻይና ተቛዲስኩም ኣብ ዓድና ውዒልኩም ሕደሩ፡ ጽባሕ ንግሆ ግን ካብዙ ቦታና ናብ ዝመጻእኩሞ ብሰላም ውጹልና!” በሉዎም።

ብድሕሪ’ዚ መራሒ እታ ሓይሊ፡ ነዚ ዝስዕብ ሕቶ ኣቕረበ፥ “ቅድሚ ክልተ ሰሙን ኣብዚ ከባቢ ናይ ተዂሲ ምቅይያራት ተጌሩ ነይሩ፣ ብዛዕባ’ዚ እንታይ ትፈልጡ?” ኪብል ተወከሶም። ሻቡ ሓደ ሽማግለ ካብቲ እኩብ ህዝቢ ብድድ ኢሎም፡ “እወ፡ ኣብ መንጎ ሰራዊት መንግስትን ገለ ዘይንፈልጦም ዕጡቓትን ኣብ በራቒት ዝጀመረ ረመጽ፡ ክሳብ’ዙ በረኻ ዓድና ልሒሙ ነሩ፡ ኣብ መወዳእትኡ ግን እቶም ዕጡቓት ሓደ ምዉት ገዲፎም ሃዲሞም ከይዶም፡” ክብሉ ምስ መለሱ፡ ሰራዊት ተ.ሓ.ኤ. ሰላሕ ኢሎም ካብቲ ዓዲ ብምውጻእ፡ ናብ በረኻታት እቲ ዓዲ ገጾም ተዓዝሩ፤ ህዝቢ ድማ በቲ ፍጻመ ንሓድሕዱ እናዕለለን እናዘተየን ነናብ ቤቱ ፋሕ በለ።

ንጽባሒቱ ዕለት 21 ሕዳር 1965 ዓ.ም. ወጋሕታ ግን ኣብ ዓዲ ሓንስ ብሃንደበት ኣውያትን ዋጭዋጭታን ተሰምዐ። ሓይሊ ማሕሙድ ዲናይ፡ 130 ዝኾኑ ዕጡቓት ሒዛ ናብ ዓዲ ሓንስ ብምምላስ፡ ን36 ሰባት ብግፍዒ ቀተለት። ንምስሌነ ዓዲ ባሻይ በርሀ ስላምሳ ድማ ምስ ሻዱሻይ ርእሶም ናብ ማይ ጐርዞ ዝብሃል ቦታ ወሲዶም ምስ ጸጋይ ዝብሃል ወዶም ድሕሪ ምቕታል፡ ርእሲ ባሻይ በርሀ ስላምሳ ቆሪጾም ሒዞሞ ከዱ።

ኣብቲ ህልቂት ኣቶ ሃይለ ስላምሳ ዚተባህሉ ሓዎም ንባሻይ በርሀ ስላምሳ፡ በረምበራስ በራኺ፡ ኣቶ ሃይለ በራኺ፡ ኣቶ ኣየለ በራኺን ኣቶ መሓሪ በራኺን ዝተባህሉ ኣርባዕተ ኣሕዋት ደቂ ሓብቶም ንባሻይ በርሀን እውን ተቐትሉ። ኣውያት ዝሰምዑ፡ ኣብ ጎደቦ ዓዲ ሓንስ ዝርከቡ ዓድታት፡ ደወል ቤተ-ክርስትያን ወቒዖም ብጉያ ክረድኡ ናብ ዓዲ ሓንስ ተኣከቡ። ገለ ካብቶም ናብ ዓዲ ሓንስ ገጾም ዝጎየዩ ጎረባብቲ ዓድታት ድማ ናብ ዓዲ ሓንስ ቅድሚ ምእታዎም ሬሳ ሽዱሽተ ሰባት ኣብ መገዲ ወዲቑ ረኸቡ። በቲ ፍጻመውን ኣዝዮም ሰንበዱን ረዓዱን! ርእሲ ባሻይ በርሀ ስላምሳ እውን ብድሕሪኡ ንበይና ኣብ በረኻ ወዲቓ ብጓሶት ተረኺባ፡ ተኣርያ ናብ ዓዲ መጸት!

ተጋደልቲ ጀብሃ ብተወሳኺ፡ 340 ከብቲ፡ 96 ኣእዱግ፡ ኣርባዕተ ኣፍራስ፡ ሽዱሽተ ኣባቕል፡ ናይ ዓዲ ሓንስ ዘሚቶም ብምውሳድ ኣብ ዕዳጋታት ከሰላ ሓረጁወን። ገለ ክፋል ናይ ዓዲ ሓንስ እውን ብሓዊ ኣቃጸሉዎ! እዚ ግፍዕታት’ዚ ክፍጸም ከሎ፡ ሻምበል ኣሰፋ ስላምሳ ዝርከቦም ገለ ደቂ ዓዲ ሓንስ፡ ኣብ ኣድያቦ ኣብ ማሕረስ ስለ ዝነበሩ ነቲ ጭካነ ዝመልኦ ግፍዒ ኣይተኻፈሉዎን። ኣማስያኡ ናብ ዓዶም ምስ ተመልሱ ግን እቲ ዘሐዝን ፍጻመ ተፈጺሙ ጸንሖም። read more

Year 1967, the nightmare at Karkasha village: where Jebha forces, burnt to the ground, half of Karkasha village, including this writer’s family house and property; beat up the inhabitants of Karkasha and labelling them as “jawasis” meaning spies. Deliberately they set fire in a house, killing all 7 members of the same family. By then Karkasha was not an Ethiopian garrison. In fact, on that fateful day, it was Jabha’s temporary “difa or trench” to ambush the Ethiopian mobile forces, on Shambako/Barentu line, to hit and run. So why did they burn the village, property and human lives? Well, just hatred, discrimination and racism. Read more

Ghebrehiwet Haile wrote on facebook comment, Thank you. I remember ELF executed 24 innocent civilian and burned the village Adi Hanse Quahyne Seraye 1967. ELF, EPLF they were all killer. Remember how many privately owned vehicles were stolen country infrastructure was destroyed by those so called freedom fighters. They were unfitted to lead at all . What do you expect for these thieves from day one. look what did Eritrean people got at the end only ever seen misery and death that is all. My best Wish to Eritrean people.

The one who is sitting is killed by Jabha in keren his Name is Abdulqani Muhajab

Merhawi Kunfu in his article the Eritrean Revolution: Born of a Shifta father, produced a  Shifta system – part 2 and fina also wrote

"The ELF committed genocide crimes against the innocent Christian Tigrigna right from the beginning of the armed struggle. Many villages and properties in Akeleguzay and Seraye such as Qohain were destroyed and looted. Many Christian peasants and traders were murdered in mass only for being Christians. I myself have lost a relative in the mass murder of 49 innocent peasants committed by the ELF in July 1967 in Shimbare, near Tokobya"

Furthermore, according to Human Rights Watch 1991:48, in 1971, 52 civilian villagers were burned to death in their huts in a village name Debre Sila by the ELF for non-payment of the ELF demands (Human Rights Watch1991:48). There was also another story on March7, 1971, the ELF plundered the village of Halib Menal, stealing many cattle, after the villagers had killed two ELF fighters while resisting an ELF attempt to occupy the village two day before. Individuals who failed to protect ELF property entrusted to them were also summarily executed.

There was a similar story about the atrocity against Ato Haile by the ELF at Wutuh in Summer (kiremti) 1971.
According to the eye witness, Ato Haile (Chieka Adi - Village Maaya), was shot down, in front of elders forcibly gathered, at a neighboring village Wutuh (where he was hiding as he could not meet their excessive request for money and other immoral demands). They ignored the elders appeal to set him free, by pledging them he would come up with their demands should he is given more time. At the time, they terrorized the gathered elders saying "Deki halima, kab Tub adetatom tementilom teharidom, nisikhum dima kemzi kegatimekum iyu

In 1975 there was also a story about 12 youths from Adi-Kehei area who had a plan to join the Front were wrongly killed as a spies by the ELF. Among those youths who were killed by the ELF:
1.Indemyze Mohammed
2 Hagos Ibrahim was known as wdi Ibrahim Nur, the owner of a shop in Adikehi.

Furthermore, in 1976 there was a report of the execution of civilians by the ELF at Adi Aret village. According to the eyewitness, more than 10 civilians were wrongly killed as spies by the ELF in one day. He describes the way of their execution as followings. The victims were ordered to dig their own graves, thereafter they were blindfolded and stood on the edge of the graves before they were executed. After they were executed by firing squad their bodies were buried by the villagers from orders they received from ELF fighters. This was done deliberately to terrorise the villagers. There were many stories of atrocities against civilians by the ELF like these mentioned in the 1970s. Both the atrocities of 1975 and 1976 which were mentioned above took place in administrative Unit 10 (Akele-Guzai) where Seyoum Harasta (former ELF.RC chairman) was in charge.There was a story that the ELF had also killed people in Maymine Seray in the 1970s

??????

• Tesfa says:

  February 16, 2012 at 8:45 am

  Hello Awate team!

  Yes, I consider still the awate website as the best among the Eritrean website. But this article is extremely biased and very fsr from the reali8ty we all exercised during our childhood!!!! How can you write “… Nehnan Elamanan came with allegations of grisly murders committed by what it called the “Jihadist” ELF against Christians; and after more than forty years, the allegations still circulate as truth among Isaias’ supporters. With time, the unsubstantiated allegation became urban legend, elevated to a myth, and further deepened the mistrust among Eritreans and to this day continues to divide Eritreans. …” The truth is: ELF was even worse than the jihadist. I myself had an explainable fear from ELF. They have slaughtered mostly christiens from the highland; the sistr of my grand mother was burned wiht her full assets. I participated as a teenager the funeral day of the beloved aunt of my father. The most interesting thing is, she was a famer who could neither write and read – just a very simple woman! This is only the pick of the berg/mountain.

  I write this fact even if I hate existing regime in Eritrea. Facts remain facts!!!

  You could have reasoned it out only as a starting and difficult initial phase of our struggle like every START made ELF many failure . Otherwise you go the risc to degradate the reputation you have earned.
• Wedimerhay says:

  February 16, 2012 at 2:51 am

  I always enjoy awate.com’s articles from long time, but this article seems to me a bit favouring the ELF. The ELF was responsible for as much evil as Issayas did. The number of people slaughtered by the ELF and thrown in the fox hole (Gudgad wekaria) are too many not to mention how much our mothers have suffered under their liberated eara, the amount of confiscated properties (land and live stock).
  We all hate the current governmnet as it denied us the basic human rights and destroying our country economically, socially and politically. We have a purpose to attain ” A free Eritea were Eritreans live freely as long as they are Eritreans”. As much as we want this, we cannot distort history to suite us now for the current situation.
  It is now a dream that ELF was killing people using a knife. It is a reality that we have experienced in our neighbourhood. It is real that ELF has confiscated belongings. It is true that ELF depended on our mothers to live from day to day and they used force. It is true that ELF created many conflits in a previously peacefully coexisting communities.
  No dought the Nhanan Elamanan document is a destructive document, this article is also hurting as it try to justify the evils of the ELF that has affected many families lives permanently.

  I think let us not change history the exact the same way the Isaya regime did because it can weaken our struggle for democracy.
  With the short time that I have my emphasis is that the evils of both ELF and EPLF are beyond excusable and in an unreasonable magnitued.
  My advice to the Awate team is that, during struggle, many Moslim and Christian families were affected. The memory is not faded as it was hurtfull at family and country levels. If you are not sure about something rather display the message that is you are sure about
  

EPLF (Shaebia )

Crime committed against civilians by the EPLF in the 1970s and 1980s

As a consequence of the ELF crimes committed against civilians as alleged by the EPLF in the 1960s and 1970s, many people joined the EPLF in the middle of the 1970s. This was because most of them thought that the EPLF was innocent of crimes However, the EPLF was not innocent. All crimes committed by the EPLF were kept secret and not known to all like of the ELF. The only people who had authority to know about the EPLF crimes were those members of the security unit like Teklay Aden and other high-ranking leaders from other departments. Regarding the EPLF crimes against civilians, Teklay Aden revealed that the fascist crimes of the EPLF were not limited to the rank and file. Other victims included innocent individuals who opposed the fascist practices of the organization and boldly exposed it to the masses.

Yosief Ghebrehiwet in his article "Eritrean Independence: Is It Worth All the Sacrifice?" wrote“In the 1980s, the EPLF had taken many underage kids including girls by force. Many of the kids returned home, some ran to the cities, many went to Tigray and others crossed the border to the Sudan. When parents were not able to bring their kids back and hand them to the EPLF, their crops were confiscated. This was during the worst famine of the 1980s. Although the yield of the crops was too little due to the lack of rain, the aim of this inhumane act was to kill the whole family unit by hunger. Many families had no choice but to migrate to Tigray in search of food but Tigray was equally a famine-stricken region during that time.” And this kind of atrocity was not confined to the EPLF, as the following quotation from the same person testifies: “…

As a child growing up in the vicinity of Areza, Seraye (during Jebha time) I had seen enough of the cruelty of this organization. When it had won the war against Kohain, it had confiscated thousands of their livelihoods cattle and brought many of them to our village. The shepherds of the village, including myself, had to take turns in looking after them until they were all slaughtered one by one. When it won the war against Dembelas, it did the same thing. I had seen the Raya Azebo POWs who were captured by Jebha in the seventies perish of disease, hunger and the few lucky ones who had survived were killed in cold blood during the 1978 retreat. I had seen many innocent Eritrean merchants (negado) been arrested and tortured. I had seen people being hanged in Areza … accused of spying for the Ethiopian regime without any proof …”

During the liberation struggle many unarmed civilian also became the victims of the ELF and EPLF. Although all those crimes committed by the members of the National Guard (Halewa Sewra) were kept secretly, Teclai Aden in his interview on December 23,1980 revealed that the EPLF killed hundreds of peasants. He adds that many peasants were taken by the members of National Guard and were executed.

• Ato Fitwi Tesfazghi & Ogbamicahel Asgodom Alem Tesfay (2003) listed name of 16  pensioners from Keren who were executed in late 1978 after taking them to Sahel as prisoners. Among of these prisoners were Ato Fitwi Tesfazghi & Ogbamicahel Asgodom

  • Tewelde Beyne: he was taken for « a short questioning » by the security apparatus of the EPLF in Keren, Eritrea, in August 1978.
  • Fitwi Tesfazghi
  • Woldemariam Kelati
  • Hagos Mana
  • Embāye Ghebru
  • Gebrekal Ghilu'u
  • Tenente ZaidHagos
  • Melake Beraki
  • Ogbamicahel Asgodom [the father of two martyr  Ghidey and Mesgna Ogbamichael]
  • Berhane Hadgu
  • Ghebrehiwet Kinfe
  • Mohamed Omar
  • Negash Sibhat
  • Omar Bekhit

Tewolde Beyn (Beyene Asfedai) was taken for « a short questioning » by the security apparatus of the EPLF in Keren, Eritrea, in August 1978. Later he was taken to Sahel, northern Eritrea with the following police pensioners in addition to Idris Mohamed Abdala, alias « Echet Hina » (a Tigre ballad singer known for his pro-ELF songs) were taken to Sahel as prisoners: Embaye Ghebru, Ghebresadiq Ghilu'u, Melake Beraki, Ogbamichael, Fitwi Tesfazghi, Woldemariam Kelati, Berhane Hadgu, Ghebrehiwet Kinfe, Mohamed Omar, Negash Sibhat, Omar Bekhit, Hadgu Mana, Tenente Zaid.
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