Was Awate a shifta? If yes, was Awate involved in criminal activities during his banditry life? Excrept from the Eritrean Revolution: Born of a Shifta father, produced a  Shifta system – part 2 and final.

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

"As we can see from the public notice presented in part one, the answer is absolute yes that Awate was a shifta. Nobody can refute the fact that Awate was a shifta because the documents presented contain hard facts and evidence that prove so. I challenge anybody who denies this reality. It is well documented and well known that awate was a notorious shifta leader in the 1940s- 1950s. Even his family members and his is own community do not deny this. Among the Kunama, the whole kunama population know Awate as a shifta and criminal who killed and looted them. Anyone who wishes to know the truth about Awate can get the real information by interviewing the Kunama elders who witnessed Awate’s crimes with their own eyes. Awate was not only a shifta but he was a great a shifta leader. This means there were many armed men under his command who follow his commands and his instructions. Regarding the question of Awate’s involvement in crimes, the document provides us the answer in unequivocal manner that Awate had committed crimes -  no doubt about that. The document I have presented in part one however, does not provide us details of the nature of crimes Awate had committed because according to the public notice, Awate’s crimes were ‘already notified’ in prior notices to this notice. The public notice states that the crimes had been committed against the Eritrean people emphasizing that ‘the normal life of the people of Eritrea is continually being disrupted and {???} by the activities of the shifta bands. Merhawi concluded his article..."Actually, we can conclude that the Eritrean revolution was launched or planted by a shifta criminal and produced a shifta criminal system. This means we are harvesting what we planted. Read More

Ghirmay Yeibi in his article " Half a century of misery and with no end in sight which was posted to asmariino.com on 31 May 2012 also wrote, in response to that half a century ago Eritrea started an armed struggle led by Hamid Idris Awate, who was a local outlaw “shifta”, engaged in cattle raiding and rustling.  Awate was a criminal and is well remembered by his victims the Kunamas (indigenous people living in south Western Eritrea) for committing atrocious crimes against them and the indiscriminate killing of women and children including infants and burning and razing of Kunama villages.  He was pardoned by the British Administration in Eritrea and given complete amnesty for his past crimes and allowed to return to his hometown, until upon request from the ELF (Eritrean Liberation Front) he turned his band of outlaws into the armed wing of the ELF. [Read more]

Furthermore Ghirmay Yeibio in his article Awate was a trigger happy ordinary outlaw (shifta): A hero of Fascist Benito Mussolini !!! Monday, 15 October 2012 wrote "Who was Hamid Idris Awate?  What was his history? Hamid Idris Awate was a simple outlaw (shifta).  An ordinary soldier entrusted with accomplishing a political goal charted out for him by ELF leadership in the Sudan.  He never interfered nor tried to influence the political decision of the front, nor did he have the analyzing capacity of what he was doing. He was politically ignorant and was glad to do what he was trained to do his whole life and which he knew best how to do i.e. killing and causing mayhem.

He was a trigger happy fascist loyalist who worked against the interests of the Eritrean people in particular and colonized Africans in General, who continued to fight the British forces, alongside Amedeo Guillet, to bring back fascist Italian rule to Eritrea even after Mussolini’s army had surrendered in East Africa to the allied forces.

He was a fascist loyalist who conducted a guerrilla war for 5 whole years for “a king, country and a people whom he never saw or knew”.  He was loyal Carabinieri who diligently worked to keep Eritreans under the yoke of Italian colonialism.  As a right hand man of the Italian administration he approved and enforced the racist and oppressive policy of Italy which confiscated around half of the land of Eritrea under the principles of state land “Terreno Demaniale”, particularly around western lowlands of Eritrea during his tenure as administrator.  He wanted to reinstate the Italian Fascist rule that dehumanized Eritreans using apartheid and segregation and continued to fight to bring back that system to East Africa for five whole years, until the end of the Second World War. read more

Iድርስ ሓምድ ዓዋተ!!
1. ኣብ 1961 ክንደይ Eድመ ነይሩዎ?
2. ኣብ ብረታዊ ቃልሲ ኤርትራ Eንታይ ጸንቢሩዎ?
3. ኣብ ዝነበራ ካብ 1946 ክሳE 1961 ምንቅስቓሳት Eንታይ ተራ ነይሩዎ?
4. ንዝንገረሉ Eጥቂ ቃልሲ ናጽነት ብኸመይ ኣበጊሱዎ? Read more

መግለጺ ባሕቲ ሓደ መስከረም 2012ዝደልዩ ደቂ ዓዋተ ዘይደልዩ ከA ደቂ ትሽዓተ ብሄራት [ቤት ጽሕፈት ዜናን ሓበሬታን ዲምሓኩኤ መስከረም 01 2012]

.."ናይ Eድሪስ ዓዋተ ሃገራውነት (nationalism) ግን ኹሉ ኤርትራዊ ዝስማማዓሉ ዛEባ ኣይኮነን፡፡ ሽፍታ ስለ ዝነበረ ሃገራዊ ክብሃል ኣይግብAን ማለት ከA ቅኑE ኣይኮነን፡፡ ምኽንያቱ ሽፍታ ወይ ከA ጭውዝበለ Eሉልን ጸረ ህዝቢ ጸኒሑ ተቀይሩ ንሃገር ዝጠቅም ስራሕ Eንተፈጺሙ ንቅበሎ ጸጋ ስለዝኾነ፡፡ ንሓደ ሃገራዊ Eንተ ብፍላጥ ወይ ከA ንሕነ ህዝቢታት ሃገር ንዝጨፍጨፈ ገበነኛ ከም ሃገራዊ ምቅባልን ምስ መዓልቲ ናጽነት ብምትEስሳር ነቶም ግዳያት ክስEስU ምግባር ግንናይ ገበን ገበን Eዩ፡፡ ሓምድ Eድሪስ ዓዋተ ኣብ ልEሊ ብሄር ኩናማ ዘብጽሖ ህልቂት ከቢድIዩ፡፡ ሓቂ ዶ ሓሶት ንምርግጋጹ’ውን መጽናEትን ግዜን ክወሃብ ድኣሉ ዝግባE Eምበር ንሓደ ሸነኽ ንምኽሳብ ኣብዚ ናይ ገበን ታሪኽ ብምንጥልጣል ሓባራዊ ሃገራዊ ምርድዳE ኣብዘይበጸሕናዮ ጉዳይ ከም ናይ ኩሉ ኤርትራዊ ውራይ ጌርካ ምውሳድ Aብ ልEሊ መሰልዜጋታት ምEንዳር Iዩ።ዲሞክራሲያዊ ምንቅስቓስ ሓርነት ኩናማ ኤርትራ (ዲምሓኩኤ) ሓምድ Eድሪስ ዓዋተ AብልEሊ ብሄር ኩናማ ዘብጽሖ ህልቂት ካብ ዘይምፍላጥ ወይ ዓቕሚ ብምስኣን Aይኮነን ክሳብሕጂ ትም መሪጹ ዝጸንሐን፡ ሎሚ ከቃልሖ ዝመረጸውን ካብ ወትሩ ፉሉይ ዓቕሚ ስለዝረኸበን ስለዘዋህለለን ኣይኮነን፡፡ Eንታይ ድኣ ንቅሓት ሕብረተሰብ ኩናማን ሰዓብቱንAባላቱን Aብ ግምት ብምEታውን Aብ ሕሉፍ ታሪኽ ተንጠልጢሉ ነዚ ጉዳይ ቀዳማይAጀንዳ ቃልሲ ክገብር ስለዘይመረጸ ጥራይ Eዩ፡፡ ሓቂ ተቐቢሩ ስለዘይተርፍን ቅኑE ታሪኽመሰረት ቅኑE ሃገርን ህዝብን ምዃኑ ብምEማን ኣብ ጉዳይ ሃገራዊ ጅግንነታዊ ታሪኽ ሓምድ
Eድሪስ ዓዋተ ብስርዓት ህግደፍ ዝተጠጅA ተንኮልን ብዓቢ ድምጺ ክቃላሕ ዝጸንሐድራማታትን ቃልE ንምውጻE ሕልናዊ ግዴታና ምዃኑ ኣሕዋት ኤርትራውያን ክርድUናበዓል ሙሉE ተስፋ Iና።" Read more

Others Shifta in the 1940s

ASRESSEHEI EMBAYE: - (Notorious Shifta) he had made the MUSLIM POPULATION a target for looting and destruction especially in highland perfected the systematic terrorization, killing and mutilating the defenceless Jeberti of SERAE, Saho of HAZOMO and Kunama of TOKOMBIA area. ASRESSEHEI assisted by the Ras Menghesha family he become a prominent UNIONIST SHIFTA. In the late 1940 his band murdered the B. M. A. - appointed district chief, Azmach BERHE GHEBREKIDAN of Guhcia’. After the annexation of Eritrea with Ethiopia he was promoted and was ordered to the head of the Judges in the Eritrean High Court. He survived several attempting on his life by the E. L. F

BEIENE MOSAZGHI: - (Notorious Shifta) he had made the MUSLIM POPULATION a target for looting and destruction especially in highland perfected the systematic terrorization of both Italians and Muslims (SAHO AND JEBERTI of Akele Guzai). On the roadblock no. 12, a few kilometres from Saganeiti and Addi Khayeh road, the police faced him; BEIENE and his brother FESSAHAIE MOSAZGHI were killed in the battle. The fact that one of the policemen who killed them was an Italian added fire to anti-Italian SHIFTA activities. The MOSAZGHI defiance had now become a personal vendetta primarily directed against Italians, and was to further terrorize the Italian community in Eritrea. Defenceless Italian were killed and mutilated in the Mai-Habar area, and their concession farms were looted or burned. Before long, however, SHIFTA were attacking inside Asmara. Two another of the MOSAZGHI brothers with their band increased their vendetta activities. In the second week of April 1949, a restaurant frequented by Italians in the suburb of Asmara was bombed and burned to the ground, while in the same evening another band killed an Italian at his home in front of his wife and children. The MOSAZGHI bros. Looted and destroyed many Jeberti property in Asmara

TESFAI HABTE: - (Notorious Shifta) Brother, of EMBAYE HABTE then the leading official of the Keren branch of the Unionist Party later became a cabinet minister in the Ethiopian government.
( source Jelal Yasin Abera)

GHEBRY TESFAZIEN: No. 001 –  Eritrea Police Force – 1951:    Extracts from a discussion between Supt. of Police L.M. Braine and shifta leader Ghebry Tesfazien

Find more articles on shifta

• The Eritrean Revolution: Born of a Shifta father, produced a Shifta system [Part 1]
  

• We are harvesting what we planted[Part 2]

• Immature Interpretation of History Disrupts the Notion of Tolerance: Awate and the Foundation of Eritrean Armed Struggle in Focus. – Part Two" class="link" rel="bookmark">Immature Interpretation of History Disrupts the Notion of Tolerance: Awate and the Foundation of Eritrean Armed Struggle in Focus. – Part Two

Victm of Sfifta

Abdel Kadir Kebire,  who was first vice president (1941-46) of the Mahaber Feqri Hager(MFH) and President of the ML-Asmara  branch, was assassinated on March 30, 1949 on the eve of his departure to attend the meeting  in Lake Success, New York, as well attacked on Dedjazmach Hassan Ali of the Moslem League by Unionists (Spencer, 1984:197). This was because of the of UP intolerance. [find more information about Shifta in the 1940s]
Abdulkadir Kebire believed that only through education  and unity can a people control their own destiny.
Abdulkader Kebire  who was a businessman funded many charitable projects including one for the establishment of a technical school in Mai Dshto in Akria, Asmara (Gabeel Team, 2005). Sheikh Abdulkader Kebire(1902 - 1949 )  who became a controversy by calling for the education of women, something, which was a taboo in those days. He believed that only by education and unity can a people be masters of their own destiny. These messages were his vehicle to the world of politics.