Mysterious death of Ibrahim Afa
Mysterious death of Abraham Tewelde

Liquidation in the ELF

Liquidation in the EPLF

Although the second Congresswas attended by 949 democratically elected delegates , many new recruits from secondary schools and Santa familia who joined the ELF were not welcome to the elected leaders of the ELF-RC in the mid-1970s. As a result of this there was conflict between new fighters who joined Front with a secular vision and seeking greater democracy, and the old ELF leadership.

Here is more information related to the ELF internal crisis from ታሪኽ ኣይንረስዕ፡ ጉዕዞና ክቐንዕ -ካብ 1973 ክሳብ 1975 ዓ.ም. ኣብ ዝነበረ መድረኽ፣ ተጋድሎ ሓርነት ኤርትራ ብሓደስቲ ተጋደልቲ እናተዓብለለ እዩ መጺኡ። እዞም ተጋደልቲ እዚኣቶም ብሓያል ሃገራዊ ስምዒት ንናጽነት ክቃለሱ ዝመጹ፣ ኣብ ዝኾነ ድሑር ፖለቲካ ዘይተመራስሑ ንጹሃት መንእሰያት እዮም። ብዘይካ መስዋእቲ ከፊልካ ናጽነት ኤርትራ ምምጻእ ድማ፣ ካልእ ድጉል ተጻባኢ ዕላማን ድርኺትን ኣይነበሮምን። ይኹን እምበር፣ እዚ ምዕባለታት’ዚ ንዓብደላ እድሪስ ኣይተበርሆን። ካብቲ ድሑርን ወገናዊን ኣጠማምታኡ ዝብገስ፣ ነዞም ሓደስቲ ተጋደልቲ ፍጹም ኣይፈተዎምን። ብዓይኒ ጽልኢን ስግኣትን እዩ ጠሚትዎም። ከም ንኣሽቱ ኣሕዋቱ፣ ከም ወገኑን ጸግዑን ኣይርኣዮምን። ምኽንያቱ፣ እዞም ሓደስቲ ተጋደልቲ መብዛሕትኦም ተማሃሮ እዮም። ብዙሓት ካብኣቶም ድማ ደቂ ከበሳ። ዓብደላ እድሪስ፣ ምምጻእ ናይዚ ሓድሽ ሓይሊ ከቢድ ጥርጣረን ፍርሒን እዩ ኣሕዲሩሉ። Read more

G. Hiwot (2008) also provided a good analysis to the conflicts between the ELF.RC leaders and new comers in the following “Jebha of the seventies was undergoing a huge identity crisis. With tens of thousands of youth from Kebessa flocked to mieda, it had a hard problem absorbing them without simultaneously undergoing a drastic change in its identity. Many of the powerful Jebha leaders, and many of their followers, couldn’t reconcile themselves to this. In 1977 the conflict between those who were seeking greater democracy (the Falul movement) and the ELF leaders who were against change as the EPLF leaders led the ELF leaders to take military action against the Falul.

Consequence, some of  the newly recruited fighters (Falul )  were also killed by the ELF leaders and others were imprisoned and tortured by the ELF security members. Regarding this Mussie Gebreab who joined the ELF(Jebha) as a teen age in December of 1974 and was a prisoner in 1977 states that , I have seen and experienced much worse than these at the hands of Salih Gadi's( Vaseline) Idol Abdella Idris(Hankish) and co. It takes a book to tell all the untold crimes commuted by Vaseline and his bosses on the Eritrean youth at the Eritrean field, but let me share few of them with you.We demanded to meet with the chairman of the organization Ahmed Naser and they told us Okay but they have to divided the battalion in to two group the one who accepts their explanation and the one who still want to meet Ahmed Naser.Taknicaly the one who support unity dialog with the EPLF in the Eritrean field or the Sabe and Agib group in Sudan. Few month later Abdela Idris ordered to the one who want to meet Ahmed Naser a meeting and to the others sent to to other area to guard us from enemies and we was waiting relaxed for Ahmed Naser to show up to met with us.the next minuet I remember was ranting a hell of bullets and bombs on us from all direction by Abdela Idris special forces. we fought back bravely but no body was ready for these broad day light masker.the majority dead fighting heroically, the few lucky made it all the way to EPLF dejen and join the EPLF to continue the struggle with them, and the rest of us fought back until our last bullet and got captured by Abdela Idris forces. they took us to security, torture and tehadso comp run by Saleh gadi(Vaseline) and co from the Security( enda ztetta) organ run under Melake tekle administration,the most notorious interrogators was Haile Woldeselasie. Zekarias wedi keren, and Saleh Gadi of course no body call him Salh Gadi but Vaseline. Read more

Keshi (2003) states that Seyoum (who became the ELF-RC Chairman after Ahemed Nassir) grew faster through the rank and file of the old ELF than anybody else. He became the mouthpiece of ELF leaders in campaigning against the grassroots movement in 1977
Seyoum was one of the promoters of the infamous political campaign dubbed “HA Hu Bel Falulay” which brought the democratic movement of ELFto a complete collapse in 1977.

Alem Tesfay in his paper "Kab Mezgeb Tarich (page 8)" in 2004 wrote

G. Hiwot (2008) also provided a good analysis to the conflicts between the ELF.RC leaders and new comers in the following “Jebha of the seventies was undergoing a huge identity crisis. With tens of thousands of youth from Kebessa flocked to mieda, it had a hard problem absorbing them without simultaneously undergoing a drastic change in its identity. Many of the powerful Jebha leaders, and many of their followers, couldn’t reconcile themselves to this. In 1977 the conflict between those who were seeking greater democracy (the Falul movement) and the ELF leaders who were against change as the EPLF leaders led the ELF leaders to take military action against the Falul.

What is ironically tragic is that all those Falul insurgents who died valiantly in the Massawa front ended up in their executioner’s roaster of martyrs. For all practical purposes, these are the ones of whom we could undoubtedly say, “sighumti tewesidulom”. The way Shaebia handled the Falul crisis comes from the old books of tyrants like Stalin, who got rid of many of those they suspected through a similar process.

The Falul group is part of that naïve student generation that, with all optimism and good will, flocked to mieda in a futile search for that elusive “unity”, that common thread that would weave “Eritrean identity”, only to be wiped out by two regressive identities – the sectarian identity of Jebha and the alien identity of Shaebia"[source: Falul and identity crisis] by Yosief G. Hiwot.

According to Killion (1998, 214) In June a Falul splinter group acting largely on its own, assassinated two RC members in Dankel, provoking a purge of the dissidents and the flight of some 2,000 fighters to Ala, from where they joined the EPLF.

Furthermore, Mengesteab in his book “Anatomy of an African Tragedy” wrote . When the ELF internally fractured, a group of democratic fighters, numbering around two thousand, broke away from the front in 1977 and tried to create their own liberation space. Pursued by the “mother” front, however, they were unable to establish themselves as a viable and independent force, and they were prompted to join the EPLF. Simple commensense dictates that the EPLF leadership would have integrated these democratic by spreading them around the front’s various entities. Instead, the Isaias leadership deployed them as a group to Massawa front where a fierce battle was raging between the EPLF and the Ethiopian army. Msssawa was wherethe former ELF democratis perished without enough survivors to tell their story

In the 1970s the victms of the ELF leaders were not only Falul but also those fighters who crticize the leadership of the ELF were eliminated under different cover up Yemin, Dugul Yemin, Dugul Falul) by the ELF leaders.

Nabira in his paper Where are the Dots to be Connected Here? point out the declaration of war on the alleged Yemanwi kinfi (right wing) in 1978 in Dankalia, in which many unsung patriots such as Omer Suba were killed and liquidated by special ELF units. Referring the ELF liquidation policy in 1970s there is also a report from other source about individual fighters who questioned the ELF leadership’s corruption and division were placed into the security’s hand and interrogated, imprisoned, tortured and killed.

Among them were those 10 veterans ELF fighters who were killed by the ELF force in a place called Ibbi, Dankalia on 22 May 1978 were
1)Saed Hussien 2)Omer M. Suba, 3)Ahmed Ibrahim 4) Omer M.Omer5)Haji Saleh 6)Ibrahim Mahder
7)M.Mansur 8) M.Shedeli Ismail 9)Abdu Idris A. 10)Adem Ibrahim Al Haj

Saed Hussien	Ahmed Ibrahim M.	Omer M. Suba	Omer M.Omer	Abdu Idris A.	Haji Saleh	Ibrahim Mahder	M.Shedeli Ismail	Adem Ibrahim Al Haj	M.Mansur

The liquidation of the 10 veterans ELF fighters were confirmed by Ahemed Naser who was the chair man of the ELF at that time in the following
We foiled this reactionary project by resolutely liquidating these elements on May 22, 1978. The Eritrean Liberation Army units assigned this duty executed it perfectly.” One of those martyrs was Hussen the founder of the ELF in Cairo with Taha.

Ahemed Naser

 

Abdella Idris: The Architect of Violence and Beneficiary of Undemocratic Uprising

ስዒድ ሑሴን Saed Hussien Mohammed

Saed Hussien Mohammed was born in 1935 in the village of Se-ito-lede-gi, between Qohaito and Nebegede. He was recruited to ELF ant the 60s end. His education was at Cairo University and became member of the front in Cairo as a student, being one of the first ones with Idris Awate. Being a mindful and brave man, he recruited many fighters to join the front. To make the Eritrean cause publicized in the world, he became one of the first fedayeens while fighters struggled in the front. He was successful in many deeds and once while trying to hijack an airplane in Asmera, with his comrade Mohammed Birhan they were discovered and caught. High officials like Abey Abebe asked him to work with them and he would be given high position but he refused. He was then sentenced for fifteen years imprisonment and taken to Alem Bekagn prison and was there for 12 years. Then in 1975 he was transferred to Eritrea. That year the ELF freed prisoners in Asmera and Adi Quala.But he was not amongst the freed because he was hospitalized Since he was an important fighter to free, the fighters advanced to the hospital before the Ethiopians and with tactics he was freed and joined the other freed mates. He had contributed to the front and at last was martyred while trying to proceed with his belief.

Further information about Saed Hussien Mohammed

ስዒድ ሑሴን ድማ፣ ኣብ 1956 ኣብ ውግእ ስወዝ ካናል ኣብ ጎድኒ ሰራዊት ግብጺ ተሰሊፉ ዝተዋግአ፣ ሓደ ካብቶም ኣብ ምምስራት ጀብሃ ዝተዋስኡ ናይ ካይሮ ተማሃራይ ኮይኑ፣ ኣብ 1963 ኣብ መዕርፎ ነፈርቲ ኣስመራ ምስ ገለ ተጋደልቲ ኮይኑ ሓንቲ ስርሒት ክፍጽም ኣብ ዝፈተንሉ ተታሒዙ ዝተኣስረ፣ ድሓር ኣብ 1975 ካብ ቤት ማእሰርቲ ዝወጸ ገዲም ተጋዳላይ እዩ። ኣብቲ ዝነበረ ሕንፍሽፍሽ እዚኣቶም ምስ ሳበ ብምትሕብባር ካብ ጀብሃ ናይ ምፍላይ ፈተነ ገይሮም ነይሮም። ኣብ ደንከል ሓደ ወተሃደራዊ ጉጅለ ክምስርቱ እውን ፈቲኖም። ኣባል ሰውራዊ ባይቶ ዓሊ ኢሳቕ፣ ምስኦም ከምዘሎ መሲሉ ንተግባሮም ክከታተል ድሕሪ ምጽናሕ ንጀብሃ ምስ ሓበረ ከኣ፣ ኣሃዱታት ተዳልየን ጸኒሐን ደምሲሰንኦም። ገለ ዓቃባውያን መራሕቲ ጀብሃ፣ “እዚ ኣብ ውሽጥና ዘሎ ሓድሽ ሓይሊ ናይ ቀደም ጀብሃ ኣይኮነን። ብኮምኒስት ዝተዓብለለ እዩ። ስለዚ ምስ ሳበ ምምሕዛው ይሓይሽ።Source ካልኣይ ጉባኤ ጀብሃን ውዲታት ዓብደላን

Hussein Khalifa was elected to the Revolutionary Council Members at the  2nd ELF Congress in 1975. What are his motives in accusing Issayas for the crimes committed from 1970 and the present but keep silent about all the crimes committed by the ELF from 1965-1981. For example what of the fighters who were killed in Dankalia in 1978, Saed Hussien Mohammed was one of these who became the victim of the ELF in 1978.

Wolde Yesus Ammar the leader of the ELF-RC accused Abdella Idris of being sectarian in killing Melka. However Wolde Yesus has never said any thing about liquidation policy of the ELF against Fallul movement in 1977 . This was when Seyoum’ campaiged against the Fallul  movement by  saying “HA Hu Bel Falulay” through  broadcasting over ELF’s radio programme from Omdurman. Why does Wolde Yesus keep silent about the ELF's victims?

During the liberation struggle many innocent liberation fighters and civilians became victims of the former revolutionary leaders who are currently serving in the Eritrean government or in the Opposition. The opposition leaders are not innocent of crime. They like the PFDJ leaders whom they are accusing of committing crimes against the Eritrean people since 1991. are also guilty.

CRIMES COMMITTED AND COLLABORATED BY THE ELF LEADERS ( 1960s & 1970s)

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

Let's tell all truth about the crimes committed by the EPLF and ELF to ensure that they never happen again in the future to anyone