Hello...., (I omitted name for I didn't ask his permission to quote
him,
though there is no reason to be secretive about
it)
<<<<
I am sorry it took me so long to get back to you. It
has been a very hectic
week for me.
I am not sure what exactly you are looking for and I am not sure if I
am
qualified to give you all the details you need about Melake Tecle.
Since the leaders were camped in a seperate section, I was not
physically
there to witness his execution with my own eyes. I could hear the
fire
exchange that took less than a minute. (obviously Melake had a gun with
him,
though no body was allowed to carry one. Sadly enough, he had
anticipated
his fate). Later Abdellah through his representative, anounced to
us,
deligates, that Melake had refused to give up his weapon. They were
lieying,
because they could have asked him through the microphone so that
everybody
could hear them before they started shooting. They suddenly had
attacked him
from behind and he probably was firing back during the last
seconds of his
life when we heard the brief fire exchange.
I know you can only understand all of these if you are familiar with
civil
war between ELF and EPLF and the withdrowal of the ELA into
Sudan
surrundering their weapons to the Sudanese army at Korokon and
Tahdai.
However, Abdellah with a small faction, mostly his tribesmen the
Beniamer
who were loyal to him and a smaller combination of other fighters
who had
bought Abdellah's story that there was a conspiracy to sell the ELA
to EPLF,
left the ELF army to withdrow in northern border between Eritrea and
Sudan,
about 50 kms from the main camps of Korokon and Tahdai. Abdellah
didn't have
to surrunder his weapons to the Sudanese army. As the conference
was
planned to be held inside Abdelha's camps, all deligates, including
Melake,
headed north to participate. The attempt was to save the organizaton
and our
country from blody religious and regional civil war. Now it is clear
to me
we should have never gone there. Melaake was trying to convice the
other
leaders not to go to Abdellah's camps and just to forget about him.
When he
couldn't, he had no choice but to tag along.
Melake had had come a long way to become a prominent and highly
influential
leader within the army and the masses . From extreem loyalty to
ELF's LP in
the early seventies, (LP=Labor Party) to completely independent,
highly
competitive and visionary leader. He became the only threat to the
final
doom of Abdellah Idris and a threat to the gains of Isyas Afewerki in
the
highlands. Except another martyr by the name of Abdulkader Romodan, the
rest
of the ELF leaders were just a bunch of chicken:-) It is my opinion.
I hope next time I will be able to give you more adiquate and
substancial
information when and if time permits.
Selam for now.
Debesai >>>