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ELA VETERAN TALKS ON
THE FIRST 10 YEARS OF THE
ERITREAN REVOLUTION
Mohamed Ibrahim Bahdurai, now aged about 55 years, is one of the few
surviving pioneer fighters of the Eritrean Liberation Amy (ELA), the
armed wing of the ELF, who took part in the 20 years of the armed
struggle of the Eritrean people. Talking about the initial years of the
revolution, he says: "We hoped when there was little to hope, and
confronted the Ethiopians virtually without adequate arms and munitions.
We were fully armed with the absolute conviction in the final victory of
the just cause and history will not attest that we were wrong". In the
following item, presented in the original question and answer form, ELA
veteran Mohamed Bahdurai narrates some of the experiences of the
Eritrean Revolution during the first decade, 1961 to 1971.
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The Eritrean newsletter
September 1, 1981 Issue No. 44. P. 11-13
1961 – 1981
DIARY OF THE REVOLUTION
Every single day of the past 20 years of the protracted armed struggle
of the Eritrean people is studded with momentous events which had
lasting effects in the Revolution and its motive forces. One cannot
therefore have any pretense to present a complete diary of the Eritrean
Revolution. However, mentioning a few events of every year in the last
two decades is quite in order at this anniversary.
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ERITREAN LIBERATION
FRONT SCANDINAVIAN COUNTRIES OFFICE
Date 10-11 1983
An Open Letter to States, Parties and Humanitarian Organizations
The Eritrean liberation front - was founded in 1960. The E.L.A., the
Eritrean liberation army was formed and led by Hamid Idris Awate and
heralded the struggle by firing the first shots at the battle of mount
Adal on September 1, 1961.
At present, and since the 3rd national congress of the E.L.F., the
organisation is led by comrade Abdulla Idris.
The heroic peoples of Eritrea, under the leadership of the E.L.F., is
to-day, not only engaged in one of its difficult and most complicated
revolutionary war against external aggression directly conducted by the
Soviet union and their cheap tool - the fascist military junta in
Ethiopia, but also forced into ugly and final confrontation that may
determine the future destiny of the peoples of the horn of Africa.
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Ethiopia's sixth offensive and
developments in the Eritrean struggle
The first half of 1982 has seen ferocious confrontations in Eritrea and
complex developments - that are still unfolding - in the Horn of Africa
and Middle East region as a whole. The following exposition deals with
these events and in particular with the outcome and conditions under
which Ethiopia's sixth and largest offensive was launched, the interplay
of regional and international forces and the prospects and future course
of the war.
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EPLF PROPOSAL FOR A REFERENDUM
Although the Eritrean revolution
bas repeatedly re-affirmed its genuine readiness to find a peaceful
solution for the Eritrean question, the Ethiopian regime's unwillingness
to seek a peaceful solution and its strivings to crush the Eritrean
revolution through active military force and diplomatic conspiracy have
brought these endeavors to failure. Besides, at times when several
governments, supporting the correct democratic and just principle of the
right to self-determination, attempted to bring about a genuine peaceful
solution, others have created obstacles by trying to impose incorrect
and unjust solutions.
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EPLF
Declaration on Unity Proposal.
The EPLF, as announced in its Politbureau meeting of 12/6/82, has
thoroughly assessed the present stage of the Eritrean struggle and the
developments and endeavours in regard to the issue of national unity in
its Politbureau meeting held from 23-25/10/1982 and presents the
proposal it has adopted.
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INTERVIEW WITH ISSAYAS AFEWORKI
VICE-SECRETARY GENERAL ERITREAN PEOPLE'S LIBERATION FRONT (EPLF)
BY STEPHEN LEAVIT (AUSTRALIA)
JOHN SORENSON (ERAC CANADA)
JOHN STONE (NETHERLANDS)
Issayas Afeworke is Vice-Secretary General of the Eritrean People's
Liberation Front. The following interview was held inside the liberated
area of Eritrea in August 1986.
Question: You joined the Eritrean liberation struggle in 1966 after
leaving your
studies at University in Addis Ababa. Could you describe the nature of
the liberation
movement at that time?
Issayas: The Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF) was the only front until
1970; it was horrible, just a mess, it wasn't a national organisation at
all. In the towns things were more cosmopolitan. No one cared about
tribalism or religion but when you came to the front you find people
divided along these lines. There was no leadership, only regional
commands and every regional commander was an emperor in his domain:
nobody could enter that region without his permission, some of the
section leaders would levy taxes, they could do whatever they liked.
Within these regions you find the people divided on ethnic grounds or
even narrower clan divisions. When I joined there were four divisions
and a fifth was in the process of formation. Within the front there was
a formula: "You come from a certain place, therefore..." In the towns no
one cared about these questions of identity and we felt that upon
joining the front our first task was to fight this sentiment and
overcome the struggle within the ELF between these divisions. All the
time people were asking for unity; why have five or six divisions with
different leadership?
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