The Enduring Power Of Haile Selassie’s Propaganda

Ever since September 1, 1961, when Hamid Idris Awate fired the first bullet from Mt. Adal heralding Eritrea’s revolution against the Ethiopian occupation, Emperor Haile Sellassie and his Eritrean allies have branded him as bandit (wenbedie) with a ragtag of Islamist and Arabist followers. The Ethiopian regime tried in vain to defame Awate’s name by depicting him as an Islamist because it was wary that the revolution that a Muslim ex-soldier “nomad” had ignited would be followed by Christians. Haile Selassie’s rule came to an end in 1974, in no small part due to the revolution that this Eritrean “bandit” started. Haile Selassie’s successor, Mengistu Hailemariam, was ideologically different from the Emperor in every way except one—he continued Haile Selassie’s propaganda of labeling Hamid Idris Awate as a bandit and the Revolution he started as Islamist and Arabist. Of course, by then, the entire Eritrean population, Muslims and Christians, were fighting Ethiopian occupation and carrying Hamid Idris Awate’s banner, but Haile Selassie’s propaganda had a surprisingly enduring power—carrying over to some of the splinter groups. As the Eritrean revolution changed its demographics from rural to relatively urban, some of the better educated Eritreans whose idea of a revolution was learned from leftist books could not imagine a “nomad” launching a revolution and described him as an accidental revolutionary. But that was all par for the course. What is a surprise to many of us is that the assault on the person and reputation of Hamid Idris Awate is being waged even in post-independent Eritrea.

The sixties, seventies and eighties were trying times for the Eritrean revolution and almost every family lost at least one of its members to the armed struggle. Some families lost scores and it is not uncommon to find parents who lost four, and five children. But those who were on the opposite side of the Eritrean struggle have never come to terms with their past. They have never forgotten that they were shamed when patriotic Eritreans registered victory. And though many are former occupational power chameleons who changed colours and collaborated with the victorious EPLF belatedly, deep inside, they seem to have kept their thirst for vendetta alive. And recently, with the tacit approval of certain circles, they seem to have launched a campaign to discredit Hamid Idris Awate. But that is a means to an end. Their true aim is to question the very foundation of Eritrea, the justness of its cause. The goal is to discredit the entire Eritrean idea of independence by first discrediting Awate, then the revolution that he launched, followed by the entire struggle which produced an independent Eritrea, dating back to the struggles of the 1940s, to Waela Biet Giorghis, to the federation compromise. To erase everything that generations of Eritreans bled for.

And their calling card seems to be the mess that Isaias Afwerki has made of Eritrea. Instead of saying that he is a failed leader, or that his administration is incompetent, or that it has betrayed the revolution, they want to expand the list of people they want to blame: and wouldn’t you know, it turns out that it is everybody except them! “Them” being those who were opposed to or indifferent to Eritrean independence. But the fact that Eritreans transitioned from an Ethiopian occupation to a totalitarian rule doesn’t negate the Eritrean idea. It is still there and no one can quell that Eritrean desire to stay free. While most of us see our current predicament as temporary, some are using it as a validation to support their claim that the Eritrean cause was not just, and therefore the Eritrean statehood is doomed to fail. What do you expect from a revolution initiated by a “shifta”!

What is wicked about this campaign is the fact that the campaigners are using the issues of Eritrean minorities, namely Eritrean Kunama, to piggyback their mischievous designs. All of a sudden, those who degraded the Kunama, those who consider them their inferior, those who watched silently when they were robbed of their land and livelihood have now became the champions of Kunama rights! How amazing and selective—because these latter-day minority rights advocates, and bleeding hearts do not mention grievances of other Eritrean sections. Including the dispossessed and exiled extended family members of Hamid Idris Awate himself. If Hamid Idris Awate was of Afar nationality, they would find some grievance from an Afar nationality to blame him.

The foot-soldier who spearheaded this campaign is the leader of the Democratic Movement for the Liberation of the Eritrean Kunama (DMLEK), a Kunama national who thinks he has a monopoly on Kunama issues. Politics 101 says that you do not alienate people unnecessarily and this man chose September 1 to attack Hamid Idris Awate. How crude and tasteless and stupid. If fact, if we are just going to accept allegations at face value, DMLEK has so many opponents from the Kunama people itself and it is accused of worse crimes than what Kernelious is accusing Awate of. And not of incidents from decades ago, but of crimes committed months ago. In Sudan, where a large group of Kunama veterans of the Eritrean armed struggle live, the situation is unlike the noise that Kernelious is managing out of Addis Ababa. But the political lepers who are campaigning against Awate found it convenient to present any criticism of Kernelious as if it was a criticism against the Kunama nationality.

Cut-and-paste intellectualism like the recent one that appeared on asmarino.com will not cut it. Selecting an epoch from history and wantonly attaching the name of Hamid Idris Awate to it to defame his character will not stand in the face of a serious challenge and it will crumble.

The Awate Team challenges anyone who is involved in this campaign to at least try some basic method of chronicling history (since no one has presented any evidence to the absurd claims thrown against Awate); they should be humble enough to at least present their allegation just as plain allegations of views and not try to hoodwink their listeners and readers into believing what they present is hard fact. Awate is not a symbol of a certain religion or a certain tribe, he is the symbol of all patriotic Eritreans who reject oppression and fight for freedom. Awate is about justice and gallantry; and political lepers and dwarfs can never stand at par with him.

This website is named after Awate not without reason; it stands for everything he stood for and it will make sure that the freedom that he yearned for his people will be pursued. The equality that he envisioned will be pursued. And the dream of a dignified citizen that he died for will be realized. The goal of an independent state—not a vassal state, not an appendage state—will be pursued without equivocation.

If the Hamid Idris Awate defamers want to know how futile their campaign is, they should remember this: it is not just Hamid Idris Awate who is venerated but also the day he launched the struggle (September 1), the place he stood up against an overwhelming Ethiopian military (Mt. Adal), the reason he initiated the struggle (independence), and the means he, and his followers, used to rally followers (patriotism.) In other words, their fight is not just with the who, but the what, where, when, why and how of Eritrea. No wonder they sound so frustrated. Otherwise, why would they discuss Hamid Idris Awate when the problems facing Eritreans now are more immediate and begging for solution?

Some people seem to be confused with the whole idea of freedom of expression. It goes two ways: you have the right to express your opinion; and we have the right to express an opinion on your opinion. Kernelious (using 15 pen names) has the right to express his opinion on Hamid Idris Awate; and others have a right to tell him that he is wrong. But Kernelious is also a political figure who is part of a political entity: and that entity has a right to discipline those who violate its organizational charter. Of course, you can’t cure stupid: those who don’t understand the difference between censure (disapprove of) and censor (suppress) and want to display their ignorance publicly have that right as well. But freedom of speech is not unilateral disarmament: stupid people will be told they are stupid, and liars will be told they are telling lies.

The campaign is a make-or-break as far as many Eritrean patriots are concerned—they have been there before and they know where this is leading. Veiled, chauvinist and bigoted messages should be exposed for what they are and if someone wants to adopt Haile Sellasies’ policies in Eritrea, they will be countered the same way they were countered in September 1961. Maybe it is unfair to ask these critics “what did you do to make Eritrean independence a reality?” But is it too much to ask “were you supportive, opposed or indifferent to Eritrean identity?” If one is going to parrot Haile Selassie’s propaganda, isn’t it fair to ask what that person’s position was in the great war between Haile Selassie and Hamid Idris Awate? This is very relevant because the resistance movement against one dictator (Isaias Afwerki) should not be waged by those who were great admirers and fans of another dictator (Haile Selassie.)

awateteam@awate.com
sourece:

A hero of Fascist Benito Mussolini....Hamid Idris Awate of Eritrea who was paid and trained by Egypt to attack Ethiopia in 1960s

Hamid Idris Awate was born in 1910 in Gerset village located between Omhajer and Tessenei in Gash Setit region of South Western Eritrea, from a Nara father and Beni Amer mother. In 1935, he was conscripted by the Italians to serve in the colonial army of the Eritrean Ascaris. The Italians, impressed by Awate’s military performance and loyalty sent him to the Italian African Police training school in Tivoli about 30 km north-east of Rome, for a course in Military Intelligence. The Italian African Police force (Polizia dell'Africa Italiana or PAI) was a racially mixed organization, made up of Italian agents and native Ascaris. It was located in police headquarters of major cities like Tripoli, Benghazi, Asmara, Addis Ababa, Mogadishu, Gondar, or in small commissariats elsewhere.

During the fascist era of Benito Mussolini (1922–1943), the Italian African Police (Polizia dell'Africa Italiana or PAI) along with the Carabinieri were one of the police forces entrusted with suppressing opposition in Italian East Africa (Africa Orientale Italiana, or AOI), mainly in Eritrea, Somalia and Ethiopia.

The other role of Italian African Police (Polizia dell’Africa Italiana) along with the Carabinieri was to set up machine gun posts to control the rear of attacking regiments and prevent desertion. In the mid to late 1930s, the Italian African Police and the Carabinieri were responsible for the atrocities committed in Eritrea and Ethiopia during the Second Italo-Abyssinian War.

Recruitment to the Italian African Police was contingent on the degree of loyalty one shows and the ability to carry on instructions without question. Hamid Idris Awate was a proud and loyal member of the Italian African Police and Carabinieri who committed untold crimes on native Africans (Sudanese, Ethiopians and Eritreans) who were resisting the occupation of their land by Italy.

For his loyal service to the Italian occupation force he was first appointed as security officer in western Eritrea and later as deputy chief administrator of the city of Kassala, Sudan and its surroundings during the brief Italian occupation of that city in early 1940s. As administrator of Kassala he relentlessly worked to the political union of Kassala to Eritrea until the British attack of January 1941 put an end to his dreams. He further has fought gallantly with his Italian benefactors as a brave soldier in the battle of Keren.

As a loyal fascist soldier, the defeat of Italy by allied forces in East Africa disappointed Awate bitterly. After the British army liberated Eritrea from the Italians in 1941 he continued to wage guerilla warfare against the British for over a year, with the cavalrymen of Amedeo Guillet.

Amedeo Guillet (February 7, 1909 – June 16, 2010) also known as the devil commander was an officer of the Italian Army who commanded a band of cavalrymen "Gruppo Bande a Cavallo" during the Italian guerrilla war in Ethiopia in 1941–42. Guillet commanded approximately 2,500 locally recruited cavalrymen who were recruited from all over Ethiopia and Eritrea with Yemeni infantry men. They also consisted of some camel corps from Libya and were led with six European officers and Eritrean NCOs all hand-picked by Amedeo himself.

(N. B. Notice the similarity in attire between the pictures of Amedeo Guillet here and Hamid Idris Awate as cavalrymen above.)


(Photo: Amedeo Guillet with a native cavalryman)

One of these handpicked Non Commissioned Officers (NCOs) was Hamid Idris Awate who was in charge of 100 Ascari cavalrymen with another Eritrean officer of the Ascari named Ali Gabre. Guillet tried to delay the advance of the British Army when they crossed the Eritrean frontier in 1941. He fought the British army at Cherù on the road to Amba Alagie and Agordat and his delaying actions enabled the Italian army to regroup at Keren.
His actions saved the lives of thousands of Italians and Eritreans who withdrew from Amba Alagie. After nearly two months the British broke through the defenses of the Italians and Asmara was captured.

While most of the Italian army surrendered, Guillet refused to do so and began a private war against the British. He continued to wage a guerrilla campaign, ambushing British convoys and disrupting supply lines. For almost a year Guillet launched guerrilla actions against British troops, plundering convoys and attacking isolated military posts, with his beautiful gun-toting Ethiopian Muslim mistress Kedija by his side. She was the daughter of a chieftain from Simien in Gondar. In 1942 realizing the futility of his actions, Guillet managed to escape across the Red Sea to Yemen.

(Photo: Kedija – Mistress of Guillet the daughter of
An Ethiopian Chieftain from Simien, Gondar)

During this adventure one of the loyal subjects of Guillet was Hamid Idris Awate who was fighting for the return of the Duce’s African Empire. It was this guerilla experience which the ELF wanted to exploit when asking Awate to start the Eritrean insurrection in 1961.

After the departure of Guillet in 1942, Hamid Idris Awate based himself in the western lowlands of Eritrea in the vicinity of his tribal land with his army of approximately 50 men, and continued to fight the British, awaiting for the return of his commander Amedeo Guillet with help and reinforcement from Rome. He continued his fight against the British until 1945. After he realized that the empire of Fascist Italy was gone for good he continued his outlaw (shifta) life, this time targeting innocent Eritrean civilians. He conducted raids into Kunama villages and plundered cattle which he sold in the markets of Kassala, Sudan. He set ablaze countless Kunama villages and looted them and engaged in indiscriminate killing of Kunama women and children including infants.

Awate’s notoriety as a shifta and crimes against civilians was such that the then British Military Administration set a price of £300 for information leading to “the arrest or capture of Awate dead or alive”. He was a notorious outlaw (shifta) alongside other outlaws of the time like Weldegebriel Mosazghi of Berakit Abay and Berhe Mosazghi of Berakit Abay, Hagos Temnewo of Debri Adi Tsadek and Asresehenge Embaye of Areza, who were targeting defenseless highlanders of Akeleguzay, Seraye and Hamasien and killed countless Jebertis, Sahos and Kunama of South western lowlands of Eritrea. A 1949 British Military Administration document enumerates 51 such outlaws (shiftas) with a bounty on their heads with Awate at the top of the list and with the highest bounty of £300.

He was later pardoned by the British Administration in Eritrea in 1950 and given complete amnesty for his past crimes and allowed to return to his hometown. He was also allowed to retain his gun for personal protection. The restless and trigger happy Awate was living in his native village when the ELF approached him to start the armed struggle. He still had some of his band of outlaws with him. He was 50 years old at the time. Awate accepted the request by the ELF and in September of 1961, fired the first shot declaring the start of the armed struggle and was back in business again. He led the ELF armed wing for only about 20 months and died on May 28, 1962 presumably from food poisoning. Thus the so called “Eritrean war of independence” was launched by a criminal outlaw (shifta) and is still run by another outlaw (shifta) Isayas.

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.

What makes Awate different from the tens of thousands of Eritrean, Ethiopian, and Somali Ascaris who fought alongside Italy is the fact that he conducted a guerilla war to reinstate the fascist rule on Eritrea even after the demise of Duce Mussolini’s empire and even after all the Italian soldiers and Ascaris have surrendered. He was more dedicated to fascism than the fascists themselves.

He did not even have the slightest concept of freedom let alone be a freedom fighter or a resistance fighter. The only resistance he showed was to resuscitate the dead empire of Benito Mussolini in East Africa.

Therefore, Awate does not deserve to be given the honorable title of a freedom fighter. Trying to glamorize and give Awate a face lift and give him a name which he does not deserve is not only gross representation, but also an insult to his victims.

He was a gun, available for hire to the highest bidder, a “Billy the kid” of Eritrea, who availed his services first to Benito Mussolini in 1935, next to Amedeo Guillet in 1941 out of love and loyalty to fascist Italy and later in 1961 to Idris Mohammed Adem and the ELF leadership in the Sudan, out of familial and ethnic loyalty.

When there was no one to hire him, he turned to cattle raiding and rustling for monetary gains, burning down whole villages indiscriminately, killing and massacring innocent civilians including infants, children and women. His primary victims were the Kunamas. Killing was just a profession for him. That in short is who Hamid Idris Awate was, no more and no less.

The tragic irony is that even though Awate had no noble intention when he fired the first shot, he is credited with starting the armed insurrection against the so called "Ethiopian colonizers" because of a historical accident.

An interesting and weird twist to the story of Amedeo Guillet is that he visited Eritrea in 2000 upon the express invitation of Isayas Afeworki. Isayas must have taken a few pointers from Italian rule about how to subjugate the Eritrean people. Like father like son, both Isayas and Awate were worshipers of Fascists of Douche Mussolini. The love of Isayas for Guillet came to light during his visit to Italy in 1999.

During his visit to Rome Isayas was asked whether there was any single Italian he would care to meet. Amedeo Guillet, he replied promptly. The then 90 yrs old Guillet was immediately summoned by Italian officials to meet the Eritrean head of state and was extended an invitation to visit Eritrea by Isayas, which Guillet did in 2000.

(Photo: Isayas Afeworki welcomes Amedeo to his country.
The president’s Palace was very familiar to Amedeo.
It used to be the Italian army’s headquarters. )

We also find another interesting twist to the story of Amedeo Guillet, who died on June 16, 2010 at the age of 101. The official website of Amedeo Guillet shows the picture of an Eritrean Greek by the name of Vassili Kiriakakos at the funeral of Guillet.

The name Kiriakakos kind of rings a familiar bell for Eritreans, and raises the question what the role of Eritrean Greeks in general and “the Kiriakakos’’ in particular was during the Italian occupation of Eritrea. How come one of the Kiriakakos’ comes to pay homage and attend the funeral of a well known Italian soldier of Benito Mussolini? Was there any collaboration by them with the regime of Benito Mussolini in East Africa? It makes one wonder. More research needs to be done to know the extent of the role of some of the Eritrean Greeks, if there was any, during the fascist era.