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EritreanPost 🇪🇷🇩🇯🇸🇴🇸🇩🇪🇬 |Eritrean news blogger
Today marks the beginning of the Eritrean independence struggle, as Hamid Idris Awate and other ELF fighters launched an attack on Ethiopian occupational forces in Eritrea on the first of September, 1961. The battle took place at Mount Adal in the Gash Barka region of Eritrea. The Eritrean martyrs who were part of the operation included Hamid Idris Awate, Abdu M. Fayid, Ibrahim M. Ali, Humed Qadit, Awate M. Fayid, Mohammed Bayraq, Mohammed Adem Hisan, Saleh Qaruf, Ahmed Fikak, Mohammed Hassen Duke, Adem Faqurai, Ali Bakhit, Idris Mohamoud, and Omer Karay.
What led to the Eritreans launching the independence struggle from Ethiopia? In 1952, Ethiopian King Haile Selassie federated Eritrea with Ethiopia and initiated the annexation process of Eritrea into Ethiopia by violating the federation agreement. This included undermining Eritrea’s autonomy, dissolving the Eritrean constitution, declaring the Ethiopian federal court as the territory’s final court of appeal, compelling Eritrean community leaders to resign, imprisoning newspaper editors, banning the use of Tigrinya and Arabic languages, replacing them with Amharic, and deploying Ethiopian troops to suppress and kill Eritrean protesters. Furthermore, King Haile Selassie seized Eritrea’s customs duties and relocated Eritrean businesses from Eritrea to Ethiopia.
In 1957 and 1958, there were mass protests against Ethiopia’s violation of the Eritrean-Ethiopian federation. Ethiopian troops fired on Eritrean protesters, resulting in the deaths and injuries of many Eritreans. In 1960, the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF) was founded in Cairo with the goal of liberating Eritrea from Ethiopia. On the first of September, 1961, 14 ELF fighters led by Hamed Idris Awate initiated the Eritrean independence struggle by opening fire on Ethiopian occupational forces in Eritrea. Article by: https://eritreanpost.org/2024/09/01...hamid-idris-awates-stand-on-september-1-1961/
