Islamic Movement in Eritrea
The Eritrean Islamic Movement declared its existence in 1961 under the leadership of "Sheikh Hamed Idris Awateh". With its armed attacks, this movement sought to gain the independence of Eritrea in the form of an Islamic and popular system. To achieve this goal, he offered hundreds of thousands of martyrs and disabled people to Islam, Muslims and the freedom of this land.
Eritrean Islamic Movement
Eritrea is bordered by the Red Sea from the east, Sudan from the north and west, Ethiopia from the south, and the Republic of Djibouti from the southeast. Eritrea has 126 islands and has abundant natural resources and fertile lands. Fifty percent of the people of Eritrea are Muslims; The most oppressed people who were attacked by colonial countries for more than four hundred years due to the sensitive geographical and commercial position of their country.
From 1527 to 1557, the Portuguese dominated this country, and from 1557 to 1885, the Ottoman Turks occupied it. After the Ottomans, it was the turn of the Italian colonial government; After the domination of Eritrea, the Italians allowed the most oppression on the oppressed people of Eritrea. Twenty-five thousand people were executed between 1913 and 1918 for the crime of political activities.[1]
The historical course of the Eritrean liberation movement
Eritrea was occupied by Italy during World War II. After the Allies entered this land in 1941, due to the strategic importance of Eritrea, they did not reach an agreement on its possession and so they fought with each other. Finally, this issue was referred to the United Nations, and this organization voted in December 1950 for the federal union of Eritrea with Ethiopia. But the colonial government of Ethiopia, which had the support of America, on December 14, 1962, unilaterally violating the United Nations resolution, announced Eritrea's accession to Ethiopia.
The people of Eritrea, who were looking forward to the independence of their country and liberation from the rule of the colonialists, started their struggle after the negligence of the Ethiopian government in implementing the UN resolution and violating it. "Eritrean Liberation Front" was founded as a political and military organization in 1960 and started its armed and open struggle with Ethiopian and American colonialists in 1961.
The people's struggle with the Ethiopian occupiers put a lot of pressure on the oppressed people of this country, and the Ethiopian army tried hard to suppress the people's uprising and did not hesitate to commit any crime. On January 16, 1971, the Eritrean Liberation Front, in a statement, revealed the inhumane acts of the Ethiopian forces towards the oppressed people of Eritrea and declared: "The Ethiopian forces have turned Eritrea into a "blood bath" in the new era and in they immerse themseleves in it .
In 1965, the leaders of the movement moved and organized their fighting forces throughout Eritrea in a systematic and integrated plan. The liberation front, to inflict more damage on the Ethiopian army, started fierce battles from the southwest region. As a result of these planned attacks that took place between 1975 and 1977, the Eritrean fighters won significant victories and took many cities out of the control of the Ethiopian government.
After these victories, the political groups were divided and instead of fighting against the invaders, they started fighting each other. The internal differences of the resistance front caused the Ethiopian army to take back the lost areas.
In 1981, with the mediation of some Islamic countries, the involved groups reached an agreement to resolve the differences through negotiations. Following this agreement, the battle with the ruling regime of Ethiopia intensified once again and the years 1984-1990 were difficult years for the Ethiopian army; Because the ruling regime of Ethiopia felt powerless against the resistance forces and was unable to face them. This caused the Americans to raise the issue of mediation in September 1989 to help and reduce the pressure on the Ethiopian government, which ended without practical results and emphasizing the continuation of negotiations in 1990.
The Eritrean Liberation Front, after thirty years of resistance, finally captured Asmara on May 28, 1991, and entered Addis Ababa in May of the same year and formed the Eritrean Provisional Government. In a referendum that took place on April 23-25, 1991, under the supervision of the United Nations, 99.8% of the Eritrean people voted in favor of independence from Ethiopia, and thus the independence of Eritrea was recognized in 1991.[2]
The nature of the Eritrean movement and its intellectual and political positions
The Eritrean Islamic Movement, which began its armed attacks in 1961 under the leadership of Sheikh Hamed Idris Awateh, sought to gain the independence of Eritrea in the form of an Islamic and popular system. To achieve this goal, he offered hundreds of thousands of martyrs and disabled people to Islam, Muslims and the freedom of this land.
An official of the Eritrean liberation movement, calling the nature of the Eritrean movement Islamic, says: "The spark of the Islamic revolution was ignited under the leadership of Mujahid brother Sheikh Hamed Awateh in September 1961, and the armed struggle to defend their legitimate right in the way of freedom and independence of [this country] was announced.
Over time, the Eritrean Resistance Front, as a result of American and Western pressures, turned towards socialist ideology. In the first meeting of the fighting forces of Eritrea, which was formed in 1971, it was approved that the resistance front "will strengthen the existing relations with the socialist and democratic countries, as well as with the Eastern and progressive organizations.
The inhumane crimes committed by the Ethiopian military in Eritrea and the inability of the liberation front to prevent them and the material needs of the movement caused the resistance front to turn to the communist countries. It was because of this initial change that the General Secretary of the Liberation Front, in addition to signing the document of cooperation with the Communist People's Republic of China, announced in a press interview in Beirut on June 15, 1981: "He has requested the help of arms from the Soviet Union.[3]
The positions of the Eritrean movement towards the Islamic revolution
Eritrea's liberation movement has a favorable opinion and believes in relation to the Islamic revolution, which is considered a new movement in the history of Islamic movements in the world. Iran's Islamic Revolution had positive effects on all Islamic movements and strengthened them. For this reason, the victory of the Islamic revolution in Iran under the leadership of Imam Khomeini, may God have mercy on him, was welcomed by the Eritrean Islamic movement.
The representative of the Eritrean People's Liberation Movement at the "International Seminar of World Liberation Movements" held on 8 June 1982 in Tehran, sought to fully support the Islamic Revolution and said: "The experience of the Islamic Revolution of Iran in our time is an experience ,and considered unique, this revolution reminds us of the early days of Islam and the heroism, sacrifices and sacrifices that Muslims offered to elevate the word "Allah", spread the pure religion of God and realize justice and truth and destroy falsehood. Brothers! It is up to us to take steps on the path of the Islamic revolution of Iran and use its experiences by holding on to God's strong rope. The nation of Eritrea considers itself obliged to bring the voice of the Islamic Revolution of Iran to the international circles in defense of oppressed nations under colonial rule.
The Islamic Republic of Iran has always supported Islamic movements, including Eritrea, based on its principled, humanitarian and Islamic policies. Iran was one of the first countries that supported the result of the 1991 referendum by expressing its satisfaction with the victory of the Eritrean nation over the Ethiopian army and recognized the independence of that country.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic issued a statement on 23 Nov 1993: "The Islamic Republic of Iran, recognizing the independence of this country, hopes that the people of Eritrea will be able to rebuild with the cooperation and assistance of the international community and good neighborliness with the countries of the region." and achieve great success in the growth and development of their country.
Of course, among the militant and politically active groups in the Eritrean Islamic Movement, only the "Eritrean Liberation Front - Revolutionary Council", which was formed in Cairo in 1961 under the leadership of "Ahmed Muhammad Nasser", and whose members are all Muslims, had an office in Tehran. The leader of this front has also met with Imam Khomeini, may God have mercy on him, during his two trips to Tehran. But as a result of the changes in the positions of Eritrean political and militant groups towards intellectual and political issues, their relationship with the Islamic Revolution was limited and their office was closed in Tehran, and now the Islamic Republic has no relationship with Eritrea.4- [4]
Criticism and evaluation of the Eritrean Islamic movement
The Eritrean Liberation Front is one of the main political parties that started its independence struggle against foreign rule (Italy and England) for the liberation of Eritrea.
This front openly entered political and military activities for the first time in 1961. Unfortunately, after the death of the front's leader, "Awateh" in 1962, the front was divided due to ethnic and religious issues. The axis of these differences revolved around Muslims and Christians. These differences caused the disintegration of the movement; Because the Christians wanted to join Eritrea to Ethiopia and the Muslims wanted the independence of Eritrea. As a result of this conflict, political groups were fighting each other in 1977-1980 and the war between the pro-liberation forces continued fiercely.
In 1981, the conflicting groups, with the mediation of some Islamic countries, agreed on a ceasefire and resolving disputes through negotiations. Following this agreement, political groups focused their activities on two axes:
1- In the military scene, they put them in a bad position by organizing the situation of the resistance fronts against the occupying forces of Ethiopia.
2- In the political field, in this field, the greatest effort of the resistance front was to bring the political-military groups closer to each other. For this purpose, in 1982, at the invitation of Saudi Arabia, the heads of the following parties gathered in Jeddah for a coalition:
A- "Abdullah Idris", the leader of the "Liberation Front of Eritrea";
B- "Othman Saleh Sabi", the leader of "People's Liberation Forces - Eritrea Liberation Front";
C- "Abu Bakr Gayman", representative of "Eritrean People's Liberation Front - Revolutionary Council
"Eritrean People's Liberation Front" refused to participate in this gathering and the reason was the superiority of its military forces over others. As the founder of this gathering, Saudi Arabia had two goals: "Firstly, to dominate their leaders and secondly; use the existence of those groups as leverage against the Marxist regime of Ethiopia.
In this gathering that ended on December 23, 1982, the participating groups reached agreements on political, military, etc. issues, but the problem of political groups was not solved in general; Because the basic problem of the freedom-loving forces was the intellectual positions that had been introduced to the resistance front by influential people affiliated with socialist and Marxist groups.
The Marxist tendency was so widespread among the leaders of the Liberation Front that some parties such as the "Eritrean People's Liberation Front" which was made up of dissidents from other groups, officially followed the ideology of Marxism. Therefore, the deviation of Eritrea's liberation movement from the basic principles of Islam is the main cause of its failure.5[5]
Footnote:
Bibliography
Gholam Sakhi Halimi, Resaneh va jonbeshhaye eslami moaaser(Contemporary Islamic Movements and Media),First Edition,Qom:Markaze Pazhooheshhaye eslami seda & Symaye jomhoori eslami Iran,2003.