The Fall Of Gazafi And The
Eritrean-Libyan Relations
Published at awate.com on March 1, 2011
Dr. Mohammad Kheir
“I was the one who created Libya and I will be the
one to destroy it.” Qazafi as cited in The Economist1
“Mercenaries, Eritrean mercenaries!” they shouted
and attacked Eritreans every here. Word spread by the agents of the regime that
Eritreans were behind the failed coup attempt. Eritreans were shown as
mercenaries on TV and one very familiar face in Khartoum appeared; it was no
other but the well known Eritrean veteran, Ahmed Suwera. Sudanese army
officials who knew him came to his rescue. Many Eritreans were beaten,
seriously injured and detained during the few days after the coup attempt.
The above is a glimpse of an event that happened in
Khartoum in the late seventies. The Numeiri regime used the ‘mercenaries’ card
as a cover to discredit the Sudanese opposition who were responsible for the
coup attempt. Though circumstances may be different, similar events are now
happening in Libya. One clearly feels the grave danger that face refugees in
Libya.
The brutal regime of Qazafi uses mercenaries from
Africa and other parts of the world to maintain its grip on power. Due to this,
the victims of the current unrest includes innocent Africans who came to work
or as asylum seekers on their way to Europe. Doesn’t our dictatorial regime
blame all its troubles on the Weyane! All opposition groups are regarded as
agents of the Weyane.
The Qazafi regime is the closest ally and a staunch
supporter of the Eritrean regime. We are not sure how the end of the Libyan
regime will be, but its days are numbered. The Eritrean regime will then have
lost all of its close allies in Africa; it is so scared of the uprisings in
North Africa that the events were not aired on the state TV. When one watches
the news on Eri-TV, one feels they live in a different planet than ours.
The Libyan regime has been in conflict with many
countries, just like our own. Whenever its relations deteriorated with Egypt,
Sudan or Chad, it punishes the innocent citizens of those countries working
there by confiscating their properties and deporting them to their countries.
It hosted opposition groups of all types in the country and tried to overthrow
the governments that they were at odds with—just like our own dictatorship. It
tried to assassinate heads of states and used terror against its opponents
abroad and against civilians in Europe.
The Eritrean regime does not have the luxury of the
wealth of Libya. In the early 1980s Libya was at odds with the Numeiri regime
in Sudan and hosted Sudanese opposition there. Word spread that the Sudanese
opposition were not successful in overthrowing Numeiri because Eritreans were
protecting the regime. Eritreans were rounded up in Libya, imprisoned in very
bad conditions in underground prisons for months. Some were tortured and a few
lost their lives, until some Eritrean political leaders who had good
relationship withthe ruling elite intervened and the issue was resolved.
Both Libya and Eritrea were Italian colonies. Young
Eritreans were hoarded from all parts of the country (the gifa that continues
to-date unabated) and conscripted to serve in the Italian colonial army.
Eritrea was turned into a colony of soldiers.
Italian documents show that by 1907, there were
5132 men in the army and this number increased to 60,200 by the end of 1935.
The first Eritrean battalion of 1,112 men was sent to Libya in early 1912, and
by July of the same year, there were 3,728 Eritreans there. They were sent to
Libya to fight against the forces of Omer Al Mukhtar that confronted the
Italian colonialists. There were other recruits from the other Italian colonies
too. Though Eritreans were forced to fight in Libya and other Italian colonies,
it remain a sad part of our history. In 1914, when the Minister of Colonies
instructed the Governor of Eritrea to send three more battalions to Libya,
about 2000 men, the Governor Salvago-Raggi replied:
“The colony agreed willingly to contribute one
battalion, but when asked to increase itscontribution to four battalions and
when its soldiers were made to stay longer than six months at a time, I have to
point out how damaging the consequences were going to be for the colony and
that it was inopportune to destroy a colony in order to conquer another.”2
The famous Eritrean artist, Idris Mohamed Ali, who
is himself a symbol of the Eritrean regime’s brutality (he languishes in prison
and his fate is unknown) referred to this period in one of his songs ‘Tribuli
gesa.’ (he travelled to Tripoli). He also refers in one of his songs to an
Eritrean who fell in love with an Italian lady (even though expressing love of
an Italian was forbidden) in his song ‘welwt zlam’, a little
insect that looks like a beetle with a beautiful
metallic red color.
Relations with Libya have not always been negative.
It was on and off. I was 17 years old when Qazafi took power in 1969 and I
remember, like all my peers who were consumed by politics too early, how
enthusiastic we were to his ‘revolt’ which coincided with 1st September, the date of the
launching of the Eritrean revolution. Those of us who knew Arabic had an extra
advantage of following up world events and broaden our perspectives. The other
alternative was Radio Ethiopia and ‘Hibret’, the newspaper—not many Eritreans
followed news in English, then. We followed the Radio programs from Egypt which
was revolutionized after Nasser took power in 1952. We regularly read Egyptian
magazines and books. I remember reading the Egyptian weeklies in Agordat: ‘Akher
Saa, Al Musawer and Roz Al Yousef’ which had just caricatures with no
pictures. We read ‘Rewayat Al Hilal’, we followed Egyptian football; and
I was a staunch fan of ‘Al Ahli’. Still I am. We read novels of Yusuf Al
Sibaai, Nejib Mahfouz, Mustafa Al Aqad and others. We watched Egyptian movies.
We listened to Nasser when he gave his charismatic speeches.
All of that neither made us Arabs nor less
patriotic—just like reading English literature or speaking the language does
not make you a British or an American. I wonder now when I hear Eritrean voices
that want to deny us access to Arabic and/or question our attachment to it.
During the then Organisation of African Unity (OAU)
Summit in 1973, Haile Sellasie entertained a lavish party for the guests. Large
TV screens were placed in some streets. The the head of the Libyan delegation,
a young person, by the standards of statesmen of the time, speaking for the
liberation of Eritrea in the summit. No one before had dared to speak against the
Emperor in the OAU; we were overwhelmed by it because it was
unprecedented—someone speaking for the liberation of Eritrea from Addis Ababa.
We were staunch supporters of the Libyan ‘revolution’ and of ‘brother’ Mammar
Al Qazafi, as he likes to be called.
Thousands of Eritreans got free scholarships and
studied in Libyan high schools and universities. Many of them worked and
continue to work there. The ELF, and later also the EPLF, had offices in Libya.
But by early 1980s, Qazafi briefly allied himself with the Mengistu regime when
he was baptized by the Soviet Union as a revolutionary; but that relationship
did not last long; he continued to support Eritrean independence. He did not
even forget to mention, in his crazy speech a few days ago, that he also
overthrew Haile Sellasie, among others. At the time of independence, the
relationship of Eritrea and Libya was cool and limited. The Eritrean regime was
the darling of the West; and our dictator was regarded as one of the new breed
of African leaders; while Qazafi was being hunted by the West for the terrorist
activities that he led. Few years later both dictators became very close
allies.
2. References related to Eritrean involvement in Libya are taken from
sources cited in: Tekeste Negash, 1987. Italian colonialism in Eritrea
1882-1941: Policies, Praxis and Impact
To be continued…
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