The first national congress of the ELF was convened at Arr, at the confluence of rivers Ansaba and Barka on 14 October and 12 November 1971, with 561 delegates taking part. The delegates represented the liberation army, branches of the ELF in the neighbouring countries, key underground members from Eritrean and Ethiopian cities, and Eritrean peasant communities at village and district levels in the then semi-liberated zones. It was held after a long struggle against groups of individuals that had no interest in its convening.
The historic congress adopted a comprehensive political programmme, allowing the people to be organized in their respective civil organizations like workers’, youth, women’s and students’ unions. That congress, even in that early period, wanted to underline, inter alia, that:
a) national unity of the people is the central objective of the Eritrean Liberation Front; b) that all national groups are equal and any move to build a dominant national group shall be considered anti-national; c) that the so-called government land being sold (in 1971!) to government collaborators (and others) shall be restored to the people from whom it was taken.
Source: nharnet.org archives
Fighter Ibrahim (unfortunately we do not know his full name)taking care of a civilian patient during the first ELF National Congress 1971
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Picture courtesy of Ibrahim Gedem
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