The sectarian riots of February 1950 that almost took
the life of my parents
There are only two main Christian-Muslim conflict reported
in Asmara, Eritrea (the Ethiopians supported by the Unionist Party played a big
role in it), one was in 1946 where Sudanese Defence Forces were involved and
the other was in February 1950. This note is about that of 1950.
The UN Commission (UNC) arrived in Eritrea on February 9 and
began its months-long inquiry 5 days later. Unionist Shifta activities
supported by Ethiopia increased after its arrival, they became daring, better
planned, better coordinated and innovative. The main target of the shifta was
to disrupt the free movement of the UNC in areas controlled by the independence
bloc supporters. The shifta attempted to prevent the rural population that
supported independence from having an audience with the UNC. They targeted transportation
and communication systems. Telephone lines connecting Asmara with major cities
of the predominantely areas pro-independence areas of the western lowlands and
Masswa were continuously cut.
An active Muslim League local leader, from Mai Derese,
Bashai Nessredin Saeed was killed by the Unionist Shifta at Emba Derho train
station where he worked as a station manager, on February 20. According to an
account of the incident written by Mufti Sheikh Ibrahim Al Mukhtar, at 07:30 in
the evening of a Monday that date 5
shifta came and fired several bullets at him while he was on duty, He was
critically wounded and was taken to Asmara immediately but died on the way. The
reason for the killing was that they had asked him to abandon the Muslim League
and join the Unionist Party (UP), but he refused. The killing sparked an
outrage among Muslims in Asmara and a lot of people turned up the next day for
his funeral to show their stand against the terrorist activities of the UP. A
well organised funeral procession was arranged and attended by youth and Muslim
dignitaries. The procession passed through three main streets before they
reached the street where the UP Office was located.
According to the Mufti, then
the UP members started first to throw stones at the procession which was
followed by three grenades and then chaos followed. There was open
confrontation between both sides and many were killed and injured from both
sides. The Police intervened by firing live ammunition, but the confrontations
continued. Despite all this, the procession continued to the cemetery where the
body was buried. The riots then spread to other areas and took a dangerous
sectarian form. Many properties were also looted and burned. On Wednesday, the
British Military Administration (BMA) declared an curfew from 5pm to 5am, but
the riots continued , On Friday the curfew was extended to 22 hours.
On Thursday, the BMA administrator called for a meeting that
included the Mufti and Abuna Marcos and asked them to calm the people and ask
for reconciliation and both agreed. The next day a convoy of four cars: (In the
first car were armed Police, in the 2nd was the Asmara Administrator
with his Arabic translator, in the third were the Mufti and the Abuna and in
the 4th was the Asmara & Hamassein Judge and the vice of the
Abuna) moved to the districts of ‘Geza Berhanu’, Edaga Arbi, Akhria, Edaga
Hamus, Aba Shawl, Hadish Adi and Gaza
Banda. In each location people were addressed with microphones to gather in
both Arabic and Tigrinya and were told that the Police will not harm them. In
places where there were a majority of Christians the Abuna will address them
first and later the Mufti calling the people to end the violence and Vice-versa
in the other locations where the majority were Muslims. Later the people were
told to go back to their homes. In the evening the Mufti and the Abuna went to
the Radio Station and advised the citizens to end violence. The wise men from
both sides accepted the call, but the looting of properties of Muslim merchants
continued for 3 more days before the riots came to an end.
On Saturday 25 february, the Copts met at the main church
and Muslims at the grand mosque and discussed ways to end the violence. Both sides
agreed to take an oath to prevent violence against each other. Each side
appointed a four member committee to oversee the agreements. Later 31 members
from each side took an oath in front of the eight member committee. To prevent
further violence in other areas, the committee of both sides decided to visit
the Muslim and Christian cemeteries and lied flowers on the graveyard of the
victims of both sides. More than 62 persons were killed and more than 180 were
injured and the damage on the properties was huge. This way the riots where the
Ethiopian Laison Officer played a big role to ignite was brought to an end by
the wise religious leaders and elders of both sides.
It was during this period that some Christian thugs came to
kill my parents and grand parents who lived in a predominantly Christian area.
A neighbour by the name Letebrhan Gual Rigbu told the thugs they could not kill
my family ( I was not even born then) before they killed her, first. After a
lot of heated discussion they complied and left, thus my family survived. There
were many such stories from both sides.
The whole report of the Mufti in Arabic can be accessed through this link:
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