Additional information on the late martyr, Mohamed Omar Akito

Additional information on the late martyr, Mohamed Omar Akito

I asked, Hashim Gamaluddin Ibrahim Al-Shami*,  to tell me briefly and precisely the reason why the late Mohamed Omar Akito failed to take his seat at the Eritrean parliament for the period 1956 - 1962 and also asked him to shed light on his personal life during the period from 2000 until his death. It is known that the life and times of the martyr is relatively well documented. The following note was 

given to me in Arabic and my translation follows:

"The late Mohamed Omar Akito was elected as a member of the Eritrean Parliament in 1952 (during the Federation period with Ethiopia) and served for the period 1952 – 1956. He was also elected again for the second session of the Eritrean Parliament for the period of        1956 – 1960 from the South Dankalia District.  But the Ethiopian authorities prevented him from taking his seat and instead declared his opponent for the seat, Omar Mohamed, as the winner. Mohamed Omar Akito took his case to the High Court and won it. The Chief Executive and the Emperor Representative in Eritrea did not accept the ruling.  They continued to recognize, his opponent, Mohamed Omar as the winner of the seat. After a while, Mohamed Omar Akito decided to go back to Assab through the Asmara – Dessie – Assab road, using his car. But the Eritrean and Ethiopian authorities stopped his car at Manda village, about 120 kms. from Assab and forced him to return to Asmara. Later after some period of time he was employed at the Government Printing Press. That was like a forced house arrest, as he was not allowed to travel to Assab.

His wife died in January,  2007, in the Italian Hospital at Abbasia district, in Cairo. He was deeply saddened by the event and he left Cairo to Asmara, afterwards.

He arrived in Djibouti, by air, in March 2007 and left the country after staying there for about 3 and half years to Jeddah by air too, to perform the Omrah ritual and to undergo an eye operation there.  He was mentally intact and had a sharp memory as he used to remember details of events he experienced. He left Jeddah to Asmara by air, too, in the beginning of October 2010 after performing the Omrah and after a successful eye operation on 18.06.2010. He passed away in his home town of Assab on 21.10.2011"  End quote.

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*Hashim Gamaluddin Ibrahim Al-Shami, holds a doctorate degree in Economics from the University of University of Wisconsin - Madison, USA. He is interested in the history and studies of East Africa and Southern Arabian Peninsula. He is a co-author (the other author was his father, Sheikh Gamaluddin Ibrahim Al-Shami) of the book on the History of the Afar, in Arabic that was issued in 1991, and the second edition was published in 1996. The book is in about 750 pages. His father wrote 182 pages of the book.  The book was translated to Amharic, with additions to the Arabic version in 2007 with the title (ዓፋር (ደንከል) ታሪክና መረጃ አርክ ምንጭ).