There are only two main Christian-Muslim conflict
reported in Asmara, (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.
The SDF were part of the Imperial British Army that fought against the Italians
in Eritrea. This note is about that of 1946.
On 28th August 1946 in Asmara, which was the first day of
Eid El Fitir, five soldiers from the SDF who were gambling (in what was
reported as) ”in friendly manner with five Eritreans gave chase to a small
native boy who snatched their moneybox containing the stakes” and ran into the
crowded section of Asmara. Having caught the child, the SDF soldiers began to
hit him. In retaliation, an angry mob abused the SDF soldiers, three of whom
were seriously hurt. The British Military Administration (BMA) Police came to
the area and order was restored. But once the Police left, an organised youth
gang began to move from one brothel to another chasing SDF soldiers from the
vicinity. These angry soldiers returned to their base at Fort Baldissera where
they began to organize to avenge their comrades. Some 70 heavily armed SDF
soldiers, with military vehicles, including armoured vehicles left their
barracks and headed to the Christian section of Asmara. Once in Asmara, the
soldiers split into parties and began shooting at the multitude
indiscriminately. According to BMA officials, 40 Copts were killed while 64
were wounded. On the Eritrean Muslim side, 2 died and 10 were injured.
The theft incident was actually the straw that broke the
Camel’s back. It was due to a culmination of the Christian-Muslim hostility
that Ethiopia had cultivated. It came after months of anti-Arab, anti-Muslim ,
anti-Italian, anti-Sudanese demonstrations. Since that incident, Ethiopia
became belligerent in sponsoring terrorist activities against those who called
for independence. In June and July that year Ethiopian Government had expelled
275 Arabs and 92 Italians from Ethiopia were sent to Eritrea. A violent attack by
Ethiopian sponsored youth against Arabs took place in Massawa and Keren in
April that year. On July 28, 1946 the BMA broke up a violent anti-Arab/Muslim
demonstration in Asmara and four ring leaders were arrested. Riots ensued. Arab
shops and Arab property was set ablaze and half-crazed mobs headed to the
prison where the four ring leaders were jailed. It was only with the
intervention of the SDF that peace was secured.
Given the high density of the population in this part of
Asmara the casualty toll by the MBA was suspect and conservative. More
revealing was the death of 3 SDF soldiers, and 13 of them were seriously wounded.
It was known that the casualties were not due to the crossfire from the
half-crazed troops. Nor does the BMA official report attribute the deaths to
BMA peacekeeping forces. By elimination, there is some reason to believe that
the bullets that shot the SDF soldiers may have come from hired guns of the
Ethiopian state.
The funeral service for the fallen Christians was held
the following day (29th of August) and became the most elaborate show of
Ethiopian force in Eritrea to date that period. Flagellated women cursed the
unclean. Declasse elements carried the pro-Ethiopian Placards vowing revenge.
Coptic priests wore the green-yellow-red Ethiopian flag. All gathered in the
most revered ground of the Coptic faith, the compound of St. Mary’s Church.
Abuna Markos glorified the dead, called their sacrifices the most holy, and
reminded the gathered to emulate the dead, and defend the faith and mother
Ethiopia to death.
But despite the bombast, the Abuna’s funeral procession
remained peaceful, thanks in part to the show of BMA military force during the
funeral day. In the face of an explosive popular anger, the SDF was withdrawn
from Eritrea and official mourning was declared in Asmara. The possibility of
more violence was averted when the Eritrean Weekly News published a list of the
donors for a fund established to support the families of the deceased. Most of
the contributors were Muslim or Arab merchants, a fact that helped to quiet the
tensions Unionist leaders were trying to inflame.
The SDF incident of 1946 became
a landmark in Eritrean/Ethiopian modern history. It also became a watershed for
regional politics in years to come. As Ethiopia perfected the Muslim-Christian
contradictions, the Arab world began using the “Muslim persecution by Ethiopia”
as a pretext to interfere in the internal problems of Eritrea. The regional
powers were most immediately affected by the British conduct in the
Christian-Muslim conflict were Arab countries, especially the Sudan, Egypt, and
Saudi Arabia. The anti-Muslim, anti-Arab paranoia in Eritrea was extensively
covered in the Arab press.
Main source: Peasants and Nationalism by Jordan Gebre Medhin
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