The Daring ELF Operation of Haikota July/August 1963
Gendifil
An ELF unit led by Adem Mohamed Hamid planned to attack and
take control of the police station in Haikota. At the beginning of the armed
struggle, it was the police force that got engaged with the ELF units. The
Haikota Station was an essential outpost for that purpose. An ELF fighter,
Mebrahtu Tseggai, from Bogo nicknamed, Getaa 'ገታእ', was sent to Haikota to survey
the possibility and collect information. When he finished his mission, he reported to
the Head of the unit Adem Mohamed Hamid, nicknamed ‘Gendifil’-elephant
soldier that it was possible. Gendefil
then went to Haikota disguised as a mad person and confirmed it was indeed
feasible. Before the operation, a policeman from Bushuka station, Omer Dini, had
defected to the ELF with some weapons.
According to the plan, the unit stopped a passenger bus near
Haikota. The bus was on its way to Tessenei. The driver was Abu Humed. The fighters,
some of them unarmed, known then as ‘Kolei’ stopped the bus before it reached
Haikota. They politely asked all the passengers to disembark near a place with Trees
and water. They took over the van and drove to Haikota, singing marriage songs.
They stopped in front of the police station and immediately attacked and took
control of the station. In the exchange, there were some casualties in the
police. But not from the fighters. The
police were taken by surprise.
The fighters took 35 rifles (Abu Ashara), 60 hand grenades, and
two light machine guns for the first time. They drove the bus into the wilderness,
but the bus got stuck in a river-bed, not far from the town. So they had to carry
all the weapons for a long distance. This incident paved the way for the battle
of Togoruba that took place on 15th March 1964, which was the first
confrontation with the Ethiopian army.
Gendefil, who was born in the
village of Shalab in 1935, joined the Sudanese Defence Forces in
1953. He met Awate in Hawasheit on 28/9/1961. He passed away on 17.04.1996
A short biography on Gendefil , in Arabic.
Source: ELF records and interviews with persons who knew
about the operation
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