Part
10
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THE
NATIVES AND THE INDIGENOUS POPULATIONS OF ERITREA
“THE
KUNAMA AND THE BARIA/NARA”
Many historians, anthropologists and scholars have already
researched and written about how different we Eritreans are ethnically,
linguistically and culturo-traditionally.
According
to those research-works, the Kunama
and the Baria/Nara
were the first two ethnic groups which had put down their roots in the Eritrean
soil.
These
two ethnic groups are known and classified as belonging to the “Nil-Chary tribes”.
All the other seven, today forming the nine Eritrean ethnic
groups, are either immigrants or of mixed races.
Concerning
the sensitive land issue in Eritrea, particularly regarding the western lowlands
inhabited by the Kunama and the Baria/Nara populations,
Ras
Alula had spearheaded a
genocide type of war against those tribes the effects of which linger to these
very days.
The past rulers of Eritrea, though recognising the land
belonging to these two ethnic groups, had given themselves and the other ethnic
groups an ample freedom to inhabit as well as administer the land.
The
Italians and the British
were said to have been very aware that the Tigrian populations were always the
ones creating problems in matters of land use.
However, in order to facilitate their own territorial
interests as well as allow other populations to have some access, they invented
the principle of the
“Terreno
Demaniale” (State Land) in the western
lowlands of Eritrea thus practically creating more conflicts and hatreds among
the local populations.
One-hundred-and-fifteen (115) years have elapsed since Ras Alula’s
failed attempts and
It had enjoyed a short period of peace during the Italian
colonisation but when the British came the conflicts between the Tigrians and
the Kunama people began anew and
“land” has always been the main point of contention.
In the
past, the main stream of the Eritrean Tigrian component had always opted for the
union with Ethiopia which it did take place. They have always shown clear signs
of volatility in the Eritrean affairs, arrogance and a great desire for
dominance over the other Eritrean ethnic groups.
In the
1960s, some Eritrean Tigrians, ignoring their past and following the main stream
of the western Eritrean populations, changed side to fight against the Ethiopian
domination.
The western Eritrean lowlanders however, had their
scepticism conscious of the Eri-Tigrians volatility. Many of them in fact, had
remained faithful to their
“mother-land
Ethiopia”
but few others,
like
Iasayas Afwerki & co., joined the Jebha 1966, as if he and his colleagues had been motivated by genuine
intentions.
After
a few years, in 1970, Isayas, together with 9 of his closest friends, decided to
split from the Jebha to form his own group.
Without going into details to fathom out also the failures
of Jebha, let us state that, with that decision, Isayas had begun a purely
Tigrian movement as quite a number of that ethnic group members immediately
joined followed by an ever-increasing number of other Tigrians from the Eritrean
as well as from the Ethiopian cities, towns and countryside.
The principle of
“NHNAN ILAMANAN”
was
born then and developed over the years.
It was a clear call to strive not only to fight against the
enemy but also to gain dominance over and subjugate the western Eritrean
populations.
Adopting
very fine tactics, the EPLF attracted also the sympathy of the Ethiopian
Tigrians and together it succeeded in defeating and expelling Jebha from the
Eritrean into the Sudanese soil. This was a well-planned and carefully carried
out political move which gave Isayas and his friends an absolute dominance in
the Eritrean fields.
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In
1991, Eritrea got its independence
and
that too with the help and consent of the Ethio-Tigrians. The political
independence of Eritrea meant more plights for the western-lowland populations.
The great majority of the Eritrean refugees were and are either lowlanders or
the supporters of Jebha and its sub-groups.
Isayas has been occupying the Eritrean seat claiming to have
brought the Eritrean independence.
One day,
at a meeting, Isayas was said to have told his ministers that, in reality, the
Eritrean seat should be occupied by the people of the western Eritrean lowlands,
but that because of their weaknesses, the Tigrian contingent is occupying it
instead.
Asked by his ministers why he had come out with such a
controversial statement, Isayas was said to have retorted that he had told them
the truth. This story had not been fabricated but it was confided by the
ministers themselves at a later time. They reported that, Isayas went so far as
to state that, had it not been because of the lack of courage of the western
lowlanders, the hilghlanders would not be now holding the political power in
Eritrea.
Perhaps it was the first and the only time Isayas told the
truth, but there is some objectivity in his statement.
As primary Eritrean natives, we, the Kunama and the Baria/Nara
populations, know our human and social rights and how to implement them on the
bases of our traditional laws and interests. The Tigrian component has no right
to infringe and impose its cultural and territorial domain upon us. The land
issue has to be resolved in the context of our laws and traditions.
From now on. We Kunama are neither to step backwards nor stay still and
let others dictate on us and on our affairs. Our determination to claim for and
defend our social and territorial rights is as strong as our demand for an equal
share in the Eritrean political power.
We are therefore requesting the present and the future
Eritrean governments to recognise, respect and protect our ethnic rights,
rescind the present land law, re-instate our traditional land ownership and
administrative systems.
The Eri-Tigrians have to eliminate their attitudes of
despise, discrimination and arrogance on our regards. Eritrea has to heading
towards a total justice of its political dispensation and equality of its
diverse ethnic components.
Let each Eritrean ethnic group live according to its own
social and customary laws, if we desire peace and tranquillity to rain over
Eritrea and over the Eritrean societies.
As long as the present social, political and territorial
laws exist, Eritrea may be heading for and falling back into new ethnic
conflicts which could be transmitted from generations to generations thus
lasting much longer than the 30-years of its liberation movement.
If the Eritrean ethnic groups and their diverse cultural
heritage are not given their due respect and protection, we may be facing
permanent problems in the future.
We Kunama have never invaded the Tigrian territories nor
given any problems to their inhabitants as the Tigrians are now doing in the
Kunama Land and to the Kunama people.
We know and expect the Kunama Land as such to be
administered by its own natives and on the bases of their own traditional and
customary laws; to meet the expectations and needs of its prime inhabitants.
We have been stressing on this point for quit sometime, we
are stressing on it now and we shall be stressing on it even more firmly in the
times to come as we believe it to be a point of tantamount importance.
The Australian
“Aborigines”, had suffered for years till one day they rose up to claim
for their native rights and got them. Faced with a legitimate and legal demands,
the Australian whites had no other choice but remunerate the natives. The
Australian people and government, realising how important a cultural heritage
could be for an ethnic group, did not hesitate to solve such a basic and vital
human problem.
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The Eritrean government too has to apply identical
principles in matters of ethnic values such as land, traditions and cultural
issues.
The present Eritrean regime has expropriated the land of the
“Sahel Hawashawit” and resettled them in the Kunama Land.
When on earth, had the natives of Sahel ever known the
Kunama Land before if not only as cow-herds?
The
Kunama Land is not and should not to be turned into a national refugee camp.
This has to be taken into a great consideration both by any
Eritrean government as well as by all those other ethnic group members who
believe that the principle of the
“State
Land” is a free license for invading and occupying the Kunama
Land at will.
We Kunama have been often telling the present Eritrean
regime and stressing the point that, such inhuman and unilateral decision to
bring about demographic disruptions are likely to create constant resentments
and conflicts among the local populations but, as the Italians would say,
“il
cane che abbaia non morde”,
meaning,
“a barking dog does not bite”, the PFDJ regime has been letting our cries fall on
“deaf-ears”.
The many
topics we Kunama have been so far covering and shall be covering in our web-site
are not motivated by either
“fun or hobby” but by an urgent need to send our message across that
our Kunama people have reached the point of saying,
”enough
is enough” with the
problems we Kunama have had to live with but that actually they are the creation
of external forces operating in our territory.
Let us not forget that a movement by the western lowland
populations has always had lasting effects in Eritrea.
Let us also remind our readers that, when we use the
definition “the Eri-Tigrian ethnic
group” and comment on its negative attitude and arrogant behaviour,
we do not mean all the
“Tigrigna-speaking
components”
but
only those who,
throughout
the Eritrean history
played and are playing a double, exclusive, arrogant and a greedy role in
Eritrea and in the Eritrean society. They are not to unite but to divide our
nation and nationalities.
K. Longgi (October 2001).