The era of de-colonization in the last century started in the 1940’s with the creation of states emerging out of turbulent conflicts in the Indian sub-continent and Palestine. Religion-based identity was the major factor in the birth of states like Pakistan and Israel. Eritrean patriots in that early period knew that religion would play a central role for and against the struggle for self-determination and the task of nation building in the long-term.

As recorded in sources quoting Ibrahim Sultan Ali, Woldeab Woldemariam and a few others of their generation, the first simple act of confidence building for unity among people of the two religions was their effort to break the old tradition of not eating meat of animals slain by the ‘other side’. At that stage, breaking the taboo of prohibited eating of sga kistan or sga islam was not easy. However, they had to break barriers and build bridges for national unity. Periodicals like ‘Aynifelale’ had to be published with slogans and pictures educating folks how important it was for Eritreans of the two religions to accept living together.

On top of the division of our people into equal segments between believers of those two religions, factors like diversity of linguistic and ethnic groups led many observers to ‘forecast’ that Eritrea would hardly make a politically viable state that could live in peace and harmony. The struggle to keep Eritrea un-partitioned and then to determine a common destiny acceptable to all was difficult.

In fact, Ibrahim Sultan, the man (and his movement) that can be given most of the credit for the preservation of that former Italian territory as Eritrea, was not sure after 50 years of struggle if any success was scored since he and his generation of patriots started breaking religious taboos as of 1941. In his notable message to the 1987 congress of the EPLF, Ibrahim Sultan had to use language similar to what he and Woldeab Woldemariam were forced to use many decades earlier. Ibrahim Sultan, known for his bluntness in calling things by their right name, addressed all Eritreans with the following words read at the said EPLF congress: “ Make peace among yourselves. Do not be Moslems and Christians… Avoid religious, ethnic and regional differences…”

It is now 16 years since that great patriot uttered those words. Today, can we prove Ibrahm Sultan wrong by claiming that we have changed much since 1987?  I think we cannot.  In the contrary, one can still express the fear that the present situation does not show enough had been achieved in that direction, unless one wanted to cheat oneself with wishful conclusions. In fact, whatever major progress was made towards change during those difficult years of our armed struggle, we can unfortunately agree that big reverses were cataloged against past achievements since liberation in 1991. In particular, one would have to be mindful of the perception the regime promoted by its misdeeds, eg exclusion/persecution of organizations, in effect marginalizing the Moslem segment of the population (a topic for another day). For now let us have a general and quick look at ethnicity and religion.

Ethnicity: It is generally believed that in many parts of Africa, ethnicity has a strong appeal among traditional societies. The well-known African political scientist Ali Mazroui confirms that, “Ethnicity is a more serious line of cleavage in black Africa than religion”.  I think this is also true in the Horn of Africa.  In actual fact, oneness in religion did not help Somalia to remain in one piece. In many African societies, attempts to form sound political parties with the participation of all sectors of the society had failed. One instance often quoted in this regard is a Kenyan politician, Oginga Odinga, who tried to form a progressive party of class conscious Kenyans. But when he declared his party and turned around to look, “his only followers were fellow Luo, of almost all classes…A movement which had been designed to be a truly [modern] creature suddenly discovered that it was naked and its ethnic organ was showing.” That was in the 1960s. However, even in the new century and millennium just started, we still see elements of truth in Samuel Huntington’s assertion: “In this new world, local politics is the politics of ethnicity, [while] global politics is the politics of civilizations”. In the past, Eritrean organizations were not immune from being perceived through ethnic binoculars. Nowadays, we cannot dispute much the ethnic revival and ethnic politics spreading like forest fire in our region and our country (a topic for another article).

(At this point, I beg readers’ pardon for use of ‘Moslems’ and ‘Christians’ in reference to identities because of lack of better terms).

Religion:  In the Eritrean context, religion as reference of identity generally divides the population into two: Moslems and Christians. With the bleakly low level of education and the general revival of church and mosque ‘activities’ in the country in the past 20 years, one would expect religion playing an increasing role – or, rather, being played in the hands of clever manipulators, of course including the regime itself.

The good record in Eritrea is that we never had religious wars in our history although we can easily admit that both religions were made to play significant roles in Eritrean politics of the past 60 years. It is also my personal viewpoint that Eritrean Moslems (and not Islam as religion) have played very significant roles in Eritrean politics. Sadly though, those momentous roles that crucially changed the course of our history are not being recognized and respected by the present generation, which is still dominated by chauvinist politics of the old EPLF and the present-day PFDJ. The absence of recognition and respect is a cause to general anger and frustration among Eritrean Moslems. This is a highly justifiable anger that is shared by almost all Eritrean patriots in the opposition, or at least in the ‘old’ opposition.

To make it clearer, one has to fully appreciate the fact that, primarily without Ibrahim Sultan and his Moslem League, supported by great patriots like Ras Tessema Asberom, Woldeab and many others, there would not have been a flag, a federation, a constitution and other symbols for our nationalism that led us to liberate Eritrea. 

Secondly, there would hardly have emerged a formidable Eritrean nationalist liberation movement without the steadfast mobilization, sacrifices and leadership of Eritrean Moslem elite inside and outside the country and the pioneer fighters then known only as ‘shifta tigre’ or shifta ‘islam’ in many parts of Eritrea.

Thirdly, the majority of our Moslem elite (and organizations) welcomed independent Eritrea under EPLF rightly stood opposed to any imposition of a chauvinist regime in multi-ethnic and multi-religious Eritrea. This correct position could have easily led to the polarization of the society in Eritrea if only Eritrean Moslems held it. Fortunately, that principled stand of opposing the imposition of a chauvinist dictatorship after liberation was shared by a very large number of Eritrean Christians in the ELF-RC and other organizations as well as individuals who imbibed the ELF culture of caring for national unity, equality and mutual respect of all sectors of the Eritrean mosaic.

But today, we are at a perilous crossroads. The danger of real polarization on Moslem/Christian divide is again hovering over our heads. The general causes include: a) the gross mistakes committed by the PFDJ regime, and, b) external influences that introduced ‘political Islam’ in our organizations.

It is my personal conclusion that many members of Eritrean Moslem elite who always played highly patriotic role in the past are not doing the same today. Probably out of impatience with the regime and the society in general, they are becoming, and some have already become, part of the danger. This trend has been building up since the 1980’s and is today coming closer to a highly dangerous phase.

The establishment in March 1999 of an Eritrean alliance opposed to the regime was a step in the right direction. However, no one seriously assumed that that alliance alone would accomplish the required task.  The alliance was taken as a first step - a reservoir upon which Eritrea would build up its brighter future of reuniting all its ranks and then transiting to a new democratic stage after replacing the chauvinist dictatorship. The presence of a relatively strong ELF-RC in that alliance was somewhat a reassuring guarantee that that body would steadily grow to a broader, restructured and representative force by eventually attracting the rest of the emerging democratic forces and individuals. That good start faced a number of setbacks.

The first setback was the failure of the new opposition that mushroomed after the end of the bloody conflict with Ethiopia. The new opposition composed of the latter-day EPLF-DP,  ‘third waves’ and movements, civic associations, and other opposition voices (including the Awate team) unduly criticized the alliance, and often referred to it as a spent force of sell-outs or fundamentalists that deserved outright rejection. Others called on the ELF-RC and other secular forces to push out of the alliance some of the religio-ethnic groups. Until last autumn, many members of the new opposition stopped short of positively contributing to the growth and unity of the entire opposition.

The second major setback was the failure of the alliance to restructure its own house so that it could go a higher step towards consolidating the increasing number of opponents to the regime. Instead, the alliance showed more dependence on ‘friends’ rather than first engaging on consolidation of internal forces and resources. By October 2002, the alliance took a new turn that was unwelcome to the cause of the entire opposition. It had a leadership chosen for it and let its Charter be tampered with thus becoming less acceptable to the rest of Eritrea. The once reassuring and balancing presence of the ELF-RC in the alliance was no more there and this caused fear, general frustration and anger among good wishers who wrongly resorted simple finger pointing at the ELF-RC for not staying within the alliance under any circumstance. These well wishing Eritreans appeared to have little appreciation of the problems and dangers behind the crisis (more on this in a separate article).

It is not to the interest of Eritrea and Eritreans to let the traditional opposition to be perceived and gradually become a ‘Moslem block’ opposed to a perceived a ‘Christian block’ represented by the dictatorial regime. For sure, Eritrea’s salvation from the oppressive dictatorship shall not depend on an alliance based only on religion and ethnicity, factors that can plunge Eritrea into bitter conflict leading to its becoming a  ‘failed state’ before it phases out of the political map. That is a danger at hand today. And this image will not be improved by adding to the alliance another ethnic groupie in the name of  ’ELF-RC’.

It is time that we start thinking of what should be done to stop the madness. We cannot salvage our nation by deepening polarization. We can stop polarization only if we all agree to stop it and start working rationally.  Members of the Eritrean Moslem elite inside and outside the political organizations are once again called upon to help in stopping this madness, this polarization by first refraining from becoming part of it.

To be continued.

Best regards.