(hade hizbi hade libi) a myth or reality?

.........BEFORE THE TABOOLAND

Dear sister Halima:

I am sorry to learn the death of your brother. I am really sorry my stomachaches, and my heartaches. Nevertheless, what else but �inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi rajiEon�. My condolences to yourself, your family and to all my countrymen/women. �All Eritreans who knew, or yet to know, the death of their beloved ones�.

Since1961, my beloved Halima, condolences became meaningless, who condoles whom! We thought 1991 would end our anguish and our wounds would heal. But alas, a few amongst us, May Allah forgive them; seem to enjoy our tears and misery. Your brother is a martyr, you and me and all Eritreans, except the notorious wicked squad in Asmara, are also living martyrs. Yes all of us are martyrs dead or alive until peace, justice, democracy, rule of law and social harmony is restored to our beloved country. Sooner or later, witness it or not, our people will fulfill their promise to their martyrs and Eritrea will enjoy what it deserves. �Walabudda lilleyli an yangali wa labudda lillqayde an yenkaser�. This is a promise my dear Halima, a promise to your brother, my brother and the brothers, sisters, sons and daughters of all heroic Eritreans. �May the Al Mighty save our nation; bless us for the good of our people and help us to shape the change for a better and an inclusive nation hood�. Amen, Allahuma Amen. Walahawla wala quwata illa billah.

Mansour Karrar

LAND QUESTION PAST AND PRESENT:

I) SOME FACTS

Whether we like it or not Eritrea is, a small strip of land along the western Red Sea coastline, the least endowed with natural resources (known so far) in the region, of course excluding little poor Djibouti. About four-fifth of it consists of arid and semi-arid dry land of mean annual relative humidity less than 40%. This area receives only an average of 30-500 mm of rain annually and is characterised by hot and dry climate. It can only sustain a pastoralist herder economic production and therefore nomadic pastoralism was long adopted in time immemorial in this area.

Nomadic Pastoralist economic mode of production, dictated by the environment, is the marks of evolution of economic methods undertaken through hundreds of years if not millenniums. It is a sustainable system of economic production suitable for the natural environment. This mode of economic production together with the environment shaped the culture and behaviour of the indigenous societies of these areas. Environment generated a given ecological situation, which dictated a specific economic production and both the environment, and the mode of production dictated certain human behaviour that we call culture. Culture and nature are inseparable; they play interchangeable roles over each other. Social engineers, those who interfere to change the culture and demography are domed to obliterate both the environment and the economy. And those who try to put the natural resources (land) of these areas to other alternative (peasantry) uses or try to change the existing mode of production are ultimately destructive force for both the culture and the environment.

No river in the country runs all year round, only few seasonal watercourses most of them with torrential floods that lasts for only few hours, two to three times a year. A good example of these is khor Barka and its tributaries.

These areas (North Eastern Sahil and Southern Sahil) are indigenously inhabited by roughly 50% of the Eritrean population (mainly herders). The other 50% (mainly peasants) populate the 20% extendedly exhausted and extensively eroded rocky Plateau.  The fact that 50% of the population have 20% of land available to them while the other 50% have 80% in their disposal is a recipe for conflict on itself. Competition between competitive economic production modes (herders vies avis peasants) over a common natural resource input (land) is a natural phenomenon world over and can only well thought-out and managed (by non sectarian, non ethnic, fair nationalist decision makers) as an issue of resource allocation and management of natural resources. No more no less.

Unfortunately, the issue of land and its allocation had long been politically charged by the Ethiopian administration. It was exploited for political purposes and used as a Trojan horse to obliterate the Eritrean people�s national unity. It was instrumentals to fade the people�s will and means of resistance represented by the ELF. Very tragic, again the PFDJ and our first national government instead of reversing the transgressions and injustices as legacies of occupation, it insistently carried out in the worst sense what Ethiopia had began. This time it legitimised the loots under the pretext of national unity and security.

II) NORTH EASTREN SAHIL

RAINFALL:

Rainfall in this region ranges from extremely variable and less than 200mm in Northern Barka to more stable and about 500mm in South-Eastern Gash. More than 65% of all years' rainfall is below the long-term average. The coefficient of variation is over 40% at 250mm in Barka and over 30% at 500mm in Gash. A complete failure of rains can statistically be expected in 2 to 3 out of 10 years at 250mm long-term average (Barka), and in 1 out of 10 in 500mm (Gash). (Schwartz: 1994).

There are three main watercourses flowing from the Eritrean hills through North Eastern Sahil. Only one, Settit, finds its way to the Nile, the other two, Barka and Gash, petering out into the sand, where cotton plantations have been established in Eastern Sudan. The Gash and Settit are the only rivers that are of a considerable size in flooding duration and water volume.

POPULATION:

The Bassopiano Occidentale, as the Italians used to call it, is Eritrea�s largest division and occupies about half of the country. It was the cradle for the Eritrean liberation struggle and the main base for the revolution during the 30 years' war.

This region has suffered a great population decline in the last hundred years In contrast to the plateau, which experienced high population growth and immigration from the Tigrai. This decline could be attributed, among other reasons to:

1)      The traditional low fertility rates of pastoralist nomads.

2)       Out-migration to the Sudan and other Arab countries due to cultural affinity and employment opportunities.

3)       Flee war and persecution as refugees to the Sudan

4)      Movement to urban centres in Eritrea and the Sudan

THE ANNUAL MOVEMENT CYCLE  (Sebekh- Sagim):

The nomadic pastoralists move in clans or groups of clans in their annual cycle, from Barka to the Gash, Sittit, Atbara (Bahr) and beyond that in cases of sever droughts. Back again to Barka at the end of the cycle. Their production activity depended in utilising pastures in certain locality in a specific time and season.

PROPERTY RIGHT REGIME:

At the advent of Italian rule the property right regime in the region was characterised by traditional communal ownership. In 1920 the Italians declared all land in the North Eastern Sahil demaniale (a especial category of state land) in contrary to the Dessa and Resti in the Plateau. This introduced a partial �COMMON ACCESS�, where Access means the right to enter a defined physical property. It also provided WITHDRAWAL rights; the right to obtain the "products" of a resource e.g. utilize water and harvest pasture etc. However, the demaniale made destitute the right of �EXCLUSION�, where Exclusion means the right to determine who will have an access right to the resource. The demaniale property right regime established a �COMMON ACCESS� for all inhabitants of the North Eastern Sahil and Italian settlers and investors, while subdued what is known as �OPEN ACCESS�, that renders the resources available for any one for the taking.  There is a great difference between �COMMON ACCESS � and �OPEN ACCESS�.

Some of the justifications for the Domaniale decision were:

1)      The nomadic pastoralist of the region comprised different ethnic groups and clans. A communal property right that necessarily includes the right of �EXCLUSION� may cause some conflict between them. Therefore Domaniale enables the state to maintain equal access to all of them especially in the Gash-Settit, where the Kunama had absolute traditional indigenous rights over it.

2)      It would encourage Italian investors who would participate in the �development and modernisation� of the region but would prevent �OPEN ACCESS� to others.

3)       Nomadic herders are �primitive and backward� (outdated modernization theory adopted by PFDJ in the third millennium) they had to be gradually resettled and converted to peasants.

4)      Land is �ample� and it stands idle most of the year while its owners are away in search of pasture elsewhere.

With the advent of the British rule, in 1941, traditional communal property rights over land were restored; land rights were transferred to the respective clans or villages. This era was the golden age for this region. It witnessed both economic and social development. The Tigre-Shemagele social order was abolished, formal education was introduced and expanded and economic production based on both animal husbandry (herding) and trade was boomed. The proper property rights over land had definitely led to the economic and social well being of the society. These economic prosperity and the social tranquility and harmony were the necessary conditions that made it possible for this region to launch a successful armed struggle against the Ethiopian occupation. For the simple reason that, economic and social developments are necessary preconditions for political consciousness and participation.

III) THE GASH-SETTIT

The Gash-Settit is originally home to the Kunama tribes. The Kunama were mainly gatherers and hunters sedentary people, however, few practiced a small-scale agriculture. From time immemorial Nomadic pastoralists from the other areas of the North Eastren Sahil also used the Gash-Settit pastures and even beyond it into Ethiopia and the Sudan. Some of them had permanently or partially settled in the Gash, while some others were only seasonal transient users. Urban and semi urban peoples and peasants from North Eastren Sahil, the Plateau, Takror (West African origins), Sudanese and Arabs had also lived in harmony and mutual respect together with the Kunamas in the few urban centres of the region. All had implicitly or explicitly acknowledged the communal ownership and traditional property rights of the Kunama and sought their consent on all their economic activities related to land.

With the exception of ordinary criminal acts such as cattle thefts and the consequences and reactions to such incidents (in limited magnitudes), the Kunama had long established mutually beneficial relationship with all the others who used their land. The nomadic pastoralist of the North Eastern Sahil (Beni Amer, Maria, Blin and Habab) without exception enjoyed COMMON ACCESS and WITHDRAWAL rights into the Kunama land. Such Property Rights assured nomadic pastoralists spatial mobility and secure income stream. It also assured the Kunama some income from employment as herders and caterers and use of the excessive meat and milk from the herds. This economical and social relationship was well functional until the first scramble occurred. 

Gash-Settit is a large area; therefore, I will mainly ponder in the Tokombia area as a good representation to illustrate what I have in mind in the issue of land.

IV) TOKOMBIA (Tokoma Bia � hot water, in Kunama)

Add Ebrehim, a Beni Amer clan whose saga every Erirean knows, had their winter home on the northern side of the Gash River, between Anagolou and Tokombia. The migration route of Add Ebrehim commenced from Khor Barka almost towards the end of August. On September they grazed in areas between Khor KaElai and Barentu (Umba Renko, white water, -in Nara or Mai Ttada -in Tigre or Bia Ra -in kunama). In October they used the land between Mai Ttada and Khor Dasse to gradually move on November to the Gash area between Anagolou and Tokombia, their partial seasonal residence. The clan with the milking cows, goats and sheep stay in this area while young men cross the Gash river with all dry cattle to the Sittit and even beyond in draught years. At the beginning of July the herds from Settit come back to the Gash, the whole clan join the herds back towards Barka, to start the cycle again the month after.

Some Habash, mostly from the Hamasien, populated Shellalou a small village to the south of Tokumbia across the Gash River. Most citizens of Shellalou were also herders who had some common interests with the other pastoralist clans. They were part of the social fabric of the area who coexisted with others in some sort of established social and economic harmony. Some individuals in Shellalou had some personal rifles. It is a common knowledge that by the end of their mandate the British offered quite generous terms of amnesty to alleged �shifta�. Some of their leaders were allowed to keep their personal arms while some of the most influential among them were awarded government jobs to incorporate them in society, earn them income and status. Some of these people settled in the Gash-Settit area, particularly in Shellalou.

The pastoralist and their cattle used to endure shifta raids, mainly from Walqaiet, during the grazing seasons in Settit (Bahr). It is an established fact that nomadic pastoralist in general and the Beni Amer in particular are peaceful people with no affinity to firearms. It is not a part of their culture or way of life. Even in the pre Italian period defence was the sole responsibility of the Nabtab ruling class and the Diglel. The duty of the Beni Amer serfs was confined to herding, milking and feeding the Nabtab. In Daga, the sit of the Nabtab, no cattle, sheep or goats but only beautiful Arabian horses were the common seen. 

The Add Ebrihim and other pastoralists in the Settit (Bahr) used to construct some arrangements with some individuals possessing firearms as protectors (MawElai- singular or MawElet-plural) to sentry them against the Walqaiet shiftas in return for some heads of cattle or a sum of money when they come back to the Gash at the end of the Settit (Bahr) grazing season. It was a common seen, in the late fifties and early sixties, to see the MawElet in the market place in Tokombia openly bargaining the pastoralist elders, in behalf of the shiftas, for the release of sons or rescue of cattle. Meddling between the shiftas and the pastoralists was a lucrative business for the MawElet. This was done under the sight of the local police force in the town of Tokombia that never interfered. To the consternation of both the Shiftas and the MawElet the ELF started to give some protection to the herder pasroralists towards the middle of the sixties and onwards.

Nevertheless, the Kunama traditional communal ownership of land in that area was never subject to any challenges from any one. Shiekh Musa Ali Shoule, the Kunama chief in Tokombia, was the acknowledged authority as �Shiekh Al-khat�-land district officer. He shouldered land allocation and deciphered land disputes among all groups. 

To be continued����next part III the first scramble