The following is a brief response to a part of Ms. Sophia T's piece of Jan 04, 2008 titled -- Asmara Rose Responds to Saleh Gadi and The Awate Team. 

Knocked For A Loop

Well, first things first. I was utterly bowled over when I completed reading the piece. When you think that nothing astounds you anymore in the deep seas of the factious Eritrean political discourse, here comes this thing that whams you and leaves you helplessly discombobulated. What left me nonplussed were not only the preposterous allegations, but also the risqué nature of the whole piece. It was indeed horrid and nauseating.

I will get to the gory details a bit later on, but for now let me say this as to why I have opted to opine in this matter or issue. I was not chomping at the bit to add my two cents worth on the fray as I find myself busy with precious little time in my hands. What is also true is the fact that I happen to subscribe to a ShaeBiaist philosophy sans the Ethno-Religious tendencies--a rare and endangered species--, I always pine for a cogent narrative that captures the Shaebiaist ideals in its purest and most unadulterated forms.

DugaNa -- Keren's Cooler

The part of Sophia's piece that I want to explore further dealt with an incidence that transpired in Keren in the 70s. Here is how Ms. Sophia T described the episode: 

" In 1975, there was an ELF operation targeting a prison in Keren. Saleh Gadi was chosen to guide the ELF combatants he knew the area as well as he was born and raised in Keren. He was not leading the operation but to guide the men when they entered the city at nightfall and help them as they conducted their assignments. On the night of the operation, as the combatants entered the city and made their way to the operation site, Gadi was no where to be found. The spineless coward that he was and still is, he had abandoned them and hid at home with his parents, leaving his comrades stranded. The sounds of gunfire engulfed Keren that night and many lost their lives, unable to make it out of the area.( The Tigrigna version of this will be published soon so that Eritreans around the world can help us as we put together our own list of Saleh Gadi's victims, so that he and his AFG groups can be brought to  justice.) " 

Ms. Sophia T's narration is a rechauffe -- a reheated dish (Tsebhi) that was cooked up by certain Kerenites some three decades ago. She rehearsed in her potted and muddy account many counterfactual myths. Playing fast and loose with what actually transpired in that particular operation, she transmogrified the story beyond recognition. Before I delve into further analyses, I think it is apropos to get down to that particular episode's brass tacks. 

1)   The operation took place in late 1976.
2)   There were only two martyred ELF fighters during that operation.
3)   The site where the two ELF fighters fell was smack-dab in front of the sentry post of the DuGana joint.
4)   Concomitantly, the battle of Eila BeriD was raging. The town was under ELF's siege.

In yarning the canard, Ms. Sophia T asserted that "many lost their lives" in that operation. First, while she didn't say how many is the many, she surely was not thinking about two (2). It is much more simpler and clearer to say two instead of just claiming many. What is more, she states that "many lost their lives" because they were "unable to make it out of the area". The fact that two and only two ELF fighters were martyred in front of the DuGana cooler thoroughly belies her assertions. Then, she maintains that Saleh Gadi's role was that of a guide to the 'operation site' and he didn't fulfill his duties bravely is negated by the fact that those two martyred ELF fighters fell right in front of the 'operation site'. This unambiguously tells us that the ELF unit made it to the target area.

A Dish ( TseBhi ) of 1976

The freshly cooked up Dish of 76 spread around Keren right in the heels of the DuGana Operation. The scuttlebutt of those days, the version of the dish that was served then had the following ingredients. The ELF DuGana Operation did not come off as planned because Saleh Abubeker (Gadi) left the ELF unit and went to his parents house to visit his mother. As a result, the operation did not succeed. 

In 1976, I was a mere Tenth Grader, I used to hear, variously, the rumors that were swirling in Keren. Please note the variation of ingredients in the Dish of 76 and Ms. Sophia T's dish of 2008. In 76, it was Saleh Abubeker leaving his unit to visit his mother; in 2008, it is the “spineless coward" Saleh Gadi hiding in his parents house. Quite two different flavors,won't you say?

Now, that the DuGana operation of late 76 didn't go swimmingly is not a bone of contention here. What needs more emphasis is the difficulty of getting inside the target area. There was only one way to get inside prison, through the front door where the guard's sentry was located. Unless one is to fight and shoot his way, one can't enter the jail at all. Retrospectively, I surmise that the reason why that particular operation went awry was probably due to miscommunication and lack of coordination between the ELF and those police collaborators. Otherwise, one can have the best and the bravest guide and still will never gain access to the jail without a fierce fight. 

To illustrate and further reinforce this explanation, allow me to narrate the following incident.

Karsheli -- Keren's Police Station -cum- Big House

About two weeks or so before the DuGana Operation, the ELF had conducted a similar operation targeting Keren's Karsheli. Here the goal was to extricate and take away some half a dozen machine guns --BreN EngLiZ.  The Operation did not pan out and in the process one ELF fighter was martyred. He fell in front of the Karsheli's sentry post, probably shot by the police guard on duty at those hours. Here the main culprit was lack of good communication and coordination between the ELF and the supposed Eritrean police collaborators.

As you can see from above, one can have the best of the best guides. But unless there is a flawless operational communication and coordination, the operation is not going to succeed.

The Awate Team and AFG  Dissimulation

Ms. Sophia T portentously averred, ex cathedra, from on high that the Awate Team as "those clowns masquerading as Eritreans". When I read that phrase, it induced sheer disbelief. I wondered how can an arriviste to the Eritrean scene such as Ms. Sophia T would make such a heedless, scurrilous and flagitious statement. It must be said that it takes a humongous hubris and unmitigated chutzpah to utter such a disobliging remark.

Folks, Ms. Sophia T's statement is revealing in another way. It is emblematic of the mind set of Ms. Sophia T and her ilks. Furthermore, it is gravid with meaning. The operative word in that statement is "Masquerade" as in 'To Represent Oneself Falsely'. This means, this can only mean, that Saleh Gadi et al are not REAL Eritreans. They are merely claiming and pretending to be Eritreans. 

Pshaw! Bah! This indeed beggars belief. The statement made by Ms. Sophia T emphatically semaphores that the likes of Saleh Gadi are not Eritreans. Such assertions albeit looking anodyne on the surface are larded with Ethno-Racist bent or purport. This should keep Eritreans of good will en garde.

The Rest Of Ms. Sophia T's Dish ( Tsebhi )

The rest of the allegations that she spouted are nothing more than out and out roorbacks that were drummed up by Ms. Sophia T and Co. without adducing not even a dab of probative evidence. It is an unrelieved rubbish that should earn her the sovereign contempt of Eritreans.

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