Postby Ityopia on Mon Sep 22, 2008 12:25 pm
by the way, does Isayas even have a college degree??
Isyas does not have any degree he only had 12th grade education. He left Haile Selassie University before the end of the 1st year( ?acadamic failure).
He went to Sudan in the late 60’s . When top Eritrean student, from Haile Sellasie University, joined the rebel movement from 1973 to 1974 (start of Ethiopian Revolution), they had better education and intellect than Isyas. The new students wanted to reform the rebels and introduce new ideas, what is disturbing about Isyas is that he hated the new students not for their ideas but because they had more knowledge about political and economical principles as many of them have been at the vanguard of political debates in Addis Abeba eg many founding leaders of EPRP(=EHAPA in Amharic),and Martha Mebrhatu, an Eritrean student doctor, political campaigner executed inside Ethiopian Airlines plane at the airport and many others.
After Isyas debated and watched the newly joined intellectual for eight months or so, on August 1974 (few days prior to the depose of Haile Sellasie regime) he executed around twelve young Eritrean intellectuals.
Most of the executed were not just bright students from Haile Selassie University, they were the driving force in the intellectual life of Addis Abeba. I will give you some examples of the executed.
1)Yohannes Sebhatu- the first students in Ethiopian education history to be expelled from Haile Sellasie University, for political agitation. He was the president and founder of a leftist political society at university. One of the best students to ever come out of any Ethiopian University (R.R Balsvik Haile Sellasies student: the intellectual and social background to revolution).
He was contemporary of Colonel Atenafu Abate, the only Derge leader to study at the University and Colonel Alem Zewde Tessema, commander of the Airbourne Brigade, Dr Mekonnen Woldeamelak head of University lecturers. All the above named individuals were executed within four years by Mengistu Haile Mariam. On the other hand Yohannes Sebahtu and many of Eritrean student/intellectuals who joined the Eritrean rebels were executed within a year in August 1974!
2) Mussie Tesfamichael- another H.S. University student intellectual.
3) Dr Haile Hashtun- a qualified doctor. Probably the only fully qualified medical doctor to join the rebel movement at that time.
...So on, in total 12 individuals were executed on August 1974 three of them females.
After the execution of the Eritrean intellectuals in 1974 Isyas never again allowed a better educated Eritrean in any position. To achieve the aim of preventing any aspiring Eritrean intellectual, Isyas did the following
1) To be elected into the rebel leadership-politburo a person must have joined before 1970-72 (deliberate ploy to stop new studet group from Addis Abeba University), irrespective of talent or admiration from rebel fighters.
2) Any new members of the rebel group must undergo “political re-education programme” before contact with fighters.
3) Groups must be trained seperatly and according to their educational background, thus an illiterate group, primary school group, high school group and university level group. After completion of political and military training individuals are sent to different fronts. Without exception the well educated Eritrean were sent to fight the most difficult sections of Ethiopian army.
4) To this day any Eritrean who joins Eritrean army is “reducated” in this manner, individuals with college degree are assigned watchers/monitors/spies all the time.
5) The policy of excluding educated Eritrean was so successful that even today out of the top sixteen Isyas acolytes not one of them has a college degree, infact half of them do not have formal education example Eritrean chief of staff Grezghre Andemariam, head of military security Tekele Kiflai, Head of Isyas personal security Simon Gebre Dengel, military man Haile Samuel, Col Filpos Weldyohannes, a former peasant today internal-military security cannot read or write adequately.
Additional note- most of the Eritrean University educated-students from Haile Sellase University perished in the battle for Messwa in 1978, to this day many Eritreans seeth with anger in how stupidly fighters were sent in front of Ethiopian NAVY guns, in which the Messaw plains were flat and no natural covers at all. There is a video of this battle it is just herondious to look at, you will see a large line of Eritrean fighters with weapons held at abdomen level, the heat of the salty plain shimmering at the knee level, running towards the Ethiopian NAVY. One by one you will see bodies tumbling just awful; of course the Ethiopian NAVY successfully defended and held the port until 1989.
The deep suspicion and hate Isyas feels towards educated people extends to instituions too. The closure of Asmara University was mainly for security reason after student rebellion but it fits the pattern in which Isyas sees Unversity education as whole, threat to his power.
What happened in the summer of 1974 has created a pathological hatered of university-education in Issyas Afewrk, so much so 17 years after Ethiopia left Eritrea, not one single doctor has been trained under the Isyas regime and of course Asmera University remains closed!
Source-
1)R.R Balsvik, Haile Sellasie's students: The Intellectual and socail background to revolution.
2)Teferra Haile Selassie, The Ethiopian Revolution
3)David Pool From guerrillas to governemnt- the EPLF
