I have been watching all these segments of interview with General Tekeste and want to extend my deepest gratitude for his indefatigable eyewitness testimony and analysis. Although sometimes it is wrenching to listen to some of negative ethos of the struggle or rather the mishandling of these heroic Eritreans by the leadership, it is also a testament to the dedication and grit of these Eritreans that they withstood all these with grace, tenacity and positive regard toward each under dire circumstances. We owe them and the country owes them the deepest respect and reverence for tenaciously bringing about Eritrean sovereignty. As one hears these testimonies, it is hard not to feel how did few and perhaps one man, a cunning man wielded such power and brought such destruction over so many. For one, it is clear that there were accomplices with him whether knowingly or unknowingly became enablers as well. I just imagine sometimes how one of two did not take it upon themselves to remove this type of individuals from their midst at a certain point as a patriotic duty. But here we are now, some have not yet reached a point where they could figure out collectively how to address this dilemma. As for the good General, perhaps the Gods of Eritrea have made sure to have him survive all these and live to chronicle the true history of our revolution to us. For that, we, all Eritreans are grateful to have an honest and reliable hero come and tell us his eye witness experience. What a gift and beneficence! And perhaps all those who perished are speaking to us from their resting place through him in some ways, they are the known, 'unknown soldiers' of the noble Eritreans' revolution. Someone said, that 'the truth will always prevail, where there is pain to bring it to light.' It is heartening to know and a big pride to all discerning Eritreans that General Tekeste is one of the true sons of Eritrea, a hero and a veteran of this long and arduous struggle. Much respect to you. Thank you Sir for your service to our country. Also, deep gratitude to Antonio and Sened for giving us this opportunity. It is very touching to witness many of the commentators on this site asking the General for information or a word about their loved ones. These by itself are indications that so many families and loved ones have not had proper memorials and tribute of their fallen relatives and friends. Families should have been told the details of their loved ones and grieved and memorialized them properly years ago. This is a national duty, if we had a well functioning leadership. It is clear much of the history of Eritrean combatants have not even yet been told, written or chronicled. You, Mr. Antonio, are making a great contribution towards this effort. This writer would like to like to ask, humbly, one question and that is: Would it be possible for General Tekeste to speak about Eritrean women fighters he knew or his experiences regarding women’s participation in the revolution in general. After all, we also have gallant Eritrean women who were integral part of the struggle in various capacity and we have not heard about them yet. Another issue that the General mentioned is indeed relevant as well. There are people who are in diaspora who were part of the Shemagelles/leadership or know about these incidents like the Menkae and Yemin affairs and decision making process. It is high time that they fully share their experiences with Eritrean people about that, as it is of critical historical significance. As the General said, it is good to have some assessment/reflection and perhaps reconciliation regarding the misdeeds that were done to our Eritrean brothers and sisters during the revolution. One person that comes to mind is Mr. Mesfin Hagos, who has a long and intimate knowledge of the workings among the leadership. It is no longer of any use to keep this stuff confidential anymore, but very important for historical purposes as well as to go forward in a healthy manner. It will also be good if he discusses his experiences more fully as person who has spent most of his life fighting for a cause and involved at that level of decision-making. Eritreans need to come to terms with that and other aspects of our history in order to go forward as a healthy, happy, peaceful, and united people.
Thank you and Well Said BG-Tekeste Haile. Starting 1970 till now, dictator Isseyas used two playing Cards. Awraja/ Religion and later On Weyane .As you said none of the group got advantage, but unfortunately some of the selfish Eritreans used this division to help Isseyas to stay in Power. What I see is still , Narrow minded Eritreans living abroad have NOT learned from the past History.
Dear Geneal haile tekeste i was really apreciate your transparent narration, long life for you but i want to know some about sewu harbina (shalbalu ) i heard you knew alot about him and his brother was bashai abay famous Eplf truck driver if you mind please thank you.
First of all thank you for your honest,unbiased telling of your army struggle exprience. You are helping us to understand the exprience, emotion, social life , political life, the mind set of our beloved heroes. But my question is sometimes you are using war terminology like ( teklit,miriftat) . I know the interviewer is like you used to be a soldier he can understand but not us. Second the interviewer asked about yemin, I know what the party was blamed them for but what was their objectives, I am sure thier intention was not bad. So what was the objectives of yemin and menka'e from the soldier who stand for that idea. Thank you ones again.
This is interesting interview. I know that the Menkae movement was more of a political demand than a regional issue. Then the Yemin should have some political alignment among them, as the fighters were from three regions (even though they were majority from Hamassien). So Brigader General Tekeste did not make it clear on this.