Paths toward the Nation by Joseph L. Venosa

Author:Joseph L. Venosa [Venosa, Joseph L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Africa, General, Political Science, Political Ideologies, Nationalism & Patriotism, Colonialism & Post-Colonialism
ISBN: 9780896802896
Google: ptKxngEACAAJ
Publisher: Ohio University Press
Published: 2014-01-15T02:44:06+00:00

Muslim Responses to Resolution 390-A

For league officials and the broader nationalist constituency within the Independence Bloc, news of the UN’s decision did not immediately discourage their hopes that the basic objectives of independence were still attainable by the new proposed federal system. In light of the alternatives of partition or full-scale incorporation with Ethiopia, league leaders appeared ready to embrace the federation in spite of its shortcomings. By early December league officials began to publicly embrace the UN decision and did their best to frame the resolution in positive terms:

The United Nations’ decision and its declaration concur with the rights and capacity of [the people of Eritrea’s] governance and administration of their own country. As a result of such a decision and declaration, the fear and terror of “partition” that was posing a threat to all Eritrean people and the country, which the Independence Bloc strongly fought against, and sacrificed many lives and properties, has completely disappeared!

… based on the United Nations resolution and declaration, we know that we did not receive the complete independence of Eritrea that we asked for. However, we believe that we have the right to claim that the victory of the people of Eritrea is our victory, as we were the ones who were able to avoid partition and brought blessings to the people of Eritrea to govern their own the land.2

Other reactions were nothing short of jubilant. One bloc supporter, Degiat Sebhatu Yohannes, claimed that the general population received the UN decision with “overwhelming happiness” because people were finally relieved that the long-awaited decision promised to bring both “success and freedom” to all Eritreans.3 Such commentaries support the idea that for the Independence Bloc (and consequently the Muslim League), true victory had meant “the non-partition of Eritrea, not the federation and its rights that came with it.”4 Nevertheless, the sudden about-face in both the league and the Independence Bloc’s rhetoric regarding the merits of an autonomous federal system ran counter to the ideas that representatives had espoused only weeks earlier. In his final appearance before the UN committee, on November 24, Ibrahim Sultan had laid out the bloc’s firm opposition to the very idea of a federation government, stating that representatives refused to accept such an “ambiguous scheme” on any level.5 He added that “a federal union, as we understand it, can only arise willingly between two independent states of equal sovereign rights, and not between an independent state and one which is being denied independence.”6 Largely because of the league’s recalcitrance in even considering the possible merits of a federal system, the tone in most of Sawt al-rabita’s commentaries throughout late 1950 and early 1951 suggests that the league’s leadership struggled, at least initially, to find a way to articulate a response that could acknowledge the decision’s shortcomings but also to encourage its members to look to the future.

Having mobilized an extensive network of branches and affiliated members of the Youth Association throughout the country, the initial responses to the decision did little

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