“Victory would be a matter of months” Part I
Asked about what it would take for the total liberation of Eritrea after
the decisive Fenkil offensive and the annihilation of the enemy from the
Port city of Massawa, President Isaias Afwerki, then Secretary General of
the EPLF, said that “Victory would be a matter of months”. By all means of
calculation and the damage inflicted upon the enemy forces during the
consecutive offensives of the liberation fighter it had been inevitable
that the enemy had no power or the will to resist the advance of the EPLF
fighters.
The Derg regime with heavy assistance by the then superpower, the Soviet
Union, had been able to launch eight major offensives, between 1978 and
1986, to crush the Eritrean revolution once and for all.
The much anticipated offensive on the part of the Derg regime had been that
of the sixth offensive, in their term the “Red Star”. Within more than two
years of preparation to conduct the operation the regime fielded more than
90,000 troops, sophisticated heavy weaponry, modern fighter jets and above
all direct military advice from Soviet generals. Thus the sixth offensive
was launched on 15 February 1982.
This huge offensive had been crushed by the gallant liberation fighters and
with that the morale and apatite of the enemy to continue fighting had been
totally collapsed. On the contrary, the morale of the liberation fighters
reached to its highest stage. Every one had been convinced that from this
day on no force would stand to confront the advance of the revolution to
route out the enemy from the country and liberate the nation. The
offensives that came after the huge sixth offensive were only desperate
actions on the part of the Dreg regime in an attempt to try to reverse the
situation if possible. However, they were to no avail and only to receive
more heavy blows and causing more deaths of its soldiers and loosing more
weaponry.
After the end of the eight successive failed offensives of the Derg the
EPLF leadership had been convinced that from this onward it would be the
turn of the revolution to take measures in its own hands and initiate
operations its own where and when deemed necessary.
One of the first offensives initiated by the EPLF forces has been the
renowned operation for the demise of Nadew Iz. The Command had fortified
its tranches in the front for solid ten years without doing any thing to
fulfill its mission and finally to be demolished itself at the hands of the
Eritrean People’s Liberation Army on March 17, 1988. The enemy had strong
confidence on the command that it was capable to destroy the liberation
forces and take over its Nakfa stronghold. But to its surprise it has been
unhilated in a matter of few days.
>From this decisive operation the EPLF captured and armed itself with BM
rocket launchers, 13 mm guns and other heavy and light ammunitions and
vehicles. Thousands of Ethiopian soldiers including three Soviet military
advisors were taken prisoners.
The victory at Afabet further solidified the power of the EPLF both in
weaponry and morale of its fighters. The operation had taken the world by
surprise and the major media outlets of the world began to talk about the
operation in particular and the struggle for Eritrean independence in
general. With this operation the Derge regime was defeated both militarily
and diplomatically for the EPLF became a head line in many media and
international forums.
The Demise of Nadew Iz has been the turning point in the armed struggle for
Eritrean independence and it has been a matter of time that the sooner
Eritrea and its people would be free from the yokes of colonialism and the
enemy routed out from the country once and for all.
Written by Yishak Yared
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