Ras
Alula Abba Nega: An Ethiopian and African Hero
By Ghelawdewos Araia
There are many heroes and
heroines that have captured our imagination and
became the centerpiece of historical anecdotes.
But there are very few born leaders that have been
fascinations of societies for centuries and will
remain so for generations to come. Alula Abba Nega
is one such a leader, and a charismatic
magnanimous persona at that.
Ras Alula was born in the
village of Menawee, district of Tembien, Tigray
northern state of Ethiopia. The exact date of his
birth is unknown, but since he was on his late 60s
when he died on February 1897, we can safely
assume that he was born between 1839 and 1841.
Alula was the son of a
peasant Engda Eqube and obviously of a humble
origin. During his time, no one thought that he
would become a dignitary in a highly
differentiated or stratified feudal and
aristocratic Ethiopia where power was inherited
and ascribed. However, early on, Alula exhibited a
role model of a fine leadership quality [in group
dynamics] among his peers. He was sociable,
courageous, friendly, affectionate, and with a lot
of sense of humor. Above all, Alula had a
magnanimous personality that virtually attracted
the upper strata of the Ethiopian nobility
including the king of kings, Yohannes the IV.
In his early 20s, Alula had
already enjoyed the blessings of Dejazmach Kassa
Mercha, future Emperor Yohannes of Ethiopia. By
the time the latter assumed the title of emperor,
Alula was a strong charismatic leader in his early
30s and already at the top of the feudal echelon.
He became a Ras, just below Negus (king), in spite
of the jealousy and hatred encountered by the
aristocratic elements that surround the king.
In order to get a good flavor
of Alula’s biography and the role he played in
Ethiopian and international politics of the 19th
century, one needs to simply make an analysis of
world politics, particularly that of Horn of
Africa, of that period. In the Ethiopian context,
Alula’s time coincided with a staggering but
relatively consolidating nascent Ethiopian state
that had begun during Tewodros and witnessed a
more expansive stature during Yohannes.
As to world politics, Alula
had to encounter a seemingly unavoidable European
interest in Africa and threat of colonization. The
English, French, and Italians had begun
penetrating North Eastern Africa. The politics of
the Horn of Africa was not healthy either; Egypt
and the Mahdist Eastern Sudan State also wanted to
expand their frontiers and encroach on Ethiopian
territory and Emperor Yohannes was, apparently,
destined to confront European colonizers and
African expansionist forces, but he was fortunate
enough to have Alula, one of the finest African
generals (perhaps the grandest of all after
Hannibal) whose lexicon does not include
‘defeat’ and/or ‘failure.’
As mentioned above, the
nobility never accepted Alula’s status among
themselves and most of them did not endorse, at
least indirectly, the Emperor’s favorable
attitude toward Alula, but they could hardly
disparage his deeds for they themselves witnessed
the enormous guts, commitment, resilience,
resolve, and indefatigable personality of Alula
‘Weddi Quibi’ as he was locally known by his
friends and foes alike. In fact, despite their
resentment, they truly believed that the ‘the
holy ghost was incorporated unto Alula.’
Alula proved his bravado and
his leadership ability at the battles of Gundet
and Gura in November 1875 and March 1876
respectively, where he routed and vanquished the
Egyptians. It is after these major battles that he
was promoted to the rank of Ras and he was only
about 35 years old. It was also during this time
that the Emperor gave Alula an additional title of
Turki Basha, for he must also guard against
another menacing force of the Turks.
When Alula became so
prominent in Ethiopian politics in his mid-30s, he
had three children from his first wife Weizero
B’tweta whom he later divorced. His second wife,
the daughter of Ras Araya Dimtsu, was Weizero
Amlesu. This was purely a political marriage in an
effort to enhance Alula’s legitimacy of his
status among the feudal aristocracy. However,
Alula would have been better off had he honored
his Kal Kidan (the holy communion of his
first marriage), for Weizero B’tweta enjoyed
longevity and Weizero Amlesu died soon after he
married her.
Also soon after Gura,
Yohannes appointed Alula as governor of Mereb
Milash or Midri Bahri (present-day Eritrea). So,
beginning late 1876, Alula settled in Asmara with
his entourage and his army. He constructed his
palace on a hilly top in the heart of Asmara
between what was formerly known as Commissariat
Hammasien and Club Hammasien (Asmara Sporting
Club), and thus began the foundation of a city
that would later become the capital of Eritrea.
Now, Alula’s main
preoccupation was to safeguard the frontier of his
Empire against the encroachments of the Italian,
Anglo-Egyptian and Mahdist forces. The so-called
Adwa or Hewett Treaty of 1884 concluded between
Ethiopia and Britain recognized Bogos (the Keren
area) and Massawa as parts of Ethiopian Empire,
but the English wanted Alula to lead an
expeditionary force against the Mahdists of Osman
Digna.
Alula executed all necessary
strategies, preparations, and logistics to move
against the Mahdists, although local chiefs that
would not recognize his governorship troubled him.
Despite this problem, however, Alula continued
with his plan and marched on to the land of the
Bogos and beyond. While Alula was preparing his
expedition, Osman Digna wrote him a pompous letter
of warning. Alula was used to such empty
propaganda and the mirage of “emperor”
Teklegiorigs’ was still fresh in his mind. The
latter was captured by Alula when he attempted to
destroy Yohannes long before he became emperor.
Thus, in spite of Digna’s seemingly Goliath
caricature, Alula entered Keren on September 1885.
After staying in Keren for about ten days, and
meantime doing some intelligence work on the
Mahdists, he then marched to Kufit. Although Alula
was the prime organizer and commander of this
march, his abler lieutenant, Blatta Gebru was the
Fitewrari (vanguard) of the army.
At Kufit, the Mahdist forces
of Osman Digna were virtually annihilated with
very few survivors, but there were also heavy
casualties on the Ethiopian side. Blatta Gebru and
Aselafi Hagos, two fine commanders, died and Alula
himself was wounded. The news of Ethiopian
victory, however, reached the headquarters of the
Italians, the English, and Emperor Yohannes.
The people of Keren and the
Tigre of lowland Eritrea praised the victory of
Ethiopian forces over the Mahdists. The late
Michael Gabir, who was educated at Haile Selassie
University, provides us important information on
what the people of Bogos had to say about Alula
and his victory:
ኣሉላ
አመል
ዋዚንተት
ሓድርያ
ሰንሒት
ተሻቒር ዓለት
አንሳ ኢግል
ተርእያ
ቤት
ኣስገደ ሚን
ፍውቂታ ከረያ
መሓዝ
ዓድ ፍዛእ
ኦሮ ፊተውራሪ
ከሳያ
ሰገደት
ኢሎስ ኤብ
ብሩድ ፈግርያ
ድርቡሽ
ሚሲል
ጥሪምባታ
ርእሳ ሓር
በልስያ
Alula
Am’el Wa’zin’tet ha’dri’ya
Senhit
Te’sha’kir alet Ansa Egil Tir’eya
Biet
Asghede Min Few’kita Kereya
Mehaz
Ad Feza’e Oro Fitewrari Kes’aya
S’gadet
Elos Eb Brud Fegre’ya
Derbush
Mi’sil Trimbata Ra’esa Har belse’ya
The direct translation,
according to the author, is as follows: “when
Alula arrived at Wanzintat, the people of Senhit
boasted and wanted to be admired by their ladies.
He made the Biet Asghede come down from their
plateaux and punished the Fazza only by one
Fitewrari of his. He scaled the cliff of Elos
without difficulty and forced back the Dervish
with their trumpets.”
Alula, however, could not
relax following the defeat of the Dervish. This,
after all, was the era of European imperialism
that was about to partition the entire continent
of Africa, and the Italians, in violation of the
Hewett treaty, had begun settling down on the Red
Sea coast and vicinity of Massawa and Sa’ati.
Alula’s prime agenda was to guarantee Ethiopian
sovereignty, and although he collaborated with the
English against the Dervish, he had great
resentment to the coming of the Italians and
suspected that the latter’s advancement had an
English blessing. Alula had no doubt in his mind
that English politics in the Horn of Africa
essentially featured double standard. In fact,
Alula’s complaint on the English deceit and
maneuver is clearly revealed in his conversation
with Augustus Wylde, once a vice consul to Her
Majesty the Queen at Jedda and later correspondent
to the Manchester Guardian. Haggai Elrich, the
Israeli historian, in his book Ethiopia and the
Challenge of Independence, cites this fact:
“What does England mean by destroying the
Hewett treaty allowing the Italians
to
take my country from me? …Did I not relieve the
Egyptian garrison in the Bogos country? Did I not
fight at Cassala when it was too late? Have I not
done everything I could? You English used us to do
what you wanted and then left us.”
Following the battle of
Kassala, Alula returned back to Asmara, mobilized
his well-armed 5000 troops and descended beyond
Ghinda’e to Sa’ati (Sehati). Before he engaged
the Italians, he reported the coming of the
Italians to Emperor Yohannes based on the
information provided by Shalaka Araya, district
governor of Ailet and Balambaras Tessema, the
adminstrator of Ghinda’e. He also communicated
his concern to Harrison Smith who accompanied
admiral Hewett during the signing of the treaty in
1884. He told Harrison that the English did not
honor their words by allowing the Italians to get
hold of Arafale, and he knew very well that
Harrison was lying when he told him that the
Europeans, with the exception of Turkey, had
supported the Italians with their advances in the
Massawa area.
Alula also arrested some
Italians whom he suspected as spies but were
pretending as engineers and who wanted to go to
Gojjam and help Negus Tekelehaimanot to build a
bridge over the Nile. In the meantime, he wrote a
letter to Marcopolo Bay, Italian aide in Massawa,
and Consul Sumagn of France and underscored that
he will destroy the Italians unless and until they
leave Ethiopian territory on their own volition.
But the Italians were determined to stay and came
up with a sinister idea that “it was God’s
will for the Italians to come to the Massawa
area.” Thus, beginning October 1886, Alula’s
forces were taking positions all over the Sehati
and Massawa area and they were encouraged by the
determined patriotism of the local people who
actually, as per their tradition, sung the
following song in Tigrigna:
ኣሉላ
ውረድ ናብ
ምጽዋዕ
ስግር
ባሕሪ ዘሎ
ኣይንቐድዎ
ክርዳድ
በቚሉ ኣሎ
ኣብ ምጽዋዕ
ከይበዝሐ
ከሎ ቀርድዶ
ምሓዎ
Alula
We’red Nab M’tswa’e
Si’gir
Bahri Ze’lo Ay’n’Qe’d’wo
Kir’dad
Be’Qu’lu A’lo Ab M’tswa’e
Key’Bez’he
Kelo Qe’r’did’do M’ha’wo
Roughly translated, it means:
“Alula, we don’t like strangers who come
beyond the sea; you should descend to Massawa and
eradicate the bad weed before it is too late.”
Indeed, by December 1886 the confrontation with
the Italians was inevitable. The first clash took
place at Sehati where a lot of Ethiopians were
killed and wounded, but Alula immediately
reorganized his troops and took Dogali where the
Ethiopians had clearly exhibited military
superiority over the Italians. On January 1887,
the famous battle of Dogali took place; Ethiopians
encircled the Italian army led by major Baroti and
during the height of the battle, the chief
coordinator, Colonel Thomaso De Christophoro was
killed along with other 22 elite officers and 400
troops.
As per the Tigrigna poem, the
bad weed was annihilated at least temporarily, and
meanwhile while the Ethiopian troops were
gathering momentum and the Italians were trying to
recuperate, another poem of praise to Alula (in
Amharic) was already in place as part of the
folklore:
ጣልያን
ሰሓቲ ላይ
እግሩን
ቢዘረጋ
በብረት
ምጣዱ በሰሓቲ
ኣደጋ
አንገርግቦ
ቆላው አሉላ
ኣባ ነጋ
ተው
ተመከር
ጣልያን
ይሻልሃል
ምክር
ሰሓቲ
ላይ ሆነህ
መሬት
ብትቆፍር
ኋላ
ይሆንልሃል
ላንተው
መቃብር
ይች
ኣገር
ኢትዮጵያ
የበዝብዝ
ኣገር
ምንም
ኣትቃጣ እንደ
ራስ ነብር
Ta’lian
Sehati Lay E’grun Bi’ze’re’ga
Be’b’ret
M’Ta’du Be’Sehati Ade’ga
An’ger’gi’bo
Ko’law Alula Abba Nega
Tew
Te’me’ker Ta’lian Yi’sha’lal Mi’kir
Sehati
Lay Ho’neh Me’riet B’t’ko’fir
Hua’la
Yi’hon’li’hal lan’tew Me’ka’bir
Yi’chi
Ager Ethiopia Ye’bez’biz Ager
Mi’nim
At’Ka’ta En’de’Aras Ne’bir
The Amharic poem of praise is
cited by Tekle Tsadik Mekuria in his book Emperor
Yohannes and the Unity of Ethiopia and it
simply admonishes the Italians: “Although the
Italian sat foot at Sehati, Alula roasted him by
his metal oven (metaphoric); Italians, You better
listen to our advise!
You may dig trenches but that may very well
be your graveyard. This country Ethiopia, the land
of Bezbiz [Emperor Yohannes], is just like a tiger
defending its children without compromise
whatsoever.”
Yes, the Italians were
defeated at Dogali, but Alula will never rest;
these were times not only for vigilance and
heightened alertness, but also for incessant
skirmish and wars. In fact, by 1888, both the
Italians and Dervish seemed to have recovered and
had indeed planned to retaliate. On March 1889,
the Battle of Metema took place on the western
frontier of Ethiopia and this will dramatically
alter the politics of the Horn forever. Emperor
Yohannes was wounded and beheaded by the Dervish
although the Ethiopians had the upper hand when
the battle began. Yohannes’ death, however, is a
mystery to this day, for some observers witnessed
that he was hit from behind and not from the enemy
side.
A couple of months after
Metema, Menelik would become emperor, the Italians
occupied Asmara and they concluded the Treaty of
Wuchale with Menelik; few months later, they
formally declared Eritrea as their first African
colony. All of a sudden, the great Alula became a
lonesome political figure.
Alula was extremely sad and
demoralized after he lost his beloved emperor and
after witnessing his erstwhile enemies, the
Italians, consolidating over Eritrea. In the early
1890s, the Italians have further expanded their
colonial territory and took over the western
frontier around Tesseney and Akordat and also
occupied parts of the Adwa area in Tigray in order
to countercheck Ethiopian reprisals and as prelude
to their ambition in occupying Ethiopia and
perhaps colonize it. Another historical
inevitability, thus, was impregnated as a result
of this Italian aggression and the battle of Adwa
will soon ensue.
The Battle of Adwa took place
on March 1, 1896 and in this Ethio-Italian war too
Alula, like his Ethiopian counterparts who came
from all over the country, contributed immensely.
Never in the history of modern Ethiopia were
Ethiopians so united at Adwa to defeat a common
enemy, and Alula, who initially did not recognize
Menelik as a sovereign king, now fully endorsed
him as guarantor of Ethiopian unity.
At Adwa, before the real
clash with the Italians began, in the extreme left
of the Ethiopian position were Alula’s forces
that occupied the height of Adi Abune and they
were supported by the troops of Emperor Menelik,
Ras Mekonnen, and Ras Michael. Ras Sebhat and
Dejjach Hagos Teferi’s forces had also joined
Ras Alula and Ras Mengesha’s camps.
Some observers, like Augustus
Wylde, who furnished us an eye witness account,
were of the opinion that the Italians would have
had an upper hand at Adwa had they used the
surprise element, but Alula maintained that it
won’t have made a difference; the Italians, in
any event, would be outnumbered and the Ethiopian
resolve was immeasurable. According to Wylde,
“the Abyssinians never expected to be attacked,
and the Italian advance would have been a complete
surprise had it not been for Ras Aloula, who never
believed the Italian officials, and would never
trust them. Two of his spies watched the Italians
leave Entiscio, arrived by a circuitous route, and
informed Ras Aloula who was about a mile to the
north of Adi Abune, that the enemy was on the
march to Adwa. The Ras immediately informed King
Menelik and other leaders, and the Abyssinians
prepared the battle…”
Although Wylde’s account on
the role of Alula is right, his contention that
the Ethiopians “never expected to be attacked”
is fallacious. Ethiopians, in particular Alula, by
then knew the Italian psychology very well and
they had entered into combat with them several
times at Sehati, Dogali, Amba Alagie, Mekelle, and
finally at Adwa.
In the middle of the battle,
Ras Michael’s troops went to reinforce Ras
Alula, who had already begun fighting General
Dabormida who was outnumbered [5 to 1] by the
gallant Ethiopian fighters. Moreover, the Oromo
cavalry also reinforced Ras Alula, and to his
credit Abba Nega effectively blocked the expected
Italian reinforcement from Adi Quala.
The Battle of Adwa began at 6
a.m. in the morning and by about 10 o’clock the
Ethiopian victory was almost certain; the battle
continued till high noon, but the remaining
Italian troops had already began to retreat. In
view of the Italian retreat enmasse, Alula
conveyed a message to Emperor Menelik for more
Oromo cavalry in order to cut off the retreat and
make them POWs rather. “Had Ras Aloula been
allowed to use the King’s cavalry for the
purpose of closing the passes on the line of
retreat, which might easily have been
accomplished,” says Wylde, “the whole Italian
army might have been compelled to capitulate.”
Moreover, as Wylde testifies – and this is a
strong reminder for the present generation of
Ethiopians who witnessed the recent Ethio-Eritrean
conflict – “had Aloula been allowed to advance
his army, strengthened by part of Ras Mengesha’s
force, there is no doubt that the whole of the
Hamassien plateau and the Bogos province, with the
exception of the fortified positions of Adi-Ugri,
Asmara and Keren would have again fallen into the
hands of the Abyssinians…”
Ras Alula and the other
Ethiopian leaders have proven to the entire world
the resolve and invincibility of Ethiopians, and
Alula was overjoyed by the significant victory
scored at Adwa by himself and by his fellow
countrymen. His only great regret was that he did
not capture General Baratieri alive, who was not
only the enemy of Ethiopia but also the personal
foe of the Ras.
Ras Alula finally would have
opted a retired and relatively tranquil life, but
unfortunately this did not happen. Instead, he
fought Ras Hagos of Tembien and both of them were
seriously wounded; Ras Hagos lost the war and
died, but Alula also died of his inflicted wound
on February 1897, exactly eleven months after the
victory of Adwa.
Note: This article first
appeared on Deki Alula’s website on September
2001 and we are now republishing it in response to
incessant popular request! Minor editing was done
to the original article and the poems in Ethiopic
were added in order to authenticate the story on
Alula Ababa Nega.
Copy Right © All Rights
Reserved IDEA, Inc. 2006
Dr. Ghelawdewos Araia can be
contacted at ga51@columbia.edu
for comments and constructive feedback.
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