[quote="paidmonk"]Hello Amhara, do not mind the hecklers on SNet, they are Oromo not Somali.
One Correction must be Made:
Tigre's do live in Eritrea, but its Tigrinya (Tigrays) who created the country, built the land, and run the show. Tigre's are actually the same people as Tigrinya, but they were slowly pushed out of community because of their religion. Tigre's are commonly referred to as Jiberti's as to avoid mistaking them for Tigrinya's.
So, in essence, the true people of Eritrea, founders, liberators, and leaders, are Tigrinya. Funny note is that Meles Zenawi was the co-founder of Eritrea and TO THIS DAY his political party is still the Tigrinya People's Liberation Front, but was slowly "Ethiopianized."
One Question: Why did Amhara's stand and watch the Derg destroy the House of Solomon, a 3,000 year old tradition, in 1974? And why did Amhara's once again watch Communists and Tigriniya nationalists fight over THEIR original nation?
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YOU'RE CONFUSED MY FRIEND. TIGRE IS ERITREA'S 2ND LARGEST TRIBE AND THEY ARE (USED TO BE) NOMADIC AND LARGELY ARE MUSLIM ( 90% OF THEM ARE). THE TIGRE TRIBE OF ERITREA SPEAK "TIGRE", NOT TIGRINYA. INFACT, THE TIGRE LANGUAGE IS THE SAME LANGUAGE THE AXUMITE EMPIRE PEOPLE USED TO SPEAK (OR VERY SIMILAR TO IT, SINCE IT'S THE CLOSEST FORM OF THE GEEZ STILL SPOKEN). THE TIGRE LANGUAGE IS THE OLDEST LANGUAGE IN THE HORN. THE TIGRE TRIBE WERE THE FIRST PEOPLE TO START ERITREA'S WAR OF INDEPENDENCE, SINCE THEY DIDN'T FANCY "CHRSITIAN ETHIOPIA" COMING TO THEIR LAND. IN 1961, A TIGRE MAN BY THE NAME OF IDRE AWATE (I BELIEVE THAT'S HOW U SPELL HIS NAME) SHOT THE FIRST BULLETS TO START THE LONGEST MODERN WAR IN AFRICA. HE WAS MUSLIM AND A LOT OF THE ELF (ERITREAN LIBERATION FRONT) LEADERS WERE MUSLIM, THE PEOPLE FIGHTING HOWEVER WERE MUSLIMS AND CHRISTIANS. EVEN THE CURRENT ERITREAN LEADER WAS ONCE UNDER THE RULE OF ELF IN THE 60S, ONLY TILL HE SPLIT AWAY FROM THEM AND STARTED ANOTHER REBEL GROUP IN WHICH HE NAMED EPLF (ERITREAN PEOPLE'S LIBERATION FRONT) IN MARCH OF 1970. EPLF CONSISTED OF MUSLIM AND CHRISTIAN LEADERS AND HAD ALL 9 ERITREAN TRIBES FIGHT ALONG SIDE IT. THEY UNITED THE NATION BETTER AND SLOWLY OUTGREW ELF.
EPLF AND ELF WOULD GO TO WAR DURING THE 30 YEAR WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. VERY FEW PEOPLE KNOW THAT ERITREANS WERE ALSO FIGHTING ERITREANS IN THE 30 YEAR WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. ONCE EPLF DEFEATED ELF, THE MAJORITY OF ELF FIGHTERS JOINED EPLF AND OR WERE PUSHED BACK TO SUDAN.
TIGRINYA ERITREANS ARE THE LARGEST ETHNIC GROUP IN ERITREA. THEY MAKE UP 50% OF ERITREA'S POPULATION I BELIEVE AND THEY HAVE TRADITIONALLY BEEN INFLUENCED BY THE TIGRE ERITREANS. TIGRE AND TIGRINYA ERITREANS HAVE BEEN AT WAR WITH AMHARA AND TIGRAYAN SINCE THE FALL OF THE AXUM EMPIRE, HENCE WHY THEY HAVE THE CLOSE BOND WITH ONE ANOTHER.
IN THE 1950s, THE BRITISH WANTED TO TAKE THE MUSLIM DOMINATED TIGRE TRIBE AND MAKE THEM PART OF SUDAN'S MUSLIM DOMINATED NATION BUT THE TIGRE ERITREANS REFUSED AND PROTESTED AND STATED THAT THEY WILL ALWAYS STAY WITH CHRISTIAN TIGRINYA ERITREANS.
TIGRINYA ERITREANS ARE MAINLY CHRISTIAN. 95% OF TIGRINYA ERITREANS ARE CHRISTIANS AND THE 5% THAT ARE MUSLIMS CALL THEMSELVES JEBRTI.
AS YOU MAY OR MAY NOT KNOW, ERITREA IS 50% MUSLIM AND 50% CHRSITIAN AND ONLY A SMALL AMOUNT OF THOSE MUSLIMS CALL THEMSELVES JEBERTI. THE JEBERTI HAVE NOT BEEN RECOGIZED AS A TRIBE BY THE GOVERNMENT.
BTW: FOR YOUR SAFETY, DON'T CALL A TIGRINYA ERITREAN A "TIGRAY". TIGRAYAN ETHIOPIANS AND TIGRINYA ERITREANS HAVE BEEN AT WAR WITH ONE ANOTHER FOR NEARLY A THOUSAND YEARS. IT'S LIKE THE DAROODS AND THE HAWIYE BEEF BUT ON A HISTORICAL LEVEL.
THE EPLF (ERITREAN PEOPLES' LIBERATION FRONT) CREATED TPLF (TIGRAYAN PEOPLE'S LIBERATION FRONT) IN 1975. THEY ARMED, TRAINED AND FUNDED THEM. ALTHOUGH THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EACH OTHER WAS ALWAYS ROCKY, BECAUSE THE TIGRAYANS FELT ASHAMED THAT TIGRINYA ERITREANS WERE TELLING THEM WHAT TO DO, WHEN TO DO THINGS AND HOW TO DO IT AND ATE AWAY AT THEIR RELATIONSHIP. THE EPLF IS CONSIDERED THE BIGGER BROTHER OF TPLF REBEL GROUP. THE EPLF WAS LARGER, BETTER ORGANIZED AND HAD DESIMATED THE DERG MILITARY THE MOST.
MELES ADMITED TO THE WORLD ABOUT 4 MONTHS AGO THAT HIS MOTHER IS ERITREAN. HIS FATHER IS TIGRAY AND HIS MOTHER IS TIGRINYA ERITREAN. ALTHOUGH HIS MOTHER IS DEAD AND HAD VOTED FOR ERITREA'S INDEPENDENCE, HE STILL FELT THE NEED TO TELL THE WORLD THAT HE IS HALF ERITREAN. WHICH PISSED A LOT OF AMHARAS LIKE ME. WE TOOK THAT AS A LOW BLOW...WHY WOULD HE NEED TO MENTION THAT THOUGH? HE GAINED NOTHING BUT HATE AND BITTERNESS....IMAGINE THE PALISTINE LEADER SAYING HE IS HALF JEW....HOW WOULD THE PALISTINE PEOPLE FEEL??
I DON'T THINK YOU UNDERSTAND...AMHARAS NEVER STOOD THERE, THEY WERE THE CORE OF THE MILITARY. THE DERG MILITARY WAS LARGELY AMHARA. THE DERG HAD A CLOSE RELATIONSHIP WITH THE SOVIETS AND CUBANS. YOU DO KNOW OVER 500,000 ETHIOPIAN SOLDIERS LOST THEIR LIVES IN TRYING TO KEEP ERITREA PART OF ETHIOPIA? SO WE NEVER STOOD AROUND, IT'S JUST WE WE WERE FIGHTING ALL THESE REBEL GROUPS LEFT AND RIGHT AND WE WEREN'T UNITED ENOUGH TO STAND. PLUS THE DERG MASS KILLED MANY ETHIOPIANS AND THE ETHIOPIAN PEOPLE HATED OUR GOVERNMENT....IF THE GOVERNEMENT IS HATED AND IS KILLING THE VERY PEOPLE THEY REPRESENT, THEN WHY WOULD LOGICAL THINKING PEOPLE DIE FOR THEM??? ASIDE FROM THE MONEY OFCOURSE.
THE DERG USED CUBAN SOLDIERS TO FIGHT ERITREANS AFTER THE CUBANS HELPED THEM PUSH BACK THE SAID BARIE GOVERNMENT IN 1978 BUT THOSE CUBAN TROOPS STATIONED IN ERITREA SUFFERED HIGH CASUALITES IN ERITREA AND WERE FORCED TO ONLY TRAIN THE DERG MILITARY AND BOMB ERITREAN POSITIONS WITH THEIR JET FIGHTERS.
MOST AMHARAS DON'T WANT ERITREA TO BE INDEPENDENT BECAUSE WHAT PERSON LIKES TO LOOSE ANYTHING ONCE HIS? PLUS, IT ENSURED ETHIOPIA AS THE LARGEST LANDLOCKED NATION ON EARTH..
THE DERG KILLED ANY ONE WHO OPPOSED THE GOVERNMENT. THEY KILLED THOUSANDS OF AMHARAS AND ANY CIVILIAN WHO TRIED TO STOP THE DERG WOULD HAVE BEEN KILLED. PLUS THE SOVIETS WERE KEEPING THE SOLDIERS PAYED GOOD AND WERE PUMPING OVER 19 BILLION DOLLARS IN MILITARY AID TO KEEP THE DERG MILITARY HAPPY.
HOPE THAT HELPS WITH YOUR MISUNDERSTANDING
AMHARA