The Government of Eritrea

After the official declaration of Eritrean constitution by the country’s newly formed assembly: it was passed to the Emperor Haileselasie of Ethiopia for approval where he signed it for the implantation which also declared the official annexation of Eritrea with Ethiopia. This was done in September 11, 1952.  And just before the official annexation of both countries Ras Endargachew Mesay, son in law of Emperor Haileselasie with his wife Tenanwerke Haileselasie was send as a representative of the emperor to Eritrea and resided in the capital’s presidential palace.

Economic Crises
As mentioned previously, the government of Eritrea was deprived from its main source of income which created economic crises in the country. Budget cuts and shortage of money start appearing in majority of the factories that were functioning in the country that were established along before the formation of the country’s government, during the Italian colonization. The unemployment rate that starts appearing during the British colonial period worsened.

 

In November 1952, Eritreans angered by their living condition start a peaceful protestation. Their main request was for the reduction of selling prices but there was no one that could hear the demands and protests of the nationals. Despite the nationals protest and the economic crises in the country, the emperor’s envoy in the country starts interfering with the internal political situation of the country.  Though there was no law that allows him to decide taxation, but he continued to do so. He also starts preaching that “there is no such thing as federation and the annexation is rejoining which was part of Ethiopia.”

Violation of Human Right
The country’s active political party, Democratic Front, used to have a news paper published by Mahmoud Saleh called “Dehai Eritrea”. This newspaper starts publishing articles opposing the intervention of the Ethiopian government in the internal affairs of the country, and explains the deprivation of the people’s rights and resources. Many of the contributors strongly argued about the system particularly of the judiciary system which was dominated by Ethiopia’s system.

Tedla Bayru, governor of the country, and the Emperor of Ethiopia which didn’t expect such oppositions start questioning the people’s right of free expression which finally resulted the banning of the only mouth piece of the country. In the year 1954, the publisher of “Dehai Eritrea” Mahmoud Saleh was imprisoned and a contributor to the newspaper and writer Elias Teklu was also imprisoned by the government of Ethiopia which later is charged for life imprisonment.

The Establishment of Liberation Movements

Starting from the period of the British colony, the employees in the country used to have an organization that stand up for the rights of the employees including their work conditions, health insurance and their salary. And during the federation there were around 30,000 employees in the country which all were members of the workers association of the country. This workers Union was formed after along struggle and was officially established just before the declaration of federation, in 1952, by the British administration. Though the union was allowed to function by the British administration, with the coming of federation to the country the Ethiopian government that wasn’t able to ban the union was working against it.

In November 16, 1952 all workers in the country gathered together and elected their leaders where Ato Weldeab Weldemariam was elected as President of the union and Siraj Abdu vice president.
The newly established workers union allow any Eritrean national to be member regarding ethnicity, religion and clan differences and majority of the prominent leaders of the union used to be members of the Unionist Party and these newly formation of Eritrean unity become a potential threat to the Ethiopian government which was working day and night to divide Eritrean nationals in order to be able to rule dominantly.

There were six assassination attempts in the live of the Union’s president, Ato Weldeab Weldemariam. In seventh attempt, he was wounded severely were he was send to exile for further medication.

After the seventh attempt and the exile of the president of the organization, the Ethiopian government starts strictly supervising the union. Despite the control of the Ethiopian government the union continues to work covertly.