NAKFA

Welcome to the place of Resilience. These words welcome you on the slogan board on arrival to the historical and garrison town of Nakfa. It is located roughly 210 kilometers from Asmara and lies in the north red sea region of Eritrea where the landscape is full of barren land and Rocky Mountains.


I felt the same way as I did when I came to Timbuktu, in Northern Mali in 2003 for the first time. A feeling of bewilderment and awe for the unknown in a way. My imaginations and the reality I faced there did not match each other. Nakfa like Timbuktu is not any vibrant and prospering town.

It felt as being in the middle of nowhere and reaching the end of the world at the same time but the outside appearance with dust and sandy roads is as always deceiving. Looks is indeed deceiving. So much history and resilience embodied in these two places.

It is as the late blues legend Ali Farka Toure once famously said about Timbuktu. It is not in the middle of nowhere but in the centre of the world where life has its alpha and omega. I could say the same about Nakfa despite the boredom and lack of activity.

The majority of the people who live there belong to the lovely Tigre group. Their language Tigre is, in my view, one of the most wonderful one in the world. It was very nice and refreshing for my ears to be exposed to it. It is quite similar to Tigrigna bur more melody and rhythm in to it. It should be the official language of Eritrea.

The significance of Nakfa as a symbol of Eritrean resistance against Ethiopian occupation is beyond the capacity of words to express its real importance. The mountainous town was, at some point in the middle of the 1970s, the only place in Eritrea that was not under an Ethiopian control. The freedom fighters of Eritrea had to make strategically decisive withdrawals after having gained almost a total liberation of Eritrea except for Asmara and some other small towns in the surrounding of the capital at that particular decade.

The Ethiopians never managed to force out our brothers and sisters from the mountains and endless trenches and fortresses ala Vietnam that they had built during the fierce battles. Underground clinics and hospitals were also built in the desert of Sahel. It was mind-blowing to see this place where I and my friend Goitom spent this weekend. We met a former guerilla fighter who acted as a good guide for us. We also stayed in another historical and very important town of Keren.

Eritrea is full of Rocky Mountains and the reason is said to be “the summit of mountains” which took place in the medieval ages between all the mountains of the world here in Eritrea. The mountains from countries like Afghanistan and Pakistan liked it here in Eritrea and never went back “home” but stayed here and sought asylum instead.

We were entirely taken by the heroism and determination of the fighters. It is even rumoured that the Ethiopians could have been able to run over the trenches if they had not waited for the dictator Mengistu Hailemariam´s special force and infantry brigade to make the final entry.

Rumours and hearsays with all respect but nothing could have stopped Eritrean independence. The Americans, Russians, Chinese, Cubans, East Germans and many others supported Ethiopia militarily and politically to no avail. The victory of the Eritrean forces at the battle of Afabet in 1988 singlehandedly signalled to all of us that Eritrean liberation was imminent. It was an inevitable and a priceless victory which humiliated and demoralized the Ethiopian forces for ever. We passed by Afabet and had breakfast on the way to Nakfa and back.

The victory in the port town of Massawa in 1990 was also equally significant. Eritrea was eventually totally liberated on May 24, 1991. Hundreds and thousands of Ethiopian soldiers were taken prisoners of war. A plebiscite was held two years later when 99.8 % of the Eritrean population voted for independence.

I remember the day clearly when I voted at folkets (ABF) Hus in Lund, Sweden in may 1993, for the first time in my entire life. This was the day when it finally dawned for Eritreans across the planet after hundreds of years of colonialism and occupation.

The Eritrean currency is rightfully is named after the historical town of Nakfa. I am doing a freelance research now and have been given the green light by the centre for research and documentation of Eritrea. I am embarking on an exciting journey that would be very enriching and thoughtful for me. I would like to look at the stability and peaceful situation in Eritrea from an anthropological perspective, beyond the surface, through a qualitative study of field work. The questions that are going to be raised are:

 What are the bases of Eritrean identity that have contributed to the national harmony?

 Why do people identify themselves first and foremost as Eritreans and not as different ethnic and religious entities which is the case in many African countries?

 What does being an Eritrean imply to the people of this country: Tigre, Bilen, Nara, Kunama, Tigrigna, Afar, Saho, Rashaida and Hidareb?

 Nation-building and democracy are endless processes which take time. Two decades is pretty short time in this context. Eritrea, being located in a very turbulent region with limited economic resources, has succeeded in avoiding civil war based on ethnic/religious tensions that are usually the undercover reasons of socio-economic and political disenchantments’. What explains this development?

 Is there any unilateral Eritrean culture or mindset that explains the nature of this nation?


In order to answer these questions, I intend to perform an empirical study on the field by interviewing people that would be representative for the research. The methodology and scope for my research is still a work in progress that gives way for flexibility and an open discussion.

I look forward to pursue this research for a long time and not having a deadline is very fine with me at this moment.