September: Some Dates in Eritrean History

·          1 September 1961: ELF started the armed struggle with first bullets shot against the enemy at the Battle of Adal. The leader, Hamid Idris Awate, was followed by 13 fighters, mainly from the countryside. They were armed with 1 Abu-Ashera and 3 old Italian rifles.

·          1 September 1962: On its first anniversary, the ELA counted 60 fighters deployed in two platoons.

·          1 September 1987: the Great Patriot Sheikh Ibrahim Sultan Ali, former leader of the Eritrean Moslem League and Secretary General of the Independence Bloc, died in Cairo; he was buried in Kassala in a grand burial procession ever witnessed in that city near the Eritrean border.

·          4 September 1904: Construction of the railway line from Massawa reached Ghinda.

·          7 September 1968: The failed ELA attack on the police headquarters of Halhal, in which 46 ELA fighters died at the spot,  including the Commander of the 2^nd Division, Omar Izaz. The failure was caused by last minute desertion of a secret collaborator from within the police who was organizing the attack with the 2^nd ELA Divion.

·          10 September 1952: The Federal Act  was adopted by the Eritrean Assembly.

·          10 September 1879: Raesi Woldemichal Solomon was arrested by Ras Alula.

·          11-18 September 1968: At Arota in Ansaba,  the 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th divisions of the ELA held a meeting in which the Tripartite Union (Wuhda Thulasiya) was created under provisional leadership of 10, including Mohammed Ali Omaro, Isayas Afeworki and Ramadan Mohammed Nur. Message sent to the meeting by the 1^st Division Commander (carried by Mohammed Ibrahim Bahdurai) requested to delay the meeting due to the tragic battle losses at Halhal but the demand was rejected. 

·          15 September 1952:  Federal Flag, new Government.

·          21 September 1952: First issue of the Dehai Eritra newspaper appeared in Asmara.