This Day in #Eritrean History. On Sep. 1, 1961, 59 years ago, Hamid Idris Awate with his six fellow freedom fighters shot the first bullet for freedom from Adal. They had six old guns but they had the courage and commitment. The Armed Struggle lasted for 30 years. 1

On April 20, 1993, 22 of the first fighters of the Eritrean Liberation Front who returned to Eritrea met with then PGE Sec Gen Isaias Afwerki and presented 'Abu Ashara'. the rifle of Hamid Idris Awate who fired the first shot in Eritrea's long struggle for self-determination. 2

The #Eritrean armed struggle was the longest armed national liberation struggle in #Africa & highly developed & effective armed struggle in the world. Many of the largest & biggest battles after #WWII; Red Star 1982, Nadew 1988, Fenkil 1990 & others, were fought in #Eritrea. 3

Between 1974 & 1991, #Ethiopia lost about 479,589 troops (1% of Ethiopia's then population of 46 million). #Eritrea lost more than 65,000 her finest freedom fighters in the liberation war. 30% of Eritrean freedom fighters were women. 4