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Eritrea’s “Remontada” to the United Nations: Rectification of the Historical Injustice and Reclamation of the Narrative

Semere Azazi @shabait

Aug 26, 2025

In football matches, as in all competitive sports, there is no final result until the last whistle. Teams fight – attack, counter-attack, high-press, defend, switch players and tactics - to make the best out of their opponents and win matches. We have often witnessed that results are overturned even in the last pulses - deficits have been undone and victories are reclaimed. Although it is contested, the greatest comeback of all time in football history, Barcelona’s 6-1 victory over Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) in 2017, is regarded as the most iconic. Having lost the first leg of the European Champions League 4-0 at the Parc des Princes, Barcelona reversed the result to a notable 6-5 aggregate victory at the Camp Nou. This famous response is referred to as “La Remontada” – the Spanish equivalent of “The Comeback.”

On the 31st of July 2025, a book launch ceremony was held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. The book, entitled “An African People’s Quest for Freedom and Justice,” is written by Tegadalay Alemseged Tesfai, a veteran freedom fighter and renowned Eritrean historian. Members of the diplomatic corps including Permanent Representatives and senior diplomats, United Nations officials, friends of Eritrea and members of the Eritrean community from and around New York City, including family members of the author attended the event. Unlike the usual thematic side-events hosted in room-12 of the UN hall, it was a rare event organized by the Permanent Mission of Eritrea to the UN to celebrate a political history book of Eritrea that meticulously chronicles through the period of 1941-1962 – a defining epoch that determined the future and fate of Eritreans against their will for self-determination and independence at the same platform - the United Nations.

A reviewer introduced alemseged’s seminal work, Mr. Abiyu Berele –an Ethiopian author, who had shared his reflection on the book’s fundamental themes – the British Military Administration in Eritrea, the role of the post-war victors’ powers and the sham federation of Eritrea with Ethiopia. Mr. Abiyu, a former member of the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Party (EPRP), added his personal anecdote that at his adult age he had joined the Eritrean cause for liberation inspired by the then broader scope of struggle for decolonization and freedom.

Ambassador Sophia Tesfamariam, Eritrea’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, graciously presented Mr. Alemseged Tesfai to the audience as

a lawyer by profession, freedom fighter by choice, and a prolific author.

Recounting his previous works, she added:

…Alemseged has penned a variety of influential publications in both English and Tigrigna including: Two weeks in the Trenches, the acclaimed play – “The Other War” and several historical novels and anthologies such as “Wedi Hadera: Kab Badme nab Sahel” (The Son of Hadera: From Badme to Sahel), “Luul”, “Libi Tegadalai” (The Heart of a Freedom Fighter), “Gitano” (based on the American movie The Brave One), “Selete a’Eruk:TmTm ab Gejeret” (The Three Friends: Wrestling in Gejeret) and the “Ayflelale” trilogy: “Aynfelale: 1941-1950,” “Federation of Eritrea with Ethiopia: From Matienzo to Tedla (1951-1955)”, and “Eritrea from Federation to Annexation” and Armed Struggle (1956-1962).” He has also co-edited "Post- Conflict Eritrea: Prospects for Reconstruction and Development,” a critical resource addressing the nation’s post-war challenges for development.”

Mr. Alemseged, a natural storyteller, first divulged how he got into the oceanic field of history – a mission he claims was not his primary calling. Indeed, it was through his master’s thesis examining the

legal basis for the handling of the Eritrean case by the post-World War II victors and the UN General Assembly

and his dismay with the lack of an Eritrean version of the story that compelled him to delve deeper into the colonial history of Eritrea.

In hindsight, that was a distinct calling that would not only nurture Alemseged as an iconic historian but also profoundly shape the trajectory of nation-building and national identity. I bet he would never regret it for a second.

While reserving Alemseged’s masterpiece for the readers to appreciate, this brief reflection attempts to shed light on few aspects of his enchanting presentation during the book launch. Mr. Alemseged expounded at length how the defeat of the Italians and the subsequent British Military Administration (BMA) and geopolitical interests of major powers had a detrimental impact on the right of self-determination of the Eritrean people. For the British, who had soon betrayed Eritreans in the aftermath of the war, he said,

Eritrea was not a viable polity that could sustain as an independent nation.

Therefore, by the end of the War (WWII), the partition plan was their official policy– the high-land

Christian dominated

to be ceded to Ethiopia and the

Muslim inhabited

lowland to Sudan.

While advancing the partition scheme, the BMA overtly sided with the Italians who maintained the fascist administrative and legal systems and had controlled key political and economic sectors. This had raged the natives. Meanwhile, Alemseged reminded, as the partition plan publicized, Eritreans in either political bloc – independence and unionists – got alarmed and were equally averse to the scheme.

Fast-forward, Alemseged continued unpacking the political and diplomatic collusion involving the Eritrean case before the United Nations that culminated in the sham federal arrangement with Ethiopia. For the law-trained turned-historian, the US-proposed federation formula as it was incomprehensible during his legal studies, so does it remain a historical anomaly 75 years later after its adoption. Unfortunately, that was not a concern for its authors. After the so-called

Bevin-Sforza partition plan

was rejected by the Political Committee of UN General Assembly (UNGA), the US had floated a vaguely conceptualized ‘federation formula.’

The proposal defied the fundamental premises of a constitutional federal arrangement between two states should entail as contested by several delegations, particularly the Burmese. The latter and other member states argued, that a federal arrangement is only possible for two equally empowered states. However, against this legal imperative, and more fundamentally in the absence of the Eritrean people, the UN had decided to federate Eritrea under the

sovereignty of the Ethiopian Crown

in a remote platform across the Atlantic Ocean.

Such travesty of justice had a colossal repercussion not only to the right of self-determination of Eritreans, but also to the entire region as cautioned by one of Eritrea’s eminent freedom fighters - Patriot Ibrahim Sultan.

Mr. Alemseged paused his captivating narration and requested the audience to pay attention to a young girl – Ariana (the youngest from his attending family members), who asked her to read a passage from the book on page 160. In an emblematic fashion, he said

let me now pass on the torch to the young generation.

The passage of the book was extracted from the historic speech of patriot Ibrahim Sultan, who addressed the Political Committee of the UNGA on the morning of 27 November 1950 before the federation resolution (390A(v)) was adopted in the afternoon. Ironically, Mr. Ibrahim was invited to the Committee long after the substantive discussions on the federation proposal had been concluded within the Ad Hoc Committee and passed on to the Political Committee for adoption – a fait accompli. The bright Ariana read as follows:

…Our country is the neighbor of a large country which wants to annex us to it, in spite of the wishes of our people. We have an Administration [the British] governing our country which wants to divide our country and to annex part of it at least to Ethiopia. Both parties object to our idea of independence. This is how this group mushroomed and it is in fact a minority.

I ask the members of the Committee, why is European colonialism being fought and opposed? Is it in order to replace it by an African form of colonialism?...Ethiopia asked for Somaliland to be annexed to it…[and] we are glad to see that Somaliland has had its right to independence recognized. Why, therefore, we are being deprived of this natural right that has been given to Libya and Somaliland?

The members of the Committee are responsible for what may take place in this part of East Africa in the way of skirmishes and uprisings, in case a mistaken decision is made which will force us to resist in order to earn and maintain our independence and preserve our being. Up to now, we have suffered difficulties and tolerated hardships only to maintain peace and order in our country and in the hope that we shall get from this Committee justice and an unbiased attitude towards our natural rights.

Patriot Ibrahim’s impassioned speech, was more than an appeal to the world body. Indeed, it was a farsighted warning that Eritreans shall never remain unheeded until their natural rights to freedom, self-determination and independence are attained. After four decades of costly sacrifices, through blood and ballots, Eritreans eventually rectified the historical injustice and Eritrea reclaimed its deserved seat at the United Nations as an independent and equally sovereign nation to all states – The historic Remontada!

Almost eight decades later, the launch of the monumental book of Tegadalay Alemseged at the United Nations was more than a ceremony – it is a reclamation and reassertion of Eritrea’s own narrative – La Remontada! Ambassador Sophia had superbly captured the event in her introductory remarks:

launching this noble work at the UN is no accident. This is the very platform where Eritrea’s voice was once dismissed. To return here, with our story in our own words, is an act of quiet justice, a reminder that truth endures, and suppressed narratives will always find their way back.

To sum up, unlike in football matches, the rules of global politics are often rigged in favor of the interests of the powerful and their allies. The injustices perpetrated against Eritrea and its people in the past eight decades, are the subject of glaring historical records. For Eritrea and Eritreans, distant or recent history is not just a collective memory, but a source of continued defiance and resilience against injustices and a driving force for building a prosperous and viable nation.

Finally, in a disclaimer note, the football metaphor used in the piece is never intended to establish any equivalence with, or underestimate, the precious sacrifices that Eritreans have paid and continue to pay. It is rather for mere presentation convenience.

For Tegadalay Alemseged Tesfai, once again congratulations for the masterpiece and thank you for Eritrea’s Remontada to the United Nations with the authentic narrative of its own history. May God bestow you with more health and blessing.