I am writing in memory of beloved spiritual father, leader, and caretaker of the Afar people Amoyta Sultan Alimirah Hanfare. It is not enough to mention His legacy of goodness, leadership, and spiritual guidance in few statements. He is one of the rare wise leaders I have ever met in my entire life in Afar. To share with the reader, my acquaintances with him started when my late brother Eyasu Temesgen Gudina started a cotton farm in the mid 1990s.
I know the Afar people and the land since my high school years when I first visited my brother in June 1983. He was working in Middle Awash Agricultural Development Enterprise as agricultural department head. Since then I visited the area every year during college breaks when he (my brother) was general manager of Tendaho Agricultural development Enterprise. My Late brother Eyasu started cotton farm in 1996 partnering with the Sultan at Awusa-Aysaita farmland. I moved to Aysaita in 1998 because I couldn’t be able to live in the center due to continuous government security service’s surveillance to suppress political opposition in the country. I was working at Aysaita farm with the rank of second in command where I was kidnapped by the Woyane secret service officer (Assefa) on December 8, 1999 at 11:00pm in front of my residence. The personal involvement of the Sultan saved my life and pressured the government to release me on April 22, 1999. Sultan Alimirah was moved back to Saudi Arabia again in 1998 to oppose Woyane’s policies, but returned in April 1999 with the mediation of Colonel Mohamed and the then EPRDF’s army Chief-of-staff, General Tsadikan W. Tensai.
The Sultan had a palace in Aysaita and an official residence in Aware neighborhood in Addis Ababa. His Royal Court is one of the most just where everyone from any corner of the country can find truth and justice. His legacy is something transmitted by or received from an ancestors or predecessors from the past. As one writer on the life and times in Afar puts it ‘you do not understand the goodness of the people until you live with them.’’ That is when you could only understand the goodness of the people, drink camel milk, eat gambo and bakal, and share the resources with the community. In Afar community there is no culture of begging, theft, and crime of many sorts. What ever resources available are communal and every body has equal share. The cattle, camel, goats, and sheep He owns are uncountable. I mean they are large in numbers. He owns all and uses none. The resources belong to all the people. In Afar life is communal. There is no privacy or selfishness. From the Sultan down the line we share information through the ‘dagu’ system. It is the way of transimiting information from place to place. In this way we ask and verify the safety and wellbeing of others living as far as Djibouti.
Under the rule of Sultan Alimirah no one walks away without justice. The legacy he built was support to the needy, justice to the poor, and share the resources of the community for common wellbeing of the people.
His role in political, economic and social life of Afar, Ethiopia and Horn of Africa deserves special place in history. We can divide the life and times he lived into three phases. The first phase was during the reign of Emperor Haile Sellase 1st when he was appointed as Dejazmach and later as Bitwoded – literally “beloved” by the king, the highest non-royal title ranks after Ras in precedence. He lived a royal life, and transformed his sultanate into the main trade route and center of mechanized agriculture by inviting foreign companies such as Mitchell Cots from United Kingdom and the like to invest in the development of the sultanate. He was a visionary leader with focusing on the long term future development. The historical evidence for this is that the first single engine airplane brought by cotton developers in early 1970s was still operating until very recent days.
The second phase was his life in exile and participation in struggle to bring down the Derg regime. He worked tirelessly to present the problem to the Saudi Arabian and other Middle East governments. He advocated for the people who fled their country due to Derg policies. As a result of his advocacy the Saudi government granted all his people the status of refugees to live and work legally in Saudi Arabia. He formed and led the Afar Liberation Front (ALF), a political organization for the self determination of the Afar people. He led and guided this organization until the last minutes of its weakening by the Woyane conspiratorial political game.
The 3rd and final phase is his retirement from active politics and confined to the role of advisory, mediator, and spiritual counsel to his people. There is a lot to say about this phase but for the sake of continuing struggle of the Afar people I leave it for those who are involved with the struggle against the current repressive, colorless terrorist government to which I was a victim. History will tell the truth.
This is a piece of memorial note to His Highness Bitwoded Amoyta Sultan Alimirah Hanfare of Afar. His legacy will live with us who shared common tradition, vision, and mission. May Allah Rest His Soul In Peace! We love you and miss you Amoyta!
