Degiat Bahta Hagos of Segeneiti, “No cure for a white snake bite”

“Bahta, Bahta of Segeneiti, master of the Italians, master of Segeneiti. Could a lion be born to a woman?’’ This was part of a song which told the boldness of an Eritrean hero whose revolt in December 1894 brought on an independence struggle against early colonialism.

In Eritrean history, he is well known for his resistance against foreign invasion. Born in the mid-1800s in the town of Segeneiti, Debub region, Degiat Bahta Hagos – Aba T’mer – was killed while fighting against the Italian Colonial Army on December 19, 1894.

He was born to a wealthy family and spent his childhood herding some of the numerous cattle his father had acquired after settling in Segeneiti. Almost nothing is known about Bahta’s life during the time he spent farming his father’s land. In his early thirties, he got married to a woman from his village.

Bahta Hagos became an outlaw on the eve of the Ethio-Egyptian war of 1875-6 because of a blood feud with the family of Emperor Yohannes’s – Tigrean Emperor – specifically his uncle, Araya.

Emperor Yohannes had appointed Araya as overlord of the area. In the first week of October 1875, Araya’s 18-year-old son, Embaye, visited Segeneiti to demand money. Having milked the part of the province assigned to him, Embaye shoved aside the commander of the troops his father had appointed there, wounded a priest who tried to intervene, and killed a brother of Hagos Andu, Bahta Hagos’s father.

This provoked fury and the villagers rioted. Embaye’s men fired, but the enraged villagers allowed them no time to reload their single-shot muskets.  The villagers killed two-dozen of Embaye’s men. Half a dozen men of Segeneiti also died, including kinsmen of Bahta Hagos. Subsequently, Bahta avenged his relatives by killing the prince with a spear. He, together with two of his younger brothers – Kahsu and Sengal – and other young men, fled to another village below the escarpment.

In 1876, Alula, Yohannes’s trusted lieutenant, replaced Araya. Alula burned Bahta Hagos’s house and those of his relatives and confiscated their cattle and other property. Bahta and his brothers made a permanent camp at Agameda. There, the brothers added to their stock of firearms and ammunitions by waylaying the escorts of Araya and Alula who happened to pass by from time to time. Like the other Eritrean tribal leaders, Degiat Bahta Hagos was in constant conflict with the Ethiopian invading forces. He evaded the Tigrean Rases’ repeated attempts to capture him and allied himself with the Egyptian garrison in Keren.

In 1885, Italian colonial presence replaced the defeated Egyptians and they controlled Massawa. Degiat Bahta Hagos moved to ally himself with them and their General, Oreste Baratieri. In 1893, the Italians reserved some 19,000 hectares of land for European use. A year later, almost fifteen times that amount was set aside and the first half a dozen Italian families began arriving to settle in the Eritrean highlands.

Degiat Bahta became frustrated and could not accept the conduct of the Italian Colonial Government and their soldiers. In the evening of 14 December 1894, he began his revolt against the Italians. After gathering his people at the market, Degiat Bahta issued a call for resistance and said, “The Italians curse us, seize our land. I want to free you. Let us drive the Italians out and be our own masters.”

Following that, Degiat Bahta, with his brother Sengal and his son Ghebremedhin, cut telegraph wires north to Asmara and arrested Lieutenant Giovanni Sanguineti, a new Italian resident at Segeneiti. On hearing the news, Baratieri, who was in Keren supervising dealings with the Mahdists, telegraphed Asmara ordering major Petro Tosselli to march his battalion down to Segeneiti.

Upon arrival, the Major entered negotiations with Hagos who stalled him with excuses and promises of loyalty. The Italian reinforcements started to arrive and by the evening of December 17^th, Tosselli had 1,500 men and two artillery pieces. He went to move against Hagos on the morning of December 18^th, but found him gone. Hagos had secretly abandoned Segeneiti in the night and had moved his forces north against the Italian garrison of 220 men at the small fort of Halay, commandeered by Captain Castellazzi. Tosselli correctly guessed this was Hagos’ plan, and marched his men towards Halay.

Bahta Hagos called for Castellazzi to surrender and abandon the fort. Negotiations continued until the afternoon, when Hagos’ patience came to an end and the attack was ordered. Though low on ammunition, the Italians held out until late afternoon. Toselli’s forces arrived at that moment and launched an attack on Hagos’s army rear. Degiat Bahta Hagos was shot during the battle and died at Ona-keran in Halay.

Because of his influence at the time, after his death, the Italian colonial government banned his burial fearing that his grave would become a source of further rebellions. However, his body was secretly interred in a grave by his loyal friend, Soquar Bahro Digsa, in Halay and later moved to Segeneiti in 1963. Following Eritrean independence in 1991, his remains were again interred in December 2007 with full honours in recognition of his struggles.