Official Communication from Eritrean His Highness Sultan Abdulkadir Dawud

By David Yeh

Subject: Historical, Cultural, and Political Clarification Regarding the Afar People and the Sultanate of Rahayta

The Sultanate of Rahayta is one of the five historic Afar Sultanates and stands among the oldest indigenous political institutions in the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea region. Long before the emergence of modern nation states, the Afar people through their sultanates exercised sovereign authority over vast territories extending along the Red Sea coast, the Strait Bab el-Mandeb, and the inland caravan routes linking Africa with Arabia and the wider Indian Ocean world.

The Sultanate of Rahayta, by virtue of its strategic coastal location, held particular historical prominence. For centuries, it functioned as a guardian of maritime passages, a center of trade and diplomacy, and a stabilizing political authority along one of the world’s most vital sea lanes. Afar customary law, governance systems, and maritime knowledge ensured security, regulated commerce, and preserved regional autonomy in an era when external empires sought control over Red Sea access.

Pre – Colonial and Early Foreign Encounters
Before European colonization, the Afar Sultanates including Rahayta maintained diplomatic and political relations with neighboring African polities, Arabian authorities, and regional powers, while fiercely defending their independence. Although Ottoman and later Egyptian influences reached parts of the Red Sea coast, Afar authority was never extinguished. Instead, the Sultanates retained internal autonomy, cultural continuity, and territorial presence, negotiating from positions of strength rather than submission.
With the arrival of European colonial ambitions in the late nineteenth century, particularly Italian expansion along the Red Sea, the Afar people again found themselves confronting external domination. Despite military pressure, treaties imposed under duress, and attempts to undermine traditional authority, the Sultanate of Rahayta and other Afar institutions endured. Afar leaders protected communal lands, preserved social order, and resisted efforts to erase indigenous governance.

Italian Colonial Rule and the Erosion of Indigenous Authority
During Italian colonial rule, the Afar people were deliberately marginalized through divide and rule policies, the weakening of Sultanate authority, and the militarization of the coast. Nevertheless, Afar society retained its identity, its leadership structures, and its historic connection to the Red Sea. Even under occupation, Afar communities continued to assert their presence as the original custodians of the coast and its hinterland.

British Administration and Ethiopian Annexation
Following the defeat of Italy in World War II, Eritrea entered a period of uncertainty under British administration, culminating in its forced federation and subsequent annexation by Ethiopia. For the Afar people, this period marked renewed political suppression, economic neglect, and the erosion of indigenous rights. Coastal Afar communities were marginalized, their historic maritime role diminished, and their political voice systematically silenced.

Despite these conditions, Afar resistance never ceased. Elders, youth, religious leaders, and traditional authorities remained committed to the principle that Eritrea including its Red Sea coast was a unified homeland belonging to all its peoples.

The Thirty-Year Armed Struggle for Eritrean Independence
When the Eritrean armed struggle began, the Afar people did not stand aside. From the earliest stages of the liberation movement through its most difficult years, Afar fighters, organizers, and supporters participated fully and decisively. The Red Sea coast, historically guarded by Afar communities, became strategically vital to the liberation effort. Afar participation extended beyond combat to include logistics, intelligence, sheltering fighters, and sustaining the social fabric of resistance.

Afar men and women sacrificed their lives, their livelihoods, and their security in pursuit of Eritrea’s freedom. Their contribution was not symbolic nor peripheral; it was integral to the success of the struggle. The independence of Eritrea in 1991 stands as a collective achievement of all its peoples, including the Afar, whose historic commitment to sovereignty long predated the modern liberation movement.

Post-Independence and the 1998–2000 War
Following independence, the Afar people continued to uphold their national duty. During the 1998 – 2000 war of aggression against Eritrea, Afar citizens once again mobilized to defend the nation’s sovereignty. Coastal regions, maritime access points, and border areas historically safeguarded by Afar communities became critical fronts in the defense of the country. Afar soldiers, civilians, and elders bore their share of sacrifice alongside their fellow Eritreans.

The Sultanate of Rahayta honors with the deepest reverence the Afar martyrs who fell during the long struggle for independence and in the defense of Eritrea. Their blood consecrated the land and sea they protected for generations. Their legacy is eternal and inseparable from Eritrea’s national history.

The Sultanate, Hululta, and Cultural Representation
In the regions where the Afar people reside, the Sultanate of Rahayta is represented through Hululta official cultural and traditional ambassadors entrusted with preserving heritage, customs, and communal ties. At present, thirty six Hululta are duly appointed across Eritrea, Djibouti, and Ethiopia to represent the Sultanate exclusively in cultural and social matters.

However, it must be stated with absolute clarity that the Sultanate of Rahayta has no representation in political forums. Any claim to represent the Sultanate in political processes, particularly within Ethiopia, is false, unauthorized, and a misuse of the Sultanate’s historic name and legitimacy. The Sultanate neither endorses nor participates in such political endeavors, now or in the future.

A Call for Vigilance and Historical Truth
I call upon the Afar people everywhere to remain vigilant against political manipulation that seeks to distort history and misrepresent collective regional issues. In particular, attempts to portray access to the sea as the demand of a single ethnic group by placing the Afar at the forefront are misleading and dangerous. The Afar people have never sought to instrumentalize their history or geography against others.

For centuries, the Afar have been custodians of the Red Sea not as a tool of exclusion, but as a responsibility carried with dignity, restraint, and respect for coexistence. The Afar people stand for peace, sovereignty, and the mutual respect of nations and communities.

The Sultanate of Rahayta remains committed to preserving Afar heritage, honoring historical truth, and upholding the unity and sovereignty of Eritrea.

His Highness
Sultan Abdulkadir Dawud
Sultan of Rahayta, Eritrea