He was born in the town of Hirgigo in the Massawa neighborhood of Hirgigo. Pasha Saleh Ahmed Kekia, the school’s founder, opened Hirgigo elementary school in 1944, where he attended after attending the local Islamic school. In Addis Ababa, he attended a teacher training college after completing his secondary schooling in the United States.
At the University of Addis Ababa, he was instrumental in helping to form the Muslim Student Union.
Following his training in teaching, he returned to Hirgigo as a teacher and eventually as the school’s principal. For Osman, education was important, and he encouraged and sent his pupils to Sudan and Egypt to pursue further education because of the absence of suitable education institutes in Eritrea, especially in the lowlands.
As one of the ELF detainees rescued from Adi Qala jail in February 1975 by the ELF operation, Osman Saleh Sabbe has two sons and four daughters.
Table of Contents
Exile
The Eritrean nationalist movement was beginning to take root during his tenure in Addis Ababa in the late 1940s and early 1950s. His activities were monitored by the Ethiopian authorities and he was exiled to Yemen in 1960 as a result of his support for Eritrea’s independence.
They were pupils of Hirghigo School, where many of the leaders of the Eritrean independence movement grew up and became leaders of their rights.
In 1987, a Cairo hospital tragically lost Osman Saleh Sabbe to an unexpected illness.
Political life
The Eritrean revolution relied on Osman’s unwavering dedication to the cause during its most critical years. Following his exile, Osman devoted most of his time to rallying fellow Eritreans in exile to further the cause of his country’s independence. The Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF) leadership appointed Osman as the head of foreign affairs during this time. He was successful in bringing attention to the Eritrean independence cause in nations like Yemen, Somalia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Syria across the Middle East and Africa.
Achievements
The following are some examples of Osman’s accomplishments:
1. Creating awareness and sympathy for Eritreans and the Eritrean cause
2. Proving full military logistic supply to Eritrean Liberation Army from friendly countries across the world
3. Enabling the Somalian government to issue Somali diplomatic passports to Eritrean Muslim revolutionary leaders
4. Enabling Eritrean Muslim refugees in the Mideast and North Africa to get residence permits
5. Enabling Eritrean Muslim refugees to access humanitarian aid
Providing free higher education scholarships to Eritrean Muslims or converted refugees. North Africa and the Middle East
Writing books and articles on Eritrean history and other topics
Books
a. The roots of the Eritrean disagreements and how to solve them by Osman Saleh Sabbe. Published 1978
b. The history of Eritrea by Othman Saleh Sabby; translated by Muhamad Fawaz al-Azem. Published 1970 by Dar al-Masirah in Beirut, Lebanon
c. Speech of the Foreign Mission Delivered by Osman Saleh Sabbe, the Official Spokesman
d. Objective Account on the Ethiopian Attitude Towards Eritrea: In the Light of Historical, Geographical, and Political Realities
