One day the Italian Air Force bombed and strafed his village, Bashagia in Wallo Province. Wudneh's mother and most of his relatives were killed. 'I remember running with the other children to hide in the river banks and the surrounding jungle,' he says. 'I can still see one plane now, which flew particularly low and bombed our house.
Another African leader, General Joseph Lagu, former Vice-President of the Sudan, also took part. As a guerrilla leader in the bush, he fought against the Arab North in Sudan's first civil war.