Eritrean Veterans – where the best began Reaching for the hard notes
Eritrean Veterans – where the best began Reaching for the hard notes As we celebrate our Independence Day, never should we forget about ALL Eritrean Veterans who felt the present, aimed at our future and embraced it
Reaching for the hard notes
As we celebrate our Independence Day, never should we forget about ALL Eritrean Veterans who felt the present, aimed at our future and embraced it all.
Walking parallel with our Veterans, let us remember and celebrate ALL Eritrean Martyrs who loved us then and love us still despite our mess and our flaws. They have met death and faced it standing. All died too soon. Let us honor them in unity and never let them be just a name on a memorial at which we might not pause.
Our Veterans live now in a subtle center of fierce fandom created by independence day, but they also remain pressured by the humbleness they created as a rule of law during the struggle. We should remind them that they are the innovator of change for the Eritrea we all fought for. Most of our Veterans keep memories of their comrades as reminiscences the enemy left in mass graves all over our land, with no marked tombstones and tell us that we need to honor them within a frame of unity.
Let us never forget our prisoners who fought in the name of freedom and asks us to respect all viewpoints. They also ask us to build a country with rightness. We should never forget the price they paid. They survived war, only to be walked to dark prisons with no doors of return. We do not know all their names, but we know they walked to each underground jail to protect a freedom so highly priced. We do not know which region of Eritrea they came from, but we know they offered freedom to Eritreans. We shall never forget them.
Our Veterans tell us: “Remember us. When duty called, we went to war and paid the price to offer you a new day. We faced the stench of war. Our bones decay beneath the ground. Once we were young and laughed and talked and run and danced, like you all do. But now we are the Veterans that live with memories of a gore of blood and mud made by war. We can all strive and achieve and there is no barrier to success on building a progressive coalition of different ideas, if the common denominator is an independent and prosperous Eritrea”.
On this Independence Day let us tell our Martyrs, our Prisoners and our Veterans: “ I saw you leaving and I never asked your name. Off you went to fight and died in that private hell called war. We might not have families’ ties but we stand side by side with you. We cannot know because we were not there and it is beyond our comprehension to know all that war and battles bring, on how to carry the day-by-day with such a resolute purpose and keep hope alive. But we know you offered us freedom and ask us to strive for peace and stay away from any other bloody war. And most of all, you ask us to own the political power for the benefit of our people. We all face so many struggles today that – at times- we have to figure out where to start to make the wrong right. We need to unite and lead our young generations to get their steps in, by showing unyielding honesty about mistakes and unwavering determination to hold hands and help each other.
Our Veterans is where all the best for Eritrea began. They give meaning to who we are today.
“Of all the forces that make for a better world, none is so powerful as hope. With hope, one can think, one can work, one can dream. If you have hope, you have everything.”
” Peace is a wall we will all create by building it brick-by-brick together”. (Trade mark)
Kiki Tzeggai
Danilo May 22, 2018
Wow, I never heard or read this kind of expression. It is heart braking .
AHMED SALEH !!! May 22, 2018
Yes in deed Danilo , it breaks our heart at this kind of times
when we remember the martyrdom of our unsung heroes
and those who betrayed the promise .
Daniel May 22, 2018
Giving credit to the one who deserves is the begining of the long walk to freedom. Let’s free our our minds speak with honesty. Seeking justice is a way of life not a mere destination. Good job
k.tewolde May 23, 2018
I hear you Kiki,I understand,I was chocking from a lump in my throat and fighting tears while reading your short article,my heart started pounding and the images of those young fighters overwhelmed my consciousness in black and white,they were never really worried about tomorrow,they gave everything they had today.They laughed loud,loved deep,fought hard,they conducted themselves as a bridge over the troubled water for the rest of us to cross over.I am so proud for being in their company at one time in my life,I remember them forever young and that is the secret of that silly smile I wear everyday,little do people know.I will party with them one day,ONE INDEPENDENCE DAY!!!!
Kafil May 23, 2018
” never should we forget about ALL Eritrean Veterans”
Kiki Tzeggai
The government is saying to people, only EPLF and it’s veterans should be remembered.
The ELF is not mentioned, to the extent that those born after 91 either have no idea what it is or think they were a bunch of Muslim bandits from sixties (Sawa trainees).
On the occasion of 27th anniversary of liberation, today 23rd May, a number of Army colonels, among them Col. Gaim Tesfamichael, the guy who runs a spy agency that profiles Eritreans in Diaspora, spoke about battles and events that led to victory. They mentioned every city liberated, except Tessebei, Agordat and Mendefera, the three cities were liberated by ELF so they purposely dropped them from history.
As Iseyas and his regime rewrite history to fit their purpose, Haile Duru, Sherif, Petros Solomon .. etc are also dropped from every narrative.
But for how long ?
amanuel May 23, 2018
You are right. Hgdf will continue to play childs game and cut out and edit its own history till everything is deleted out and only iseyass history remain. Thus hgdfs history will fall apart by hgdf itself. But we have the duty to presreve it and pass it on. If they admit mendefera, tesseney and akordet were liberated by jebha, it will contradict their agenda to portray jebha as non freedom fighters.
Kafil May 23, 2018
Higdef’s effort to instill in the mind of our young one sided history should be condemned by all.
You said “We have the duty to preserve it and pass it on”, I agree.
Kiki Tzeggai May 23, 2018
ALL our Martyrs said: “ኤርትራውያን በይንና ኣይኮንናን – ኣይምረርኩም ክሓልፍ ኢዩ”
ALL our Veterans tell us: “ሓድነትና ምስክር ነጻነትና”
Danilo, Ahmed Saleh, Daniel, K. Tewolde, Kafil and Assenna readers, I cry each time I vision more than 80 Ethiopian soldiers armed to their teeth surrounding one Eritrean Tegadalay – my husband Berhane Tesfamariam – and walking him to the torture room. But I feel proud to vision him keeping his head up, his eyes absorbing as much as he could about our kids standing fearful and whispering a phone number that saved his team of Tegadeltys in town. I see ALL our Veterans and ALL our Martyrs in him. How could I not walk behind you and beside you all? Each Eritrean makes the 6+ million we are and we need each other to make our Independent country a free one.
You all – our Veterans – tell us never to forget the battles in Tessenei, Agordat and Mendefera, followed by battles in Massawa, Afaabeet, Nacfa. Eritrean kids bombed with napalm. The bodies strangled with piano cord and Eritrean mothers screaming while collecting their son or daughter remains.
What is missing is unity among us in the diaspora. Let us hold hands and search – and help with humbleness – for ALL our homeless Veterans. They gave it all. They have none in return.
In addition, let us show the enemy – from within and around our borders – that there is no compromising with a free and Independent Eritrea, that summarizes to respect for freedom of speech and freedom of our Courts/Tribunals. This will make us walk and open all prisons’ doors, but it will force us also to give rights for a day in court to those who destroyed the very reason our Martyrs died for.
I want to thank and give credit to Amanuel Eyasu (Assenna) for wrapping this wonderful picture – symbol of the struggle’s unity – with both major Freedom Fighters groups’ flag. Unity is built in small acts of respect.
Thank you all for the kind words. I feel encouraged to try harder and do more for our beloved country.
AHMED SALEH !!! May 24, 2018
Selam sister kiki
You remind me some of our older brothers who disappeared
at the hands of Ethiopian security forces . And that is why
many youngs high school students forced to join Ghedli .
Any way we Eritreans never gave up until the day our
country became sovereign .
Thanks God , their martyrdom paid off at last .
Kafil May 23, 2018
Dear Kiki.
Your husband and ALL those who gave their life, to give us freedom back, did not die in vain.
The brutal regime in Asmara is killing Eritrea, but we also share some of the blame, because we failed our people, by not standing for justice before we get where we are now.
amanuel May 23, 2018
Right on. The veterans did not fail us, we failed them. We failed them by not continuing the fight for complete freedom which was their ultimate goal.
Kafil May 23, 2018
Speaking in the name of EPLF and its veterans the regime is telling a lot of Eritreans, in particular those who were in the rank and file of the ELF, they have no history and past that makes them stakeholders in Eritrea.
Under Iseyas and his regime Eritrea joined failed states, as it stands at the edge of a dangerous precipice, ready to roll down a slippery slope.
May God save my country and its people.
Danilo May 23, 2018
Kafil, your name is familiar for me. Indeed the surname 0f best friend of mine. Since a name could be for all I have to ask you a simple question. If i am wrong, Kafil could be termed in tigrigna and Arabic. ብትግሪኛ ምክፋል የስምዕ፡ብዓረብ ድማ ምምቅራሕ እዩ ዘስምዕ። a good name indeed. However, if we talk and remember to those patriot whether ELF / EPLF veterans have contributed equal but the exceptional is the civilian who fought empty handed. Therfore, please give share to the civilians too as your name could be mean SHARE!!!. thank you.
Danilo May 23, 2018
Additional term in Arabic is ( kafil ) is also mean sponsor. i.e, in fact Eritrean people had a role against all odds
Kafil May 23, 2018
Kafil is commonly used is Senhit area.
k.tewolde May 23, 2018
For this little nation blessed with abundance to thrive and prosper,it has to accept the sum of all its parts.It simply cannot stand in the mirror and shave out the bridge of the nose,break the jaw or pluck out the eyes because it doesn’t portray the image it wants to display or doesn’t serve its current motive.It is a futile attempt,it is self mutilation,it is plastic surgery gone bad like Bridget Bardot,it is a political and colossal historical and national suicide. That is why after 27 years of statehood it looks worse that the home I left many moons ago except the accessories it puts on once a year to celebrate a mandatory event.Indeed Kafil, God save our beleaguered nation.
Hagos May 23, 2018
Prof Tesfazion Medhanie has written an repressive and compelling research essay on the current and future Ethio-Eritrea relations. It is posted on many websites such as Ethio-media, and he deserves an interview in worthy Eritrean information websites, such as assenna, Erena, BBC and VOA.
We need to discuss this issue without any fear and qualms. We are open to learn.
Kafil May 23, 2018
Prof Tesfazion Medhanie’s proposal is neither a priority for most Eritreans nor does it make any sense to all of us who fought hard to be a free country.
If you are an Eritrean you will understand what I mean, without going into details.
But if you are one of those pushing us in that direction, for obvious reasons, you better join him and both would do us a fever if you go to Addis and leave us in peace.
amanuel May 24, 2018
Prof. Tesfazien is confused gay who grew up in tigray. I think you do not have to be tigrway to be confused; growing up in tigray is enough to make you one. Assuming he is eritrean.