A Commemoration That Reinforces Our Martyrs’ Trust

It is a well documented fact that countless innocent Eritreans have been victimized by the barbarous policies of the Ethiopian colonizers and many have fallen prey to the policy of “drying the ocean to kill all the fi sh”.  Starting from the day Eritreans decided to break the yokes of colonization to the day Eritrea became independent; Ethiopian colonizers did commit barbaric acts of murder and massacre against Eritreans.

They left no stone unturned to annihilate Eritreans and their cause.In all corners and places of Eritrea many atrocities have been committed. Every inch of this sacred land had blood spilled on it.   She’eb, Ona, Hirgigo, Besigdira, Agordat, Adibrihim, Habrengeqa, Shifshifi t, Melebso, Wekidba, Geleb, Ajerbeb, Asmat, Golj, the streets of Asmara… the list goes on.The Eritrean people, were put through so much pain and torment by their colonizers. Many Eritreans were brutally murdered in those times, where fear and terror reigned.

These were times when one never knew if he/she was going to comeback home safe. These were the times where many men, women and children were murdered in a blatant disregard to justice, innocent civilians who were wiped out by barrages of bombardment, elders were murdered en-masse while they were in churches or mosques, youngsters were garroted with piano cords accused of aiding the struggle, men and women were executed and buried in mass graves and many were disabled through brutal torture. It was a time where the world chose to close its eyes and shut its ears to the crimes that were being committed against Eritreans. Being Eritrean at that time was a crime.The enemy that was being defeated by our struggle always took its revenge on innocent Eritreans. Such a despicable act has directly or indirectly affected every Eritrean.

People were forced to immigrate elsewhere or join the revolution when they were made incapable of living in their own country. The people of Eritrea, therefore, fought alongside one another inside the country as well as abroad in their struggle for independence and eventually got it through their united might. Therefore, all those Eritreans that were brutally killed and murdered by the colonizers, all those Eritreans that were victimized and were liquidated are martyrs just like those Eritreans who heroically fell in the battlefi elds. And the fact that this year’s Martyr’s Day is being commemorated in a location where a barbarous act was committed is a commemoration that enforces the trust of our martyrs.