Date: Tue, 24 Jun 2014 13:26:23 +0200
<http://shabait.com/about-eritrea/erina/17314-trenches-of-the-struggle-for-i
ndependence-symbols-of-eritrean-resistance> Trenches of the struggle for
independence: Symbols of Eritrean resistance
24.06.2014
Written by Yishak Yared
Friday, 20 June 2014 11:05
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<http://shabait.com/component/content/section/18> Erina -
<http://shabait.com/about-eritrea/erina> Erina
When we talk about the Eritrean struggle for independence what comes in mind
is the endurance, perseverance and belief for a cause of the Eritrean
people. Enduring the hardship, brutality, cruelty, and indiscriminate
killing perpetrated by the enemy soldiers and security forces, and that for
over thirty years, and ultimately coming out triumphant is the trade mark of
the Eritrean people. We could confidently claim that, in terms of longevity
and severity, the Eritrean people's struggle is unique and there are very
few liberation struggles that took so long without not giving up, resisting
all sorts of brutalities with one thing in mind, determination that after
all the crimes committed one day Eritrea will be free in which its people
will walk their head up.
The Eritrean people from the onset knew that they are dealing with a strong
enemy backed by the superpowers of that time. They also knew that the
struggle would take time and would demand heavy human and material
scarifies. And that needs mental preparation to go on for what ever it takes
and reach the desired goal, the liberation of the people and country. One
living example of the preparedness has been the weighty trenches built by
the liberation fighter in a bid to save their lives with their sweat and
carry on their struggle for an unforeseeable time. The Nakfa trenches are
vivid examples that the Eritrean liberation fighters have been dug in and
wait for the massive and consecutive enemy invasions and with their sweat
save their lives and break the back bone of the enemy and disable its
fighting spirit and to its final submission.
The June 20, Martyrs Day, has its root from the martyrs that gave their
lives to the cause of the Eritrean revolution in the trenches of Nakfa. And
when we remember our martyrs, it is not coincidental, to remember the
trenches of Nakfa. Had it not been for their existence one could imagine how
many lives could have been sacrificed.
The trenches have been carefully built and with belief that they would stand
even the heavy artillery bombardment of the enemy. Moreover, the stone
structures, dug deep underground, served not just as the protective shelters
for the fighters, but became places where friendship were cemented,
commitment and courage displayed, pain and hurt shared, and where the fate
for Eritrea and her people was laid. From here the Eritrean freedom fighters
have gone through trying times, endured and fought and clambered up a steep
slope to prove themselves strong. The endurance they have displayed coupled
with perseverance in the face of conspiracy has helped Eritreans outlast
subjugation, dependence, indecency and other ignoble human qualities.
What is interesting is that each trench has been baptized with unique names
characterizing the situations that have been going through there. Every
trench was given a name depicting the ferocity of the struggle in and around
them. Rigole, Volleyball, Fernello, Globe, Letter P, Testa, Nakura, Sembel
were some of the names of the trenches around Nakfa.
Rigole is an Italian word meaning penalty kick like that of the football
game; and the name was given to indicate how close the trenches of the enemy
were to that of the EPLF combatants. In some places the trenches were some
meters apart that both sides could listen to every word uttered by all
sides. With time even both sides could call each others with their names.
Could any one imagine staying for months some meters away from the enemy
trenches with all the grenades and hand bombs falling on you? Only those who
happened physically there could explain the ferocity of the struggle and the
endurance that was displayed.
Volleyball as any one knows is a kind of a game where two competing teams
are separated with a net in between and play the game inches apart. In the
game of Volleyball from the six players there is one a play maker and one
smasher. The ball coming from the smasher is very hard to deal with by the
opponent and the name given to this particular trench was to indicate the
hard part of the situation there during the war for independence. In this
trench when the enemy throws hand grenade on the EPLF fighters it was common
for the fighters to catch the hand grenade, before it reaches the ground and
explodes, and throw it back to the enemy like that of the Volleyball ball.
What a Volleyball game!
Fernello is also an Italian word meaning a kind of zinc corrugated stove
Eritrean women use to boil coffee or sausage. The process is done by putting
charcoal on the Fernello and the charcoal burns creating red fire enough to
boil the coffee or the sausage. The combatants who have been in that
particular trench, Fernello, recite that the trench was being turned into a
hell with the continuous heavy artillery and aerial bombardment of the Derge
regime and it needed unswerving endurance beyond imagination.
The combatants had to face all the hell on earth with the bombardment and
their unflinching determination and will power did not allow the enemy
forces to succeed and advance even an inch.
Testa is a kind of head to head fight where individuals use their physical
heads to hit each other on the head. It is a kind of collusion of two
individuals' heads. With this kind of fight there is physical contact
between the two sides. This trench what they called Testa was very close to
the enemy position and no one could stand for a second to stretch his/her
body. No movement what is so ever. One movement means the end of ones life.
Testa was later replaced with Globe. It was designed in a way that from the
trench, unlike the other trenches, one could control the enemy movement from
every angle. And the name Globe was given to it to indicate its round shape
formation as that of the earth.
The long trenches circling the enormous and proud Denden Mountain are among
the first trenches the EPLF fighters built to hold the advance of the Derge
forces during the fourth offensive. All other trenches in the area have
their peculiar names upon which they tell their own stories of the struggle
for independence.
These trenches and the others that I didn't mention have been the strong
holds of the liberation fighters that played a great role to undo the
consecutive enemy invasions to over run the liberation fighters and
ultimately to recapture the town of Nakfa that have been the symbol of
Eritrean resistance and a place in which a number of liberation fighter paid
their dear lives. Hence, announcing that June 20 to be observed every year
as Martyrs Day emanate from this reality.
It is every one hope that the trenches of Nakfa that that have special place
in the history of the Eritrean people's struggle for independence would be
kept intact and become the living archives of the struggle and visited by
scholars, researchers and other visitors who would like to have the
understanding of the real situation that has been going on there especially
the dedication, endurance, perseverance and strong nationalism that has been
demonstrated by the Eritrean people and especially the liberation fighters.
The seemingly unbelievable history of Nakfa trenches could be turned into
tourism destination and that would have dual importance.
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