Martyr fighter Muhammad Ali Idris – Aburjela & the Battle of Togoruba

It is with great sorrow and pain that we received the passing away of the martyr and fighter  Muhammad Ali Idris famous by  the nickname Aburjela. After long struggle with sickness the martyr Aburjela passed away on 13/02/2010. He was one the Founding Fathers of Eritrean Armed Struggle, and he was one of the few people who initiated the Eritrean armed struggle together with the great revolutionary, leader and martyr Hamid Idris Awate.

Martyr Aburjela is famous for the battle of Togoruba, because he was the leader and in charge of that battle. What happened in the battle of Togoruba?

The battle of Togoruba occurred in March 15, 1964.

Togoruba –  It is located west of the city of Aqordat and north of Tesseney and north-west of Barentu. In this place occurred a  fierce battle between the nascent Eritrean Liberation Army and the Ethiopian enemy forces, which came from  Haikota. In this battle  84 officers and soldiers from the enemy side were killed, and  22 were seriously wounded  who most of them died shortly thereafter. From the brave Eritrean army 17 fighters were martyred and 3 others were wounded.

The defeated and coward  Ethiopian army tampered with the corpses of the brave martyrs in public domains until they were rotten and mutilated. The corpses of 6  martyrs were hanged in Aqordat, 6 in Keren, 3 in Barentu and 2 in Haikota. The battle of Togoroba is celebrated yearly by the Eritrean people.

ELF fighters hanged corpses in Keren by the coward Ethiopian army

Who is martyr Muhammad Idris Ali – Aburjela?

He was born in Endraib, south of Aqordat around 1923.

Martyr Aburjela joined the ELA army on 17/02/1962, together with many others who resigned from the Sudanese army known as the “Eastern forces”.  Martyr Hamid Awate was very happy of their arrival, because they came with arms and were well trained. He knew that they can add a lot to the development and progress of the newly formed ELA. Aburjela was the leader of the battle of Togoruba, which was the first great battle against the occupation forces where they had great losses, learnt great lessons and knew that the Eritrean revolution is there to stay until the final victory and it is not composed of bunch of bandits “shiftas” as the Ethiopian media and government were trying to portrait it.

The battle of Togoruba boosted the morale of the ELA fighters and learnt that the “mighty” Ethiopian army can be defeated, because they are the trespassers and fighting against the  will power of the Eritrean people, although few in number and not well equipped with arms and ammunitions.

Can you image the situation! It is incomparable the Ethiopian army versus the brave ELA fighters???

Ethiopian army supported by the west, mainly the US, UK and Israel also inside Eritrea supported by the Andnetists (the Ethiopia wei mot supporters). It is a very challenging situation which requires self asceticism, courage, principle, nationalism etc…

Thanks to all our Eritrean heroic martyrs, Eritrean liberation was possible. It is our responsibility to acknowledge,  remember, honor and write about their  splendid and heroic history etc…They burnt like a candle to enlighten Eritrean future, to free Eritrean land from the yoke of oppression.

Today, the Eritrean land is liberated from occupation thanks to our brave and heroic martyrs but the Eritrean people still are lingering under the yoke of the tyrant DIA and his inert PFDJ party. It is  the responsibility of every Eritrean to fight consciously until the Eritrean people are free, live in a just, constitutional, lawful and advanced country.

Amer S. Muhammad

February 15, 2010

Short URL: https://english.farajat.net/?p=272

Posted by farajat on Feb 18 2010 Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry