An Ogaden Hero: A Tribute To Sheikh Ibrahim Abdalla

Ogaden Online EditorialJune 23, 2008Heroes are borne from circumstances. They are a product of their environment. They come to embody a situation and a period of time. Sheikh Ibrahim Abdalla was a true Ogaden hero. To the people of Ogaden, he was synonymous with the struggle. He was deliberate in speech and steady in thought. He was constantly working whether it was joining others to found the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), or writing a book for the generations that come after him.

To this Ogaden hero, there was seemingly an unlimited variety of ways to support the struggle. While he is best remembered for leading the ONLF through the decision to pursue armed struggle, he was also a man who left no stone unturned to seek to obtain the rights of the Somali people of Ogaden to self-determination through peaceful means. His courage was well known to all our freedom fighters, and he was loved by all of us. History gives us very few heroes as such, when they pass it is cause for pause and reflection. If nothing else, the greatest tribute to Sheikh Ibrahim Abdalla and the hero's before him and those who will come after him is to ensure that this generation will be the last generation of our people under occupation.

For all those who bled in the sands of Ogaden; for all those who walked countless miles under the hot sun to find the enemy; for all those who tended to a wounded freedom fighter; for all those who stood up to the occupation; and for all the heroes of our struggle, your sacrifice will not be in vain. As assured is the sun's rise in the morning and its setting in the evening, your sacrifice will not be in vain.

The march of the people of Ogaden towards freedom is unstoppable. Every village burned, every father killed, and every community harassed by the occupation forces produces another Sheikh Ibrahim, another Makhtal Dahir, and another hero. We cannot be stopped in our march forward as we are at a point of no return. Our people will go all the way this time for we have nothing left to lose.This is the generation that will free Ogaden.

This is the generation that will conclude our centuries old struggle for freedom. This is the generation that will pay back all the heroes who have given everything so that we can someday have something to be proud of.

Our time is now and our moment is here. Africa will witness the birth of a new nation borne of over 100 plus years of struggle and personal sacrifice. We will not be denied what our fathers and their fathers have bled for and died for. We will not be denied what our brethren have suffered for. Surely we will not be denied what is rightfully ours.

Freedom is not and has never been free but we are willing, ready, and able to pay the price. Ogaden belongs to us and we will take it back by any means necessary. While we mourn the passing of our great hero Sheikh Ibrahim Abdalla, we celebrate his heroic acts to rid Ogaden of the Tigrian tyranny.

Borrowed from Ogaden Online Editorial