التاية أبوعاقلة .. سليم .. بشير الطيب يشير طارق (شهداء جامعة الخرطوم)

Quote: Thanks Mohamed for taking the effort to document the events that led to the tragic deaths of our martyrs at U of K Salim Abu Bakr, ElTaya Abu Aagla, Bashir ELTayib and Tarig Ahmed. Also thanks to everyone who kept bringing up the memories of those heroes here on Sudaneseonlines. Hisham Habbani, Murtada Gaafar, Sarra Eisa, Fathi Elbiheiri, Kabar, and Ammar Yasin are few to name. My sincere prayers go for everyone who scarified his/her life. May God have mercy upon them and may their souls rest in peace. The likes of ElTaya, Salim, Bashir, and Tarig never die. No more evidence than the fact that they bringing us together here today after all the years and despite the distance. I believe their souls are calling upon us to come together and put the effort that help advance the causes for which they sacrificed their young lives. That is how we can commemorate in a meaningful way. Thanks to everyone who contributed here. I hope more people will come up with their parts of the story. I hope the result of this effort will be a document that helps a lot of people understand who those heroes were, where they came from, and what was inspiring them. We want to hear from and about their families, friends, and roommates. We want to see their pictures and everything they left behind. Elegant literature and beautiful songs and poems were presented during the events that commemorated their anniversaries at U of K at that time. Is anybody keeping that material? It may be difficult to tackle one issue in isolation but as far as possible I hope we limit ourselves to the subject of the post. There are a lot of things out there that need to be documented. We all agree on the importance of the issue and the urgency to do something about it. Last year, together with Ibrahim Bakhit and Muna Abdelhafeez we discussed the issue and tried to come up with a forum or discussion board limited to Muhaideen where members can exchange views and tell their parts of the story. The initiative did not succeed but I still believe that something like that could be the start point. When other options fail to work, I welcome discussing everything on air here at Sudaneseonline. One particular event that I want to see discussed on open air is the exams boycott. It was an incident that had grave consequences and affected the lives of a lot individuals and families. There is still hot air in the chests that need to be released before we can come together. I also believe that anyone who witnessed or got affected by the incident needs to know every single detail. When the time comes, I have a lot to tell. Back to the subject of the post. The brutal assassination of ElTaya Abu Aagla was the turning point in my life. I met her for the first time three or four hours before she was killed. A student from Engineering Faculty introduced me to her at the cafeteria of Economics during breakfast break. At that time, I was head of the regional association of North Eastern Blue Nile students at U of K. Coming from that region; we had only two or three girls in our association, a fact that caused us a lot of embarrassment, especially when we organize our event like welcoming fresh students. ElTaya happened to be from that region. I was very excited that we had another girl. Another reason for my excitement was her village’s name. Noor Eljalil is a village like 5 miles away from my village Umlaban. Later I realized that it is another Noor Eljalil near ElDindir but still in the same region. She invited me to a delicious sandwich of falafel. We chatted for a while, promised to be in touch and work together. She then went to Engineering while I stayed near nashat area which was very tense because of the assassination of Bashir ElTayib the day before. Nadir Kobar who was accompanying ElTaya at that moment, told me this. When ElTaya moved to join the student marching out of the campus, he – Nadir – asked her not to go telling her that it is the usual clash between the Communists and Keizan and that it is not her issue. ElTaya rejected the idea telling that when it gets to level of killing a student in that brutal way, it is no longer the usual clash of Communists and Keizan. It is the issue of everyone. ElTaya joined the students march very conscious of her cause. Many fellows here described the details of that horrible day and the events that led to the tragic death of ELTaya and Salim. They all fell short, for one reason. The day was beyond description. You just can not put it into words. Everything that happened was brutal, heartless, merciless, nasty…. Think of all similar words you can and can not find in the dictionary and you are still short. I am quite sure that anyone who witnessed that day was not surprised at all by all the killings and destruction that spread across the whole country later. The second time I saw ElTaya Abu Aagla, she was shot dead!!!! When the shooting intensified and the security forces stormed the campus, I sought refuge in the tower of Faculty of Economics for a while. The moment I was trying to leave the building was exactly the moment the students carried ElTaya into the building. We just met at the gate. Two students were carrying her hands and legs with her head falling to the back. She was already dead. That was the first time I see a dead person before my eyes. It was unbelievable. The memories of that moment bring tears into my eyes. It was a moment that filled with unprecedented fury and grief. It was a moment that changed my belief about a lot things especially ElKeizan. It was a moment that turned me into another person. Everything that I did since then was a helpless attempt to get revenge. After the tragic death of Tltaya Abu Aagla, I began to feel the bitterness in Nazar Gabbani’s poems بلقيس يامعشوقتي حتي الثمالة الانبياء الكاذبون يقرفصون ويجلسون علي الشعوب ولا رسالة هذي بلاد يقتلون بها الخيول إني من كل تاريخي خجول I started to understand Ahmed Matar’s feelings towards the assassination of his friend Naji ELAli من لم يمت بالسيف مات بطلقة من عاش فينا عيشة الشرفاء At a meeting held by the legislative council “elmajlis Eltashriei” of Muhaideen to advice and evaluate the performance of members of the executive committee of KUSU at that time, I remember Ibrahim Bakhit telling me that “The concern about you is that you are too extreme”. He was right. I could not help be anything but extreme. The memories of ElTaya Abu Aagla always come to me together with those of Ilham Ahmed. A little girl with a heart of steel who joined KUSU from Faculty of Education. Ilham was just as bitter as I was. Coming from the same faculty as ElTaya, I believe Ilham to have been influenced directly by Eltaya or indirectly by the terrible events that led to ElTaya’s death. May be Ilham can tell us more. My love, respect, and sincere regards go to Ilham wherever she is. Another hero and martyr of Muhaideen I would like to remind of is Hassan Mandella. I came to know Mandella very closely during our detention period after the exams boycott incident. I came to realize why he was nicknamed Mandella. Mandella has the revolution in every drop of his blood. He was a man of action not talk. He was the true realization of the poem وتري النحيف وتزدريه وفي أثوابه أسد هصور I came across Mandella a few days before I left Sudan at Abu Jinzeer Stop. Mandella in his characteristic dress “labsa nus kum” and the smile that never leaves his face. We had a cup of lemon at a nearby café and chatted about the mess going on. I told him of my intention to leave and he regretted that. Mandella told me of his engagement in a concrete underground movement that will get us rid of the brutal Ingaz rule. He did not elaborate and I did not ask for more. That was in early 1993. The next time I heard of Mandella, he was the spokesperson for the Justice and Equality Movement in Darfur. Despite everything that ties the revolution in Darfur to the separation of who we mistakenly call the Islamists, Mandella’s talk tend to make me believe that the events in Darfur have their origins far before the separation. The war in Darfur later took the young life of Hassan Mandella. May God have mercy upon him. Talk is cheap. As I mentioned earlier, the meaningful way of commemorating the anniversaries of these heroes is to stay the course. Unfortunately, that is what we failed to do. I am very critical of Muhaideen at the leader’s level (my self included if I am one). They miserably fell short of addressing the challenges that followed. The experience we had could have been utilized in a far better way. I think the least to do – if we can not carry on – is to set the records straight and put everything in the hands of history. Someone else may make use of it. Brother Ahmed ElAmin likened the rapid rise of the star of Muhaideen to that of Taliban. He is right. In four or five years, Muhaideen were able to sweep Keizan completey out of U of K. That is something we could have remodeled at the national level. Unfortunately, while Taliban are still at the heart of everything in their country despite the gravity of the situation, we have just faded away!!!! I am still hopeful though. I also agree with Brother Ahmed that the cruelty of the regime against Muhaideen was above all the expectations and beyond imagination. I am finding great relief these days in the fact that we are just a few days before the ICC`s warrant against President ElBashir is issued. I just can not wait to see the justice done. I am quite sure that Salim, Bashir, Taya, and Tarig will celebrate the event. Thank you. Abdelftattah Elhabib Tokyo Japan