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A Huge Public Rally against PFDJ Festival in Stockholm - Sweden

The Swedish- Eritrean Partnership for Democracy and Human rights/ SESADU in cooperation with other partners invites all activists for democracy and justice in Eritrea to a rally under the theme,Stop PFDJ Festivals" in Sweden and continue the struggle against human rights violations in Eritrea.

Date : Saturday 1st August 2015

Time: 11.00 -20.00

Place: Folketshus-EggbeyGård Järvafältet

Welcome all!

Organizing Committee/SESADU in cooperation with others

In Contributed Articles, Expose PFDJ, EYSC Action, Featured by Miriam SeptemberJuly 8, 2015

While making dinner and having my children run around the house, I thought about how to increase the understanding towards the Bologna Summit. So I sat spontaneously down to type a few words into my computer, which ended up to be the outline below thirty minute later. I hope it is worth your consideration.

You see, we always ask ourselves how to make the opposition more impactful and here is a chance for each one of us to play our part this summer.

Three Bologna Summits are planned for 2015 to increase accessibility, participation, and ultimately output: In London (July), Oakland (August), and in the end in Bologna Italy during October. Here are 10 quick reasons why attending and supporting the Bologna Summit 2015 may be worthwhile.

1. Creative anti-PFDJ action and demos are important to mobilise the wider mass and create momentum – but they cannot take the biggest worry of us: How will a weak and fragmented Eritrean opposition ever be an alternative to the dictator and his regime, now or post-PFDJ? The Bologna Summit aims directly at strengthening the opposition’s effectiveness and work towards increased unity among like-minded groups. It’s one avenue among others you can join.

2. Democracy is not just established on paper or through a system, it first needs to be installed in the mindset of Eritreans, both abroad and inside Eritrea. The Bologna Summit strongly rallies around tolerance, mutual cooperation, and democratic values.

3. One of the opposition’s greatest failure thus far, in my view, has been the inability to link up with the people of Eritrea and pro-democratic entities inside the country. The Bologna Summit actively incorporates the strategy to link up with change agents inside Eritrea. They are our most valuable hope and the greatest fear of the dictator. They deserve our attention and combined effort.

4. World statistics regarding regime change have shown that the large part of regime change that took place through armed struggle resulted in another authoritarian regime. Eritrea’s struggle for independence is a relict to that (Eritrea, Libya, Syria etc). Unfortunately, non-violent struggle and non-cooperation is widely misunderstood among Eritreans and sometimes even ridiculed, yet it is the most powerful strategy towards democratic regime change with the least casualties (Tunisia, Serbia, Burkina Faso etc), and believe it or not, the one dictators fear most.

5. The Bologna Summit is independent. If something has been missing in Eritrea’s opposition policies it is a strong, independently managed and lead Eritrean opposition entity. The Bologna Forum is a young effort, but recognising the fact that it runs independent and can survive self-sufficiently (including financially) is important and in that respect Bologna has achieved rather great momentum and has kept the peace among endorsing organisations.

6. The Bologna Summit is growing organically. We ache for unity, however all hasty attempts in the past to ‘unite’ under one name, one umbrella, or one event have often not resulted in effective cooperation. The Bologna Forum deserves a chance, it is growing organically, and you can become part of that grassroots growth story.

7. The demo in Geneva was a historical moment for all justice seekers and one of great hope and pride. Having said that you cannot build a political platform or alternative to Higdef through mass events without a leading body and clear political agenda. That gap needs to be filled, in many ways. Bologna is just one avenue, and you can choose to strengthen that further, among other.

8. Bologna has attracted a high participation of youth and women at all levels. In fact, women participation during the last two summits where around 40%. Among the highest in any opposition-lead effort (accept for women groups) – The Bologna Forum believes in the active role youth and women have to play on Eritrea’s path towards democracy. And I think what is also worth mentioning is that the Bologna Summit managed to adopt an image and dynamic that fits into the 21st century.

9. The Bologna Summit focuses on the mantra ‘Eritrean solutions for Eritrean problems’ as an effective strategy towards a Eritrean people-lead democracy. This strategy has thus far been largely misunderstood and has been nearly invisible in Eritrean opposition politics. When it was made public, HIGDEF noticed: I don’ t think it was a coincidence that they cancelled all festivals to summon in Bologna in 2014 after 23 years. This mantra hits PFDJ propaganda right into the foot and weakens its political stand point.

10. And lastly, the Bologna Forum is a gathering by Eritreans who want to see justice, freedom, and prosperity, and peace in Eritrea. It is an open platform to learn, debate, work, connect, and make new friends – it is an effort by Eritreans for all Eritreans and friends of Eritrea, and we hope at least that this is worth your support and participation.

We hope to see you at the Bologna Summit in London, Oakland, or Italy – you are warmly welcome.

The government was better prepared to deal with the 1965 demonstration than in the past. Rubber-stick wielding police and trainees of commando units filled the streets of Asmara from early morning. Police vans were deployed at many places in the city. Students came out of their schools lined up for a "peaceful demonstration" and pleaded to be left alone to exercise their right to demonstrate as that right was enshrined in the Eritrean Constitution. However, the police started beating them towards the prepared trucks. About 2,000 students were beaten and forcefully transported for detention at an anti-ELF Commando training centre at Sembel in the outskirts of Asmara. The students spent about 40 hours at the detention centre without any food supply.^[xlv] All schools in Eritrea boycotted classes in solidarity with Asmara students. As this writer noted it elsewhere,

That student activism had a more lasting effect on the Eritrean armed struggle than a number of other undertakings by the nationalists at that difficult epoch. This was because: (a) a political action in the heart of the Eritrean capital was seen as a serious challenge to the locally awed and respected person of Emperor Haile Selassie; (b) news of the students' activities were easily carried to every part of the country by scared relatives; and, above all, (c) Asmara students rallying behind the Eritrean nationalist movement signified that the Kabassan population, the most important other half of the Eritrean people, will not for long lag far behind the other segments of the society in the nationalist cause. Those in Cairo and Kassala fully appreciated its far reaching significance.^[xlvi]

This viewpoint is entertained by many student militants of the period.^[xlvii] Ahmed Nasser described Asmara students of 1960s as "the generation that made a generous contribution to help create the present realities in Eritrea".^[xlviii] Seyoum Ogbamichael sees that one cannot think of increased nationalist reawakening among the population in Asmara without the important contribution by students in the early 1960s.^[xlix] To Gherezghiher Tewelde, another student actor during the second half of the 1960s, the demonstrations initially had more influence on the students themselves than on the general population. However, taking into consideration the fact that many of those students became fighters, political cadres and front leaders, "one can comfortably say that the demonstrations indeed played a significant role" in the nationalist movement.^[l]

2)         Organized Action

The student militancy of 1961-65 recounted above was conducted without formal structure. Real organization started in August 1965 by two ELF envoys sent from Kassala to create cells of mass organizations in Asmara. The two were Woldedawit Temesghen and Seyoum Ogbamichael of PMSS who joined the ELF in the Sudan soon after the March 1965 demonstrations in Asmara.^[li]            

During their two-week meetings in Asmara until their arrest on 30 August 1965,^[lii] Woldedawit and Seyoum discussed with friends and trusted nationalists a general plan of establishing mass organizations for students, teachers and others on the basis of occupation and location. In the fall of 1965, Siraj Ibrahim, another ELF envoy was in Asmara organizing a student union. Meetings were held in Biet Ghiorghis for students from various secondary schools in the city.^[liii]

During 1966, the system was improved by another ELF envoy, Ghilai Ghirmai,^[liv] who entrusted the PMSS student committee^[lv] with the task of centralizing activities of other committees in Asmara. According to the new structure, every school with an ELF cell appointed a representative to liaise activities with the PMSS committee. The PMSS committee was reporting directly to the Revolutionary Command of the ELF headquartered in Kassala, Sudan

The newly organized student movement, still led by PMSS, took quick action and within 1966 formed branch unions in the provinces.^[lvi] Student cells thus flourished in groups of five members throughout the high schools in the country. Truck and bus drivers were recruited to facilitate communication between the different towns. The organized student movement in Asmara called itself "the General Union of Eritrean Students". An organization of the same name was to be established in Damascus in late 1968.^[lvii]

Other normal everyday activities included distribution of pamphlets, gathering basic information for the ELF as required, recruiting cell members, and agitating in the city through various forms. Among memorable feats of the young union was a sabotage work which succeeded to partly weaken public attendance at a major government preparation in 1966 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Haile Selassie's return to his throne and to inaugurate a new title of 'Ras' for Prince Asrate Kassa, the Emperor's Representative in Eritrea.^[lviii] The ELF student cells posted their members at key junctions in the city and misinformed their schoolmates to return home because the day's ceremonies were cancelled until further notice.^[lix]

The union rented three houses where it accommodated ELF fighters coming for military operations inside Asmara. Activities of student cells were progressing well until March 1967 when Gherezghiher Tewelde and other PMSS committee members either joined the ELF or were arrested.^[lx] Those who replaced them in the committee were also arrested or went underground. Some joined the ELF army in the semi-liberated areas.

Similarly the pioneer group of PMSS student militants of the period were instrumental in forming cells for the ELF in the university campuses in Addis Ababa. For practical reasons and purposes of this article, the student cells in the Ethiopian capital can be treated as continuation in an organized form of student activism in Asmara. Based on the organizational guidelines discussed with Woldedawit and Seyoum during the summer of 1965, the cells in Addis created a central committee to run activities inside the Haile Selassie I University. And as in Asmara, former PMSS students centralized university cells in the Ethiopian capital.^[lxi] Several groups were formed although the majority of university students were kept as sympathizers. Some students who volunteered to

[i] In 1939, there were only 4,117 primary school pupils in Eritrea and Tigray, then treated as one administrative unit. Between 1894 and 1940, missionaries in Eritrea taught a grand total of only 20,000 pupils in Italian and native languages (see Report of the UN Commissioner for Eritrea, Vol.1, Beirut: ELF-PLF reproduction,1977), p.74.

[ii].          In 1952, there were 14,897 students in 100 primary, 14 intermediate and 2 secondary schools, and 30 students were pursuing higher studies abroad (see G.K.N. Trevaskis, Eritrea: A Colony in Transition, 1941-52; London: Oxford University Press, 1960) p.34.

[iii].         During academic year 1961/62, total number of students reached 38,000 of which 1,372 were in academic high schools and vocational institutions (see Statistical Abstract, Addis Ababa, 1963) p.106.

[iv].         John Markakis, National and Class Struggle in the Horn of Africa ,(Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1987) p.109. Jaffar Ali Assad (interview, 24.9.95) affirmed that by mid-1965 there were 700 students in Cairo. By 1980, the figure reached 2,000 (see Markakis, Ibid, p.283, footnote 13).

[v].         Markakis, Ibid, footnote 37, p. 285.

6.         Mewail Mebrahtu (letter dated 15.1.96).

[vii].        Tahir Ibrahim Fadab, Al-Haraka Al-Eritria Wa Masirataha Al-Tarikiya, (Beirut: Al-Shiruq Printing Press, 1994) p.212. The movement was known as "Haraka" in Arabic and "Mahber Showate" or association of seven in Tigrigna because it proliferated in cells of seven members.

[viii].       Jaffar (1995) called it "a student idea" without denying the fact that students were articulating a general discontent of the population.

[ix].         Ismail Ali (letter dated 17.7.95).

x..        The following students were among the key founders of the ELF in Cairo during the spring of 1960: Abdulkerim Ahmed, Adem Akte, Hamid Turki, Ibrahim Idris (Blenai), Idris Osman Ghelaidos, Mohammed Saleh Hummed, Mohammed Ali Omaro, Mohammed Ali Afarora, Mohammed Saied Omar (Antata), Ramadan Mohammed Nur, Saied Hussein and Taha Mohammed Nur. (sources: Mohammed Saleh Hummed to author in Beirut, 1978; many other informants confirmed, including Jaffar, 1995).

[xi].         Due to shortage of printed material on the subject, this writer had to depend mainly on memories of participants in the events and his own recollections.

xii.        Lloyd Ellingson, "The Emergence of Political Parties in Eritrea, 1941-50", Journal of African History, Vol.28 (2) 1977, p.261.

[xiii].       The Unionist Party of the 1940s was financed and manipulated by the Ethiopian Government. Its main platform was religion backed by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.

[xiv].       Dimtsi Serahtegna Vol. 1(3), Asmara, August 1995.

[xv].        Aristide Zolberg et al, Escape from Violence: Conflict and the Refugee Crisis in the Developing World (London: Oxford UP, 1989) p.108.

16.        Don Connell,"The Birth of the Eritrean Nation", Horn of Africa Journal, vol. 3(1), Jan/March 1980, p.18.

[xvii].      Fajir Al-Wihda No.37, 1990. The student grouping in Cairo had changed its name several times - Eritrean Students Club, League, Union - until it became a branch of the General Union of Eritrean Students (GUES) created in Damascus in late 1968 and early 1969.

[xviii].     Jaffar (1995).

[xix].       Jimie Ahmed (Kassel, Germany, 13.8.95). In the early 1960s, Saied Hussein met in Asmara several activists including a few students and members of a little known Eritrean Rehabilitation Party (ERP). A few students including Jimie, at Botego school, Ahmed Karrar of PMSS, and Zahra Jaber of nursing school ran errands for the ERP. In May 1963 (probably his second leg to Asmara), Saied was arrested while trying to carry out a military operation at the Asmara airport. (During the Suez Canal war of 1956, Saied Hussein, a student at Al-Azhar University, joined the Fedayeen Brigades comprised of volunteers deployed near Port Said. It was the same Saied Hussein who headed the "student group" that became ELF in 1960; he is said to have relinquished the chairmanship to Idris Mohammed Adem, former president of the Eritrean Assembly, who was brought from Eritrea in 1959 with the assistance of the Cairo student group (interview with Abdulkerim Ahmed, Rassai, Sudan, 15.3.1982, confirmed by Jaffar, 1995).

[xx].        ELF-PLF, Eritrea: Victim of UN Decision and Ethiopian Aggression (no date) p. 78. The referred document was a reprint of a 1971 Memorandum submitted to the UN in New York, signed Woldeab Woldemariam, Osman Saleh Sabbe and Taha Mohammed Nur.

[xxi].       The founders of ELM were members of the youth branch of the Communist Party of the Sudan, and there were some Sudanese nationals among the original 17 founders, see Tahir Fadab, op.cit. p. 58.

[xxii].      Markakis, op.cit., p.106.

23.        Ibid.

[xxiv].     According to Jimie, Paulos (Degiat) Sebhatu represented an ELM student group. Jimie says an ELF student group was formed before 1965. Its members included Abdulwahab Mohamoud, Mohammed Nur Kekia, Mohammed Ibrahim Hazam and Jimie himself. However, if ELM and ELF student groups ever existed in Asmara before 1995, they had no role whatsoever in the PMSS-organized political activities in the Eritrean capital during 1961-65.

25.        Eritrean student groupings in Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Sudan Somalia, Hungary, Poland, and the Federal Republic of Germany were represented in a meeting in Damascus held between 28 December 1968 and 4 January 1969. They established an umbrella organization called the General Union of Eritrean Students (GUES) which claimed to represent also students inside Eritrea ("Eternal Pages in the History of the Eritrean Student Movement", Fajir-al Wihda op.cit., pp. 2-4.

[xxvi].     This writer in 1959 wrote a letter to the then Director of Education, Asfaha Kahsai, naively telling the official to support Eritrean independence or face "liquidation" by a non-existent organization working for Eritrean independence.

[xxvii].    According to Jaffar (1995), the strike started because of administrative problems but was interpreted by the public to have had a political background. Jaffar, a relation of Ibrahim Sultan of the Moslem League, took part in the Benevolente school strike.

[xxviii].    Fissehaye Gherezghiher (Geneva, 6.1.96). Fissehaye was with the graduating class of Point Four Technical School in May 1957 which refused a request to joint HSISS students in the strike because of fear losing final certificates. Also see Fajir Al-Wihda, No.30, 1981.

[xxix].     Dr. Habte Tesfamariam (Kassel, Germany, 14.8.95). He remembers that a group of those Asmara students were brought to Adi Quala where they were detained.

[xxx].      Mohammed Omar Yahya, a student who participated at the March 1958 demonstration in Keren (as quoted by Ismail Ali, letter of 17.7.95).

[xxxi].     Michael Ghaber and this writer had experience of putting on wall posters and graffiti in Keren between 1959-60 and continued the practice in Asmara, 1961-65. The most daring group action in February 1965 involved 8 PMSS students who festooned Asmara with sketches of the Eritrean flag prepared by Seyoum Ogbamichael.

[xxxii].    Six months later on 15 June 1963, Tedla Ogbit allegedly committed suicide, but was most probably killed, in his office. Ethiopia had intended to replace. He refused requested going to USA for training, and soon started defying Ethiopia's unilateral dissolution of the Federation seven months earlier; see Tahir Fadab, op.cit., p.331.

[xxxiii].    Referring to Hamid Idris Awate who started the armed struggle in the western lowlands in September 1961. Awate was martyred in the spring of 1962 but the ELF kept his death secret for a long time.

[xxxiv].   Ring leaders were Mussie Tesfamichael (EPLF/Menka'e, martyred), Woldedawit Temesghen (ELF, martyred), Michael Ghaber (ELF, martyred), Seyoum Ogbamichael (currently responsible for Foreign Relations of ELF-Revolutionary Council), Issayas Afeworqi (President of the State of Eritrea), Haile Woldetinsae (cabinet minister), Bereket Ghebretinsae 'Aket' (EPLF sympathizer in France) and this contributor (member of ELF-RC).

[xxxv].    It was first discussed between Michael Ghaber and this writer, both of whom hailed from Keren, then a hot-bed of Eritrean nationalist politics. Both were friends of shopkeeper Abdulkerim Zeinu, a committed ELM organizer in Keren, and Mohamoud Janjar, a former classmate who by 1962 was ELF activist on frequent visits to Asmara to procure winter needs for fighters. But there was no direct ELM or ELF involvement in the student politics at PMSS.

[xxxvi].   This writer attended an Eritrean Assembly (parliament) session during the summer of 1961 and was stirred by the arguments of Mesghina Ghebrezghi and Stephanos of Decamere (full name not remembered) both of whom claimed that Ethiopia owed 72 million Ethiopian birr to Eritrea in unpaid arrears of customs duties and federal levies.

[xxxvii].   Literal translation: "We want freedom, help us".

[xxxviii].  Ibrahim Siraj was on a visit to Asmara that day. He joined the demonstrators near the Catholic Cathedral. Siraj, who vividly remembers the verse chanted at the demonstration, says the May 1962 demonstration influenced him so much that he became member of a political cell in the early 1960s (Geneva, 16.8,95).

[xxxix].   Many students, including this contributor, were severely beaten and some arrested at Biet Ghiorgis. Those detained at the infamous Caserma Mussolini - ironically, very near the Eritrean Assembly building, planned destination of the day's demonstration - chanted nationalist songs before being silenced by police beatings. The prison cells were drenched with cold water.

[xl].         Eyasu Gaym, The Eritrean Question (Iustus Forlang, Uppsala 1992) pp.471-72.

[xli].        Richard H. Johnson, American Consulate, Asmara, in aerogramme A-41 of 1.5.1963 addressed to State Department, US Archives 775.00/1-56.

[xlii].       In the eve of the demonstration, this writer was taken for interrogation to the police station at night and thence to the residence of Zeremariam Azazi, the Chief Commissioner for Eritrean Police. Zeremariam claimed that armed ELF fighters were hiding inside Asmara ready to take advantage of the demonstrations, and that he also knew about a meeting of the student organizers. (Only the latter claim was true.)

[xliii].      The meeting was held at the residence of Yohannes Naffi, uncle of Michael Ghaber of PMSS and a close friend of Police Commissioner Zeremariam Azazi.

[xliv].      ELF, The National Democratic Revolution Vs Ethiopian Expansionism (Nahal Printing Press, Beirut, 1979) pp.34-35.

[xlv].       Eritrean Police Commissioner Zeremariam slighted the detained students at Sembel saying that they would never be able to "fight in the field" because many could not resist hunger for 36 hours at Sembel. He was referring to a number of students who fainted of hunger and were sent to the hospital (Gherezghiher, 1995).

[xlvi].      Wolde-Yesus Ammar, Eritrea: Root Causes of War and Refugees (Baghdad: Sindbad Printing Press, 1992) pp. 56-57.

[xlvii].     Other participants whose viewpoint could not be solicited due to 'communication' constraints are, among others, Issayas Afeworqi, the Eritrean President, Haile Woldetinsae and Tesfai Woldeselassie, cabinet ministers.

[xlviii].     Telephone interview of 31.12.95.

[xlix].      Interview in Kassel, Germany, 14.08.95.

[l].          Letter of 1.9.95.

[li].          Seyoum Ogbamichael confirmed the absence of any mass organization for students in Asmara until mid-1965 (Kassel, Germany, 14.8.95).

[lii].         Woldedawit and Seyoum, who were sentenced for 10-year prison term each, continued to follow up their organizing activities from behind the prison bars.

[liii].        Siraj Ibrahim currently resides in Cologne, Germany.

[liv].        Ghilai was a political cadre in the 5th Zone. He was killed by an ELF unit leader in 1967.

[lv].         PMSS's committee consisted of Ghirmai Hadgu, chairman; Abdalla Hassan, secretary; Gherezghiher Tewelde, secretary for propaganda, and Gherezghiher Woldu, treasurer (Gherezghiher, 1995).

56.        Gherezghiher Woldu an Abdalla Hassan of PMSS organized student unions in Mendefera and Decamere, respectively. Tesfai Tekle and Bereket Eyoab of HSISS were sent by the coordinating PMSS committee to Keren and Massawa, respectively, where they organized student unions.

[lvii].       Gherezghiher Tewelde (1995) thinks that the Damascus meeting which created the international GUES might not have known the existence of an organization of that name in Asmara.

[lviii].      Gherezghiher (1995).

[lix].        Consulates represented in Asmara were instantly informed through letters, carrying an ELF seal improvised by the students, that the scheduled celebrations were partly sabotaged by Eritrean nationalists (Gherezghiher, 1995).

[lx].         Gherezghiher Tewelde was accused of complicity in ELF operations inside Asmara and was sentenced to 20 years. A standby or "shadow committee" took over the functions of the PMSS centralizing committee. Among the shadow committee members were Tsegai Yosief, Saleh Ismail, Habteselassie Ghebremedhin and Berhane Redda. Berhane was arrested by mid-1967 and the others went hiding (interview with Berhane Redda, Vevey, Switzerland, 27.8.1994).

[lxi].        The centralizing committee in Addis Ababa consisted of Andom and/or Habtom Ghebremichael (the PMSS twins), Bereket Ghebretinsae, Haile Woldetinsae (Diru'e),Issayas Afeworqi, Tesfai Woldeselassie (the only non-PMSS member) and this writer who was the focal point. Initially, Mohamoud Mohammed Suleiman, an Eritrean employee of UAR (EgyptAir) linked the group with Khartoum. But as of mid-1966, Kidane Kiflu, alias Kebbede Kiflu, a loner law student who had no cell of his own in the university, was indirectly affiliated to the committee per advice of ELF envoy Ghilai Ghirmai. Hence force, most communication and liaison outside Addis was handled via his connections through ELF cells in the Ethiopian Airlines.

The date was 26 June, 2015 in Genève Switzerland. A friend and I arrived at the Central station (City Centre) at about 11.45 am to make it to 12 to the designated rendezvous where the March to the office of the United Nations begins.   The march was to express solidarity with the UN Commission of Inquiry on Eritrea (COIE).  On June 8, 2015, the Commission made its 485-page report public and confirmed to the world community the pain and the sufferings that Eritreans are enduring under PFDJ government.

We came across many Eritreans at the entrance and asked one were the meeting placewas.  He said “we are going there follow us.”  We entered through the main entrance of the station and came out through the back door.  We walked for about 15 minutes and arrived at a big park –the rendezvous.    We were overwhelmed by the activities taking place there.    Several people were busy attaching slogans to placards. Some were arranging flags and banners.  There were several people holding cameras on their shoulders and on stands.   What an extraordinary sight, seeing people doing their share of work with enthusiasm and dedication.  The flags of EU countries where Eritreans got sanctuary made the demonstration colorful and beautiful.

 It was amazing to observe a sea of people mostly young walking orderly and chanting.  At the first rows, there were children and disabled war veterans.  The youth were dominant.  Their faces shine   radiating hope and happiness. The expression in their face tells the tale of love between each other.   After all 

 they all share the value of freedom and justice. The value which inspired them

 and motivated them to rise up and stand up against injustices. The beauty of it

that the demonstration has bonded people together even more. What a gloriouss historical day. I told myself that I was glad to be there. The Eritrean people’s dignity –resilience and incredible history of defiance has been compromised by PFDJ oppression.  The people wanted their pride and dignity back and they felt they have to do it collectively. 

“The popular slogan was down, down dictator”. “What do you want? Freedom”When do you want?  Now? “Enough is enough”etc.

 I was soon to find out that people have come from as far as Canada, Australian and the United States.  They came all the way to witness history in the making.    Awate team captured the situation and explained its significance in a single sentence.  I quote

“TheGeneva rally has represented the true face of Eritrea; no such diverse crowd of Eritreans assembled in one place, around a united cause, in the last twenty years.

The huge march estimated to be more than 5000 symbolizes people’s power. Power the majority of Eritreans did not realize they have.  –It represents a mini mobilization, a nucleus that lays the foundation for democracy. 

It was remarkable to see the march was orderly, the Swiss police were not in big number and they were very trustful and respectful as to let the Eritreans handle security themselves. Credit to the organizers they were effective.  My congratulations to them.

I will not talk more about the March and the message in the slogans as Amanuel Iyasu of Assenna was covering them live. There was also reports on Radio ERENA, The Forum, Awate.com and many more such as face books. At the same time, there was demonstration in Ethiopia.  In Addis Ababa Eritreans marched to the African Union and the Office of European Union. Similar rallies took place in the refugee camps in Shimelba, Mai Aini –Assaita,   Berhalene and Hintzas. There was demonstration in Israel where Eritrean are denied protection.

The triumph and the Challenge

The triumph of the Geneva demonstration presents the justice seekers with formidable challenge.  Would the justice seekers seize    the momentum?   In this moment in time where the Eritreans worldwide are experiencing a profound inspiration the leaders of various political, civil and human rights organizations should put in place a comprehensive path and vision – that shapes the destiny of Eritrea.  And present to the public in conferences, workshops and group discussions. Some colleagues including Dr Russom Mesfun of Asmarino.com from California –Berhane Haile of Boston, Miss Bee Hassan of Norway (she was passionately advocating of the rights of Eritrean women),  and others expressed  expectation of a meeting on Saturday 27, 2015 in Geneva. It didn’t’t happen. That is to be expected the work of the organizers was difficult. However we had a lot of an informal discussion. The Geneva city center displays a variety of restaurants and cafes with comfortable seats outside. It is there that Eritreans engaged in discussions  in the form of brainstorming –The main issue was  “the way forward”  I remember there was this youth literally on fire demanding that people should work in unison and accelerate the demise of PFDJ. I liked his discourse and his spirit to move on without wasting time.    The youth seems to realize the damages of fragmentation.  People were sensing   that it is time to radically change in the way the opposition works. They expect the older generation to share their wisdom and experience admitting their participation is critical to the struggle for democratic change.

It is during that discussion that Suleiman Adam – chairman of CDRiE mentioned the conferences that will take place in London, Oakland and Bologna.    The conferences are organized by   BOLOGNA FORUM.  Its objectives are summarized by Miriam September in her face book. It goes;

 “In my view, nothing is more important than working on the increased effectiveness and relevance of the Eritrean opposition.  This will not only help shortening the life of the dictator, but above all, mitigate the risks post PFDJ.  The Bologna Forum aims to achieve just that and this is why it has a huge importance.  As a people-lead effort, it will only work with everyone’s contribution and full participation.  And that can only be achieved when the enormous potential value of his effort is truly recognized.  Hope to see many of you in London, Oakland and Bologna. To make it happen.  The initiative s is very encouraging. It is timely initiative which we should all attend.

The United Kingdom Situation – The UK voice:

I don’t hide my concern that the justice seekers in UK is not playing the role it was supposed to play. It was weakened not by fragmentation only but by complacency.  It is far away from being action oriented.   Some studies indicate that there are up to 50 Eritrean communities in UK. To the advantage of PFDJ- the communities don’t engage in debate about the social situation let alone the political situation in Eritrea and have become de-politisation centers. This system encourages conspiracy of silence, and the UK activities being vibrant few years ago have become surprising weak today. Such weakness is predominantly in London. Those outside London in the North are much better.

As a consequence, the justice seekers are not visible to the British Government authorities whose contact has been with the Embassy of Eritrea in London.   PFDJ has assured the British Government that the indefinite national service is reinstated to be 18 months. That may be one of the reasons why the Home Office came with the following.   I quote from Eritrea-Focus electronic newspaper. 1 

“In March, the UK Home   Office issued two documents, Country Information and Guidance Eritrea: Illegal Exit, which in a combined 64 pages have hardened the asylum rules by which thousands of Eritreans will be judged.”

Today with the report of ICOE an environment has been created that makes it relevant to listen to the views of the opposition.  In such political climate the provision of credible opposition in the form of UK voice is essential to engage with the British Authorities.  To find ways to form an umbrella sort of “UK voice”has been the subject of discussion during the commemoration of Martyrs day, June 20. Subsequent meetings are arranged to take place at the hall of “International initiative for Peace”off Victoria Station. 

At last the people of Eritrea are being listened. Their pains and suffering acknowledged by the international community and the highest authority in our planet, the United Nations. Seize the momentum.

  Awot- Nhafash

1.       Eritrea Focus:  is an association of Non-Governmental organizations (NGOs) human rights organizations, exile and refugee groups and individuals concerned with the gross abuse of human rights in Eritrea.

2.     Bologna Forum:is an independent, people-lead platform and alliance of Eritreans and organizations who seek to strengthen the 'Eritrean solutions for Eritrean problems'-mantra as a political strategy for Eritrea's path towards democracy.

3.   The Bologna Forum Programs:  Eritrean Summit to End Dictatorship:   London 18-19 July: Oakland California 28-29 August: Bologna 9-11 October 2015.

4.   The picture:  The woman in Black cardigan and grey t-shirt is Mrs Shoa the wife of ex-ambassador to China. Erimias Debesai (papaya):  Some time ago her daughter, Aura, came out with a moving placard in an-anti PFDJ demonstration in Germany.  It read “Where is my father “.  It symbolizes the pains of all the families whose beloved are illegally imprisoned by PFDJ.

5.   A  New Campaign by Amnesty International has been launched to call for the release of all prisoners of conscience in Eritrea. Putting Aster Fitzehasion in the front line.  And a petition to be signed.

Source=http://www.cdrie.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=346:the-triumph-and-the-challenge-at-last-the-people-of-eritrea-are-being-listened-the-geneva-demonstration-26-june-2015&catid=34:english-articles&Itemid=53