The Eritrean People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) congratulates the Eritrean people

in the occasion of the 49^th anniversary of the launching of our armed struggle. We also salute and pay deep gratitude to all those who paid dear sacrifices towards achieving our independence.

Led by Eritrea’s national hero Hamid Idris Awate, a small group of Eritreans armed with antiquated rifles set the beginning of the armed struggle of our people on September 1, 1961 by launching an armed attack on Ethiopian imperial police post at Mount Adal in Western Eritrea. The attack at Mount Adal, which was the first shots fired at the Ethiopian imperial force heralded a new era that overtime inspired the whole nation to rise up against the Ethiopian colonial presence in Eritrea.

One of the longest liberation wars in the world, the Eritrean armed struggle claimed over 65,000 lives of fighters and larger number of civilian casualties;  produced hundreds and thousands of Eritrean refugees; destroyed Eritrean cities and villages, and sapped much of the resources and energies of the Eritrean people.

Thirty years later, on May 21, 1991 Eritrean people drove the last remaining Ethiopian army of occupation from Eritrea by effectively ending the war, and gaining their territorial independence.

But, although our people ended Ethiopian occupation in May 1991 and established an independent and sovereign state, yet they could not achieve their basic rights that they aspired to enjoy when they declared the armed struggle on September 1, 1961. Indeed, the goal of the liberation war was to liberate ourselves from the shackles of the Ethiopian imperial rule and establish a free society in a state that embraces the principles of freedom and democracy.

Yet, 19 years after independence, the state established at the end of the liberation struggle  could not be faithful to the principles of freedom and democracy. A one-man dictatorship under the PFDJ ruling party has replaced our dreams of liberty and democracy by betrayal and treason. Our people’s 30-year toil, endurance, patriotism and the hope of eventually enjoying fundamental freedoms have indeed been let down.

On this special day, it is appropriate to say few words with respect to the Eritrean opposition camp. As we know, members of the Eritrean opposition camp had initially set out to remove  the PFDJ regime and establish a constitutional democratic state that enshrines democracy and sovereignty of the Eritrean people. But overtime, the message and actions of the opposition became out of touch with the reality of Eritrea and its people by departing from the core principles of the struggle.

Unmistakably, the declaration of Eritrean armed struggle on September 1, 1961 has great significance to the Eritrean people because it gave us the right to fight against Ethiopian rule and for independence. It is also a day that must inspire Eritreans to become free of any subjugation, decide their own destiny, remind them what it is to be an Eritrean, and aspire to enjoy liberty. Yet, despite the role it occupies in the history of Eritrean people, we Eritreans have yet to rise up to embrace the meaning of September 1, a reality which explained why freedom and democracy had not been the centre of gravity in the struggle against the dictatorial regime of PFDJ by the majority of Eritrean political organizations in the opposition camp.

As we mark the 49^th Anniversary of launching our Armed Struggle, we enter a new period on the struggle for democracy in which the majority in the Eritrean opposition camp have the opportunity and responsibility to make a thorough assessment of their visions, to reorganize themselves on a national level, instead of on religious and ethnic basis, and to seek an inclusive approach that rallies the Eritrean people behind the opposition. Only such an approach can defeat the tyrannical regime in our country.

As we celebrate this great event, we must revive in us the spirit of the Eritrean dream – a dream of peace, justice, democracy, and prosperity that we had declared when we fired the first shots at Mount Adal on September 1, 1961.

The Eritrean People’s Democratic Party seizes this opportunity to once more call on the Eritrean people, in general, and the Eritrean youth, in particular, to participate in the democratic struggle and to have mastery of their own destiny. We also call on our youth under the forced conscription and forced national service, who are enduring the worst burden of the PFDJ regime’s repression and tyranny, to stand up with the forces of change that are engaged in the ongoing noble struggle to bring justice and democracy in Eritrea. We stand on your side, and you have the national obligation to reciprocate.