http://ascenteq.com/project/epdp

A delegation of the Eritrean People's Democratic Party (EPDP), headed by the party chairman, Mr. Menghesteab Asmerom, and including Mr. Goitom Mebrahtu, the party's UK branch chairman, held extensive talks with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) of the United Kingdom in London on 2 February, 2016. The EPDP Chairman, now on two-week tour to UK, also held public and private meetings with compatriots in the country.

The delegation took the opportunity to explain the ever worsening political, economic and social situation in Eritrea, and the plight of its refugees in the Horn of Africa region and beyond. The EPDP officials stressed the urgency of improving the situation of Eritrean refugees in the Sudan and Ethiopia and also the few survivors of risks who finally succeed to reach the gates of Europe.

The EPDP chairman and his colleague in the delegation reminded the British Government that what has been documented by organs of the UN Human Rights Council, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch Reporters Without Borders is not something to be denied by wishful thinkers in Europe and that the Eritrean people deserve to be listened to. Any technical assistance to the regime in Asmara calls for absolute scrutiny in order to make sure that at least part of it reaches the people.

The EPDP delegation also urged the UK Government to heed the call for support to Eritrean political and civil society organizations so that democratic transition could be a success in post-dictatorship Eritrea. On his part, the FCO official, Mr. K. Steers, reassured the delegation that the discussions at the meeting will be duly conveyed to higher officials in FCO and in the UK Government.

 It is to be recalled that during his two-week visit to UK, the EPDP chairman, Mr. Menghesteab Asmerom, held several public and private meetings with compatriots and other interested groups.

In the public meeting of 24 January in London, he was joined by EPDP colleagues including Messrs Hamid Drar, Assefaw Berhe and Goitom Mebrahtu (see picture above).

At the London meeting, which was attended by key figures leading the struggle for democratic change in Eritrea, the EPDP chairman and his colleagues expounded in great detail in Arabic and Tigrinia the prevailing situation in Eritrea and the status of the struggle in diaspora.  

In particular, they focused the recent developments that included conferences for discussion on the problems of political transition in Eritrea and what could be done as a matter of urgency. Contents of issues raised at the recent Frankfurt and Nairobi conferences were raised for further scrutiny.

On 25 January, a delegation led by the EPDP chairman attend discussions at the UK House of Lords that was organized by Baroness G Kinnock and 'All Party Parliamentary Group on Eritrea' that advocates human and political rights in our country.

In a public meeting organized on 30 January by the youthful Zereselassie Redie in Leeds,  the EPDP chairman talked extensively on the political stands of his party, its day-to-day activities to expose the regime and mobilize the nation, with emphasis on the young generation which is expected to take over the responsibility of transforming and rebuilding the devastated country.

 The EPDP chairman and his delegation also addressed the public meeting organized in Birmingham on 31 January and discussed all hot issues being raised at Eritrean gatherings these days.

EPDP Central Council members Assefaw Berhe and Haile Woldu also availed themselves at the public meetings of London, Leeds and Birmingham to take part in further expounding responses to different questions and political issues raised by interested meeting participants, in particular the youth.

At all gatherings, discussants appreciated the EPDP for giving them the opportunity to discuss in public all what is going on in the opposition camp and what can be done next in order to shorten the suffering of the nation as a whole.