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Statement of 6th Regular Session of
The Executive Committee
The 6th
Regular Meeting of the Executive Committee of ELF-RC was held between 17
and 21 October 2005 and concluded its work successfully.
Past Performance/Future Plans
The
Executive Committee (EC) reviewed reports of various organs and
institutions of the ELF-RC located in different parts of the world, and
made all-round assessment of activities and their performance. The
meeting also made in-depth evaluation of events and developments that
unfolded in Eritrea and the surrounding region. Basing on this and after
studying issues of paramount importance to the people and country, the
EC meeting adopted a work plan and set the priorities of the next stage,
with the aim of further advancing and ensuring the success of the
victory strategy that the ELF-RC had laid down for itself.
Salutes
to Members and Supporters
The EC saluted
ELF-RC members and supporters and registered its admiration to their
resolve and unflinching devotion to the national democratic political
line of their organisation, against innumerable odds and ill-intentioned
campaigns. The meeting commended their exemplary and responsible stand,
and the sacrifices they have made to promote the fundamental interests
of our country and people. The EC expressed trust in the determined
stand of members and supporters of the organisation and their
preparedness to step up their efforts to consummate the struggle for the
noble objectives.
Call on Eritrean Youth
The EC meeting
thoroughly discussed the current state of affairs in Eritrea and
concluded that the disruptive and destructive policies of the regime
have driven the nation to the brink of collapse that is manifest in the
state of extreme poverty, hopelessness and desperation now engulfing the
country. As such, the country and its people have been pushed to a
critical crossroads. The EC recognised the objective necessity to make
this a turning point for change and the salvation of the nation. It
called on all Eritreans, and above all the young generation to recognise
the urgency for immediate change and rise up to the historic call of
this hour to salvage the people and the country.
PFDJ and its
Obstructions to Humanitarian Work
The meeting observed
that that the distressing human condition of hunger and starvation in
Eritrea was a direct result of the callous policies of the criminal and
belligerent regime; coupled with the draught of recent years these have
plunged the nation into a deep state of deprivation and threatening
disintegration. To make the situation worse, the international
humanitarian organisations have been obstructed by the irresponsible
actions of the dictatorial regime from reaching the people in urgent
need of relief assistance. The EC was alarmed by the regime’s of
imposition of heavy taxes on incoming humanitarian relief supplies and
equally so by the sale in open market of relief goods supposed to be
distributed free of charge to the vulnerable persons and groups in the
country.
The pariah PFDJ
regime, whose domestic and regional acts of disruption and aggression
have isolated it internationally, is once again trying to divert world
attention by generating irresponsible gestures that would escalate and
further antagonise the situation around the unsettled border issue
between Eritrea and Ethiopia. Regrettably, the regime ordered a ban on
the free movement of the UN peacekeeping mission and intensified its
provocations for a crisis through its usual warmongering. The EC
strongly rejected and condemned this game with fire that has already
incurred heavy toll in the lives of Eritreans and neighbouring peoples.
The leadership meeting identified as acts of desperation all the
dictatorial regime’s measures of collective detention of the youth and
parents of others fleeing persecution.
The criminal
measures of the regime that have attained the level of crimes against
humanity are clear signals of the upcoming popular storm that is
gathering for a forceful head-on collision to remove the evil regime.
Eritrean Asylum Seekers
The meeting reviewed
the day-to-day suffering of the Eritrean youth who are being forced to
flee the country in great numbers to escape persecution, terror and
physical liquidation at home. The EC was dismayed in studying the
ill-advised decision of the UNHCR that has denied Eritreans the status
of
asylum, and
cautioned of the dire consequences of this decision. As daughters and
sons of a nation subjected to endless abuses by a regime bent at killing
and evicting its own people, and being themselves specifically targeted
by the regime’s oppressive policies, Eritrean asylum seekers deserve all
the sympathy and support, protection and assistance, as the alarmingly
deteriorating political and security situation at home unequivocally
entitles them to the right to protection. With this in view, the EC
meeting resolved to step up ELF-RC’s efforts at regional and
international levels to rally world public opinion to ensure that
Eritrean asylum seeker’s rights are acknowledged and respected.
Towards Making EDA Effective
The EC expressed
profound satisfaction with the constructive role played by the ELF-RC in
the creation of the Eritrean Democratic Alliance and ongoing effort to
strengthen it, as part of the struggle to marshal national capacities to
remove the autocratic regime and replace it with a democratic system of
governance in which peace and security would prevail. The meeting
renewed ELF-RC’s commitment to redouble efforts towards reforming the
basis of the EDA and boost its performance and operational
effectiveness, in the meantime underlining the fact that EDA’s strength
and effectiveness lies squarely in the strength and harmony of member
organisations, thus the importance of promoting work on that level. The
meeting also renewed its call on all Eritreans to rally behind the
banners and objectives of the Democratic Alliance in the way of
realising their rights and dignity and the interests and aspirations of
future generations.
On Developments in Sudan and Ethiopia
In considering
events and developments within Eritrea’s neighbours, the EC meeting
expressed great satisfaction with the ongoing peace and reconciliation
process in the Sudan. It commended the Sudanese political forces for
their wisdom to manage and resolve their internal differences through
patient democratic dialogue that has culminated in comprehensive
agreements to establish a government of national unity that would usher
in an era of peace, democracy and prosperity to their country. This
exemplary peaceful and democratic process will no doubt lead to further
successes on the remaining issues in the Sudan and reflect positively on
other parts of our continent.
Likewise, the ELF-RC
leadership meeting noted with great optimism the start of yet another
encouraging new chapter in the latest multi-party electoral process in
Ethiopia. This democratic experience was a clear reflection and
advancement of a prolonged and concerted Ethiopian people’s struggle for
better governance replacing the ordeals of the dark times that
generations of Ethiopians had had to undergo. The EC in the meantime
recognised the fact that this experience, as all nascent democratic
endeavours do, may need to be nurtured and safeguarded through
tolerance, compromises, and an elevated sense of responsibility. The EC
Meeting expressed its wish that this achievement is allowed all the
chance and space to grow into a full blown, irreversible democratic
openness and usher in a new era of stability in Ethiopia and in the
meantime constitute a huge contribution to peace and stability in the
region and the continent at large.
Appeal
for International Support
In concluding, the
EC meeting wanted to aptly draw the attention of the international
community to the struggle of the Eritrean people to relieve itself of a
brutal dictatorship that has caused untold suffering, displacement and
death in the country. It called on all parties and states interested in
the protection of human rights to raise their voices and apply the
weight of their pressure to help release all Eritrean political
prisoners and prisoners of conscience. The ELF-RC Executive Committee
called on all peace and democracy-loving countries and organisations to
shoulder their human and moral responsibilities and stand up with clear
political position to confirm their respect and support to the
legitimate aspirations of the Eritrean people and contribute for change,
democracy and protection of human rights in Eritrea.
The
Executive Committee
21
October, 2005
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