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23rd
Eritrea Festival Marked
Colourfully in Frankfurt; New EPP
Members Attend in Large Number
Reportage by
EPP Information Team
at Festival Site
10.08.2008
The second and main
day for the 23rd Eritrea Festival was Saturday, 9 August
2008, which was marked with added colour and euphoria among party
members gathering at the wide university campus at Bochenheimer Warte in
central Frankfurt. Held in the immediate aftermath of the founding of
the Eritrean People’s Party (EPP), whose branches from all over Europe
cooperated with the non-profit Eritrean Democratic Association (EDA) in
Germany in its organization, the Festival was ‘a show of force’ and
determination to dislodge the dictatorial regime by the oppressed people
themselves, including the large number of young conscripts in the army.
The festival was
attended a good number of new party members from many parts of Europe
while many delegates who took part in the EPP founding congress could
not make it to the festival venue on time due to travel inconveniences
and problem with leave days.
This report will
focus on the main events of Saturday, 9 August, as follows:
Opening Statements
Mr. Tesfamariam
Kibreab,
chairman of the preparatory committee of the 23rd Eritrea
Festival, officially opened the plenary festival assembly by a welcoming
note to all participants. He talked about the distressing situation of
Eritrean refugees and asked for a concerted action to help alleviate the
plight of young Eritrean refugees in the Horn of Africa region and in
the Middle East.
The chairman of the
Eritrean Democratic Association, Mr. Teclesenbet Teclai, also
made a welcoming statement, first in German and then in Tigrinia, in
which he paid gratitude to the German government and people for their
support to Eritrean refugees and for allowing the free staging of
cultural events like the annual EDA festival in Frankfurt. Mr.
Teclesenbet Teclai
explained in detail
the distressful political, economic, social and humanitarian situation
in today’s Eritrea and reminded all friendly parties, governments and
civil societies in Germany and the rest of the world to pay attention to
the problem in Eritrea and help the forces of change and democratization
to reverse the all-out collapse going on in that country.
Solidarity
Messages
Mr. Ralf Barteld,
representative of the Mayor of Frankfurt and legislator in the State of
Hessen, congratulated and commended the EDA for annually organizing
colourful cultural events in the Frankfurt, and confirmed the continued
support of the German government and people for the free expression of
ideas and cultural presentations by all citizens and residents of this
country. Mr. Barteld said he was deeply shocked to have read expressed
his deep shock about his website readings on the political, human rights
and economic situation that developed in Eritrea after its independence
over a decade and a half ago. He said Germany is against this kind of
oppression that faced a struggling people like Eritreans who paid much
for their liberation and hoped that the new party whose news he got at
the festival will work hard with other Eritreans and help bring about
quick and lasting democratic change in Eritrea.
Mr. Mesfin Hagos,
chairman of the Eritrean Democratic Party (EDP), on his part wished the
festival a resounding success and congratulated all members of the
Eritrean People’s Party for their recent founding congress. He said the
EDP commends ELF-RC decision of dissolving itself and joining others in
forming a broad-base mass party which the EDP sees as “a farsighted and
wise” step that he termed as “an alarm bell” for the needed action by
all opposition forces. Mr. Mesfin added that the formation of the EPP
will no doubt quicken the coming together of all forces with related
visions for building a better Eritrea.
Ms. Alganesh
Ghebre,
chairwoman of the independent Eritrean Women’s Initiative in Germany, on
her part wished a successful festival to the organizers and dwelt in
great length about the required role of women in the struggle for
change. She reminded festival participants that women have many things
to do in family circles and this makes their presence at meetings and
other activities of the opposition forces less visible while their
behind-the-scene contribution to the struggle is there! Ms. Alganesh
Ghebre also called on Eritrean women to break out of family chores and
enhance their public presence in the political struggle for change.
Their male partners were also urged to help in increasing the role of
women in the struggle for change as well as in securing women’s rights
at many levels.
Keynote Address by
EPP Chairman
The chairman of the
new Eritrean People’s Party, Mr. Woldeyesus Ammar, presented the keynote
address flanked at the podium by party leadership members who were
available at the festival. The speech highlighted the past roles of the
ELF-RC in the Eritrean struggle and hoped the positive legacies of this
notable organization could be adopted for use by the newly formed mass
party.
Speaking about the
objectives of the new party, the party chairman noted that many of the
wrong methods in the struggle of the opposition camp are being
overhauled so that the broad Eritrean masses, especially the young
generation, could rally behind the struggle to remove the dictatorial
regime and establish in its place a democratic system of governance fair
to and acceptable by all Eritreans in their great diversity.
Amid warm and
emotionally charged applauds from the audience, the speech also dwelt on
the major changes introduced by the founding and first congress of the
EPP. The speech ended with a standing ovation that followed the receipt
of bouquets of flowers from well-wishers in the audience. (Speech to be
posted in websites both in Arabic and Tigrinia.)
(Reportage on
Eritrea of Tomorrow Seminar to follow).
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