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Date: 27 October 2002 Ref: ELF-RC/CHO/021-2002 C. Abdalla Idris Mohamad Chairman Of Supreme Leadership of ENA Revolutionary Greetings, We have received a letter dated 25
Oct. 2002 by the Chairman of the Supreme Leadership of the ENA and another
by the General Secretariat. Our response: 1.
We have found as erroneous and unacceptable your claim that
our protest withdrawal from the election meeting of the Eritrean National
Alliance was wrong. We have
amply clarified the fundamental issues that lead us to register our
position of principle and stage the protest withdrawal from the planned
election meeting. We made it clear we did so in protest of the claim by
the allied groups we met that they decided to elect Mr.Herui on the basis
of the wish of the neighbouring governments, which meant that the outcome
of the said election was finished before actual election and long before
we even started consultations on the matter. This, we clarified, made it
totally unacceptable for us to attend and be part of the election process,
or rather the endorsal scenario at which claimed regional considerations
were accepted as decisive. What you deemed in your letter as unacceptable
depends basically on "what is acceptable to whom"; naturally,
the response to this question would basically differ, reflecting the
differences of outlook and views that we have. 2.
Despite our clarification at the election meeting that ours
was a protest withdrawal specifically from the election process, you
claimed that this was interpreted as meaning that we withdrew our
membership from the Alliance altogether. That interpretation is your
problem, as we repeatedly and specifically made it clear that the
withdrawal was a protest withdrawal from that particular meeting. We even
went out of our way to explain that our delegation does not possess the
powers to withdraw our organisation's membership from the Alliance and
that this was the exclusive responsibility of the Revolutionary Council
and no other. Such a clarification gives no room to misinterpretations or
distortions whatsoever 3.
Your demand of a letter of apology was the most surprising of
all. Rest assured, our organisation staged the protest withdrawal from the
election process and no other, only after due consideration of the issue,
thus registering our principled position on the matter. Far from
apologising on this, we hereby reconfirm that the position we registered
remains correct and would be irreversible. To the contrary we believe it
would rather be an act of courage and a positive step forward if the rest
of the allied organisations would themselves announce their apology to the
spirit of the Charter, their very members and to the Eritrean people at
large for claiming to have elected Mr. Herui basing on the wish of
neighbouring states. It goes without saying, your demand for a letter of
apology came as a calculated act to block the way to possible avenues of
understanding. No doubt, this is only a continuation and exposure of the
entire chain of schemes embarked on. 4.
Your mention of the need to refer to the General Secretariat
was the outcome of your forgetting the fact that you had deliberately
declined to send us the schedule and the necessary notification relating
the meetings of the Alliance
leadership and its organs that followed the conference. 5.
As to your decision to suspend our organisation's membership,
this is what we have to say: it was by all standards illegal and utterly
irresponsible, as it came at a time when we, orally and in writing
consistently confirmed that we uphold the national Charter and stick to
our membership in the Alliance. In addition, it is based on the
intentionally distorted interpretation of our protest withdrawal; this
exposes the drive to block all avenues that would lead to talks and
understanding and betrays the unholy intention to let the Alliance shrink
into a narrow and malleable camp. No doubt you would be held responsible
for all the consequences that would ensue from such decisions. With
best regards, Seyoum
O.Michael Chairman
Of ELF-RC |
