Eritrean opposition forms a new political organization

ADDIS ABABA, May 12, 2004 (Awate.com) — Late last month, veterans of the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF) and the [ruling] Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF) got together and launched a new political organization named the Eritrean Popular Movement (EPM). EPM has named Mr Adhanom Gebremariam [former ambassador to Nigeria, member of the G-15, but escaped arrest because he was abroad], Mr Abdallah Adem [former ambassador to Sudan] and Mr Muhammad Ibrahim (aka “Secretaire”[ex-ELF veteran]) as its transitional leadership.

Reached by telephone, a spokesperson for the new organization informed us that the movement had been mobilizing its supporters in Sudan, Ethiopia, Australia, Europe and the United States.

EPM has already established an office in the Sudan, he said, and expects to open offices in other cities “very soon.” The party expects to issue its programmes and is scheduled to hold its founding congress by the end of the year.

Asked what was different about EPM, he stated that its goal is to “empower the youth, the leaders of the future” as well as “to transcend the old ELF/EPLF and other psychological divides” and that they are willing to work with the other opposition groups to advance “peace and democracy.”

Mr Abdallah Adem and Mr Uthman Hummed, another veteran of the ELF, who is now a founding member of the EPM, are expected to arrive in the Sudan to mobilize Eritreans to join their organization.