Eritrea’s former ambassador to Sudan returns to Khartoum as opposition figure

By Eritrean opposition site Awate.com

Oct. 16, 2003 — Mr. Abdella Adem, Eritrea’s former ambassador to the Sudan who resigned his post a year ago and left for London, returned back to Khartoum last Sunday, this time as an opposition figure. Witnesses report that he was received at the airport by senior members of Sudan’s foreign ministry.

Mr. Abdella Adem left his post on September 5, 2002, after he had been recalled back to Eritrea by the government. He had been suspected of being sympathetic to the reform movement within the People’s Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ), Eritrea’s ruling party. He ignored the recall and flew to London, UK; the government reported that he had “forsaken his post and responsibility.”

Because he is a veteran member of the PFDJ and because his resignation letter was posted at Eritrea1.org, the PFDJ reformers website, Mr. Abdella Adem was assumed to have joined the Eritrean People Liberation Front-Democratic Party (EPLF-DP), the PFDJ reform party. However, since he left his post, he appears to have been “studying” the opposition and he has not appeared publicly with the leadership of the EPLF-DP.

Background

Mr. Abdella Adem is a veteran member of the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF), the forerunner to the PFDJ, which he joined in the early 1970s. Within the front, he assumed many senior positions including military commander and, after Eritrea’s independence, he was the Governor of Denkalia, the ambassador to Djibouti and, lastly, the ambassador to the Sudan. He is generally considered to be sympathetic to the reform movement.

Two months before his resignation, he, along with Mr. Alamin Mohammed Said, the Secretary of the PFDJ, was interviewed by Sudanese TV. During the interview, Mr. Adbella Adem dismissed the opposition as insignificant and reiterated the government’s position that some of the opposition sets are terrorist groups.