Unite, Organize and Rise!

 

The Eritrean National Wufaq Party (ENWP) calls upon the Eritrean people at home and

in the diaspora to take the convening of the National Congress for Democratic Change

(NCDC) scheduled to launch on November 21st, 2011 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, as a

valuable opportunity to unite, organize and rise to put an end to the brutal thuggish

dictatorship of the PFDJ.

 

In a special session held November 10 to 12, 2011, the Executive Committee of the

ENWP has evaluated the internal and external circumstances under which this historic

NCDC congress is being held and developed important recommendations to coordinate

efforts and positions with all participating Eritrean delegates to guarantee the successful

conclusion of the conference.

 

The following were the main issues discussed and recommendations developed during

the two-day deliberations of the special session:

 

(1) Eritrea’s Refugee and Humanitarian Crisis

 

The Special Session reviewed various reports shedding light on the catastrophic

situation of humanitarian and human rights challenges facing Eritrean refugees fleeing

the PFDJ’S irresponsible policies and sadistic practices. The Executive Committee was

overwhelmed by the incredible barbarism facing Eritrean refugees in the Sinai desert at

the hands of Egyptian Bedouin. It has welcomed the enormous efforts undertaken by the

emerging Eritrean civil society movement in reaching out to the victims in the Sinai

Bedouin detention centers an in appealing to the international community to free the

young Eritrean men and women held hostage by a regional conspiracy of international

organized crime.

 

(2) The Roadmap to Victory

 

The Special Session discussed the Roadmap document prepared by the NCDC

extensively in light of the current developments of a more energized civil society

component of the Eritrean opposition camp. The Executive Committee concluded that

the NCDC’s Roadmap is premised on the assumption of an already unified political

opposition, which is by no means true given the limited scope and reach of the EDA

experience. After reviewing the patterns of effective revolutions in ongoing phenomenon

of the Arab Spring, it noted the imperative of providing the emerging Eritrean civil

society movement a leading role in mobilizing the Eritrean public into a massive popular

uprising. The Executive Committee has, therefore, assigned a special committee to

 Eritrean National Wufaq Party (ENWP)

 

 

develop a strategy to coordinate with all likeminded political and civic organizations and

individuals participating in the upcoming NCDC congress in order for the conference to

come out with resolutions and structures that recognize the primacy of the civil society

movement in this critical stage of our struggle.

 

(3) The EDA’s Fate after the NCDC Congress

 

Given the critical role that the EDA’s has been playing during the last decade in

providing a unified forum for all Eritrean opposition political parties, the Special Session

discussed extensively various scenarios for the most effective potential roles of the EDA

in the future. The Executive Committee observed that:

 

a. The infighting within the EDA member organizations in the last few years

and its leadership’s inability to resolve the contentions in a satisfactory

manner has limited the EDA’s capacity to expand at the same rate as the

expansion and growth within the Eritrean opposition camp. As a result,

while the EDA remained rigidly an umbrella of exclusively 11 opposition

organizations, the number of organized political parties outside that EDA

participating in the NCDC congress alone has multiplied to 23 political

parties and an even greater number of civil society groupings. The number

of non-EDA political parties not participating in the NCDC congress is also

considerable.

 

b. The Special Session noted the imperative need to lay the grounds for a

unified popular uprising that focuses on the current suffering of the

Eritrean people in general and the youth in particular either under the

direct brutality of the security forces of the PFDJ or under its

subcontractors of terrors in the organized crime networks across borders.

 

The Executive Committee, therefore, calls upon the EDA as the largest grouping of opposition political parties to continue the positive role its has been playing to ensure

 

 

 

 

 Eritrean National Wufaq Party (ENWP)

 

 

the success of the NCDC. Towards this end, however, it is imperative that the EDA

leadership recognize the need to concentrate its efforts in coordinating and cooperating

with all political parties under the umbrella of the NCDC to ensure a smooth transition

after the fall of the PFDJ. All Eritrean opposition political parties including the EDA and

its member organizations must realize the critical importance of refraining from

disrupting the tide of the emerging civil society movement in leading the popular

uprising that has already started to besiege the PFDJ regime.

 

(4) The Need for a Unified Opposition Narrative

 

The Special Session recognized the importance of guaranteeing that the change that will

come becomes the change that the Eritrean people want. It is absolutely critical that the

rising civil society movement that is expected to play a decisive role in ending the PFDJ

regime, become well informed about long-standing societal grievances relating ethnic,

religious and regional injustices perpetrated by the PFDJ regime. The Executive

Committee calls upon all civil society organizations and individuals to bring the demands

and grievances of all the components of the Eritrean society to the centre of the popular

demands for change.

 

The ENWP wishes all participants of the upcoming NCDC congress success in their

endeavors to come up with a viable alternative to brutal thuggish dictatorship in Eritrea.

 

Victory to the Eritrean people!

 

Death to the PFDJ’s thuggish dictatorship!

 

Executive Committee

Eritrean National Wufaq Party (ENWP)

November 13, 2011