The “mesertat” (grassroots) membership of the Eritrean Liberation Front-Revolutionary Council (ELF-RC), Kessel Wing, has elected a nine-member “Co-ordination & Follow-up Committee” tasked with planning and setting an urgent organizational congress. The committee is made up of (1) Mr. Ogbazghi Debus (Chairman); (2) Mr. Abraham Paulos (Secretary); (3) Ms. Lemlem Tsehaye (Member); (4) Ms. Nuriya Ahmeddin (Member); (5) Mr. Mohammed Ahmed (Member); (6) Mr. Weldenkiel Mebrahtu (Member); (7) Mr. Fissehazion Gebre (Member); (8) Mr. Tesfay Tekhlai “Shgut” (Member) and (9) Mr. Abdulaziz Ahmed (Member.)
The grassroots also accepted a seven-member “restructured” interim executive leadership, which will reportedly serve until the next organizational congress. The interim executive team is composed of (1) Dr. Beyene Kidane (Chairman); (2) Mr. Ahmed Mohammed Nasser (Foreign Affairs); (3) Mr. Eyob Bissrat (Information); (4) Mr. Samuel Daniel (Organizational affairs); (5) Dr. Yousef Berhanu (Economy); (6) Dr. Sahle Tesfay (Social Affairs) and (7) Mr. Abdella Hassen (Military Affairs.)
Background
On July 11, 2003, Mr. Ahmed Mohammed Nasser and Dr. Beyene Kidane, two senior members of ELF-RC’s leadership, published a paper on Eritrean internet (“Where To, Now”) criticizing their chairman, Mr. Seyoum Ogbamichael, for alleged political corruption and dragging his feet on the question of whether ELF-RC should rejoin the Eritrean National Alliance (ENA), an opposition umbrella group. ELF-RC withdrew from the Alliance in October 2002 to protest the ENA’s alleged willingness to allow foreign forces to exert pressure on its operations including on matters dealing with the election of its leadership.
In response, Mr. Seyoum Ogbamichael accused the two individuals of attempting to engineer a coup d’etat and rebutted the allegations they raised. In a speech addressing attendants of the festival in Frankfurt, Mr. Seyoum Ogbamichael suggested that the ELF-RC would construct a new alliance movement, whose membership will include organizations which are already members of the existing Alliance.
