On Tuesday, 18th April 2006, the Australian delegation of the Eritrean Anti Tyranny Global Solidarity met with officials from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Canberra.
The meeting with Mr. Bruce Lendon, Director - Africa Section (Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade) and Mr. Peter Saunders, Executive Officer - Middle East & Africa Branch (Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade) lasted for forty-five minutes.
The delegation of the Eritrean Anti- Tyranny Global Solidarity was composed of Dr. Habtemariam Tesfaghiorghis, Dr. Kidane Belay, Mr. Munir Kerar and Mr. Ahmed Abdelrehim.
In the meeting, the head of the delegation Dr. Habtemariam thanked the Australian government for its support of the Eritrean cause in the past, and expressed his future wish for a continued support for justice and democracy in Eritrea.
After a brief introduction about the make up of the Eritrean Anti Tyranny Global Solidarity, the delegation gave a background the on nature of the Eritrean government and its leader and the current status of human rights and liberties in Eritrea.
The delegation further explained that Eritrea is under a ruthless regime, a police state with a leader unaccountable to anyone, a militarized society; that the regime uses illegal means to raise funds in the Diaspora, treats its' citizens with cruelty and that international pressure needs to be put on the Government of Eritrea.
Local issues of intimidation by the Eritreans consulate of citizens opposed to the government of Eritrea were also raised.
The delegation also stressed that the Eritrean people are for a peaceful transition to Democracy and that the purpose of the petition is a peaceful struggle against injustice. The Leader concluded that Australia should the Eritrean leader for the tyrant that he is, that Australia should dissociate from his government and that Australia needs to establish relations with Eritrean opposition organizations.
At the end of the meeting, the delegation delivered the petition packet containing the petition letter addressed to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alexander Downer, and the sealed envelope containing the names of petitioners.
The officials responded that Australia has raised human rights situation with the Government of Eritrea on several occasions and that they cannot give the delegation a substantive response to the specific requests at the meeting, as they need time to consider them. They promised to look into the petition requests, formalize a response and develop a policy on Eritrea.
