On December 3, 2002, Gedab News reported that Mr. Seyoum Ogbamichael, Chairman of Eritrean Liberation Front-Revolutionary Council (ELF-RC) and Mr. Ahmed Nasser, the head of the Unity Affairs Desk of the same organization, had left Addis Ababa for Khartoum.   We have learnt since that our source, a senior member of ELF-RC leadership, gave us misleading information and the aforementioned delegates did not go to Sudan.  We apologize to our readers for the error.

A closer investigation of the matter reveals the following.

In late November, the government of Sudan had extended an invitation to the two ELF-RC delegates, a call that was explicitly rejected by Mr. Seyoum Ogbamichael. By the time the ELF-RC leadership reconsidered its decision and Mr. Ahmed Nasser had secured an exit visa to go to Sudan, the government of Sudan was no longer interested and used Ramadan as a pretext to postpone the meeting.

In attempting to correct the erroneous report published by Awate.com, the ELF-RC's website had stated that the ELF-RC delegates could not have gone to Sudan because "our leadership...have not been able to leave Ethiopia since the crisis between our organization and ENA," implying that the ELF-RC leadership was held against its will in Ethiopia.   Sources in Addis Ababa contradict this information stating that the ELF-RC leadership can leave any time they wish. 

"At least one member of the ELF-RC leadership carries an Ethiopian diplomatic passport," explains a source, adding, "Applications for exit visas are processed within 48 hours. The ELF-RC leadership wants to start a fight with the Weyane, be expelled by Ethiopia and buttress its credentials as being independent of Ethiopian influence."

 
Meanwhile, nearly twenty high-level ELF-RC cadres have signed a petition to compel an emergency meeting by the front's executive committee.

In an unrelated development, a group of Eritreans who reside in Europe  are meeting this weekend to found a political party which, according to a source, will be "free from the ELF-EPLF antagonism that has shaped Eritrea's political landscape."