The leaders of the Eritrean opposition organizations held a high level meeting with the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Mr. Meles Zenawi and the Sudanese president, Mr. Omar Albashir. This was the first meeting for the Eritrean opposition held at the presidential level in Sudan. The meeting, which was also attended by the foreign ministers of the two countries, lasted for two hours, ending at 9 PM Khartoum time.
The opposition leaders stressed the point that regional peace cannot be achieved unless there is enduring peace internally in Eritrea. The two leaders and the opposition agreed that the opposition should work towards uniting their ranks for the two governments to fully commit themselves to support them.
Reached by telephone in Khartoum, one of the opposition leaders, Mr. Tahir Shengeb, said that "peace with Eritrea doesn’t mean peace with the regime and if peace in the region is to be attained, there must be peace with the Eritrean people." He went on to say that the Eritrean opposition leaders will hold a meeting in Khartoum tomorrow to discuss ways and means of convening a national conference.
In a related subject, Shengeb added that "the Alliance [Eritrean National Alliance] will resume its meeting soon to finalize several resolutions intended to reform the ENA to enable it to include all Eritrean opposition organizations."
The opposition leaders had formed a three-man delegation to meet with AlBashir and Meles; however, the Ethiopian and Sudanese leaders insisted that each opposition party be represented by two delegates at the meeting.
Eritrean opposition leaders who attended the meeting include Mr. Herui Bairu, Mr. Mohammed Osman Abubeker, Mr. Tahir Shengeb, Mr. Hussien Khelifa, Mr. Hassen Assad, Mr. Hassen Selman, Mr. Khelil Amer, Mr. Seyoum Ogbamichael, Mr. Mengisteab Asmerom, Mr. Mesfin Hagos, Mr. Mohammed Nur Ahmed, Mr Yassin Mohammed Abdellah, Mr. Adhanom Gebremariam and Mr. Ahmed Nasser.
Earlier, Mr. Mesfin Hagos and Mr. Mohammed Nur Ahmed, members of the Secretariat of the Eritrean Democratic Party, had held a separate session with Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and his foreign minister, Mr. Seyoum Mesfin.
