Mr. Mohammed Nur Osman Degol, Eritrea�s former Consul General to Saudi Arabia, has announced that he and other �like minded sympathizers� are leaving the Eritrean Democratic Party (EDP) to form their own party.   Reached by telephone in his residence in Canada on Sunday, Degol told Gedab News that his group�s splintering is due to �fundamental differences� they have with �EDP�s approach in bringing about change in Eritrea.�

Degol, who disassociated himself from the ruling party in 2002, traces EDP�s origin to a clandestine movement within the People�s Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ) in 2000 that later found expression in 2001�s �Open Letter.� According to Degol, although unified in its opposition to the leadership of PFDJ, the movement differed in its diagnosis of the root causes of PFDJ�s injustice.  Instead of making room for the two viewpoints and staying true to the original compromise, EDP has adopted one view in favor of the other, according to Degol.

Asked why his group would opt to found its own party instead of joining one of the sixteen already in existence, Degol explained that although, in principle, he welcomes an alliance based on minimum programs, the formation of his party was based on the wishes of �our clandestine members in Eritrea� who have not �given us a mandate to join any party.�