The Red Sea Afar Youth held its annual conference from January 26 to January 31, 2023, in Västerås (Sweden) and Baltimore, Maryland (USA), under the theme of “through unity and steadfastness, we will take back our rights and stick to our demands.”
The conference deliberations continued till February 6 before concluding with a Zoom video conference. Participants and delegates came from several countries, including Australia, Canada, the Middle East, Europe, and the United States.
The conference was attended by representatives of the Red Sea Afar Youth, Eritrean academics, elites, opposition groups, comrades, civic and human rights organisations, and leaders of the Red Sea Afar Democratic Organisation (RSADO). The Committees in Sweden and USA prepared the agendas for the conferences. The opening remarks and addresses were delivered by representatives and leaders of the Red Sea Afar Democratic Organization, Eritrean Political Forces, Eritrean National Congress Democratic Change, Eritrean People’s Democratic Party, and the Eritrean Renaissance Party, respectively. Additionally, the Afar Communities in Sweden and the United States of America sent messages of support and solidarity.
At the conference, a wide range of topics was presented and discussed, among them as follows:
- The policies of the Eritrean regime and the domestic situation in Eritrea. (USA).
- The potential role of youth in bringing about change. (USA).
- The reasons why the organisation had to be established. (USA).
- A report was presented that discussed the situation of Swedish politics following the elections and its impact on new citizens, as well as suggestions for Afar youth on how to engage, participate, and contribute to society. (Sweden).
- The Popular Front: from the ruling party to the ruling elite. (Sweden).
- The RSADO presented its vision and proposal for democratic change in Eritrea. (Sweden).
On the side-lines of the annual conference of the Red Sea Afar Youth, the leaders of the Eritrean opposition organisations, led by the veterans like Nagash Othman, Mengisti Ab-Asmarom, Nour Idris, Yassin Abdallah, and Ismail Gabayta, enlightened the youth in a dialogue session on the Eritrean oppositions and the challenges of change in light of the rapid developments, and later answered all questions and inquiries from the youth regarding the work of the Eritrean opposition organisations.
The conference honoured the combatants Mengisti Ab Asmarom and Abdo Mohammad Karati, as well as the promising young politician Othman Sayed Abdallah, a member of the provincial and municipal councils and the board of the United Nations Office in Sweden, and the vivacious young
man Qasim Mohammad Ali, for their accomplishments and their tireless efforts in serving their community and country. The conference took place at a time when the People’s Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ) regime in Eritrea was engaging in anti-democratic acts and violating human rights, which have been made known to the public and the international community ever since Eritrea gained its independence thirty years ago. These practices have manifested in all of their forms both at the national, regional, and international levels.
The PFDJ leadership justified their dictatorial and expansionist ambitions against the Eritrean people on all fronts by referring to “unity,” “homeland,” and “sovereignty” to hide their crimes. Since the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF), later (from 1994) People’s Front for Democracy and Justice took over the country’s affairs, the PFDJ has dedicated itself to suppressing the components of the Eritrean people demanding freedom and democracy and to deny them their right to self-determination, which was recognized by the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The ruling PFDJ regime massacred, uprooted, and violated the human rights of many Eritreans in many parts of Eritrea before Eritrea’s independence in 1988. The “Black Tuesday” murders in the As-Eila and Galaalu districts of the Dankalia region, which resulted in the intentional and indiscriminate slaughter of several hundred Afar youth and civilians, were among the well-known and well-documented crimes the EPLF/PFDJ committed. In 2000, the regime once again carried out similar atrocities and massacres against Afar villagers in the “Abeh Le Kooma” region of the Daabo district of Dankalia, which led to the deaths of hundreds of our people. The regime also carried out additional horrendous atrocities against the Afars in the Red Sea coastal regions, including purposefully sinking their boats, which resulted in the deaths of numerous local fishermen who were of Afar origin. In addition to the widespread and systematic killings and disappearances committed against the Afar population by the Eritrean dictatorship, it has also been stated that any Eritrean citizens who wanted to criticize the policies of the regime were allegedly either killed, disappeared, or imprisoned.
The PFDJ