We are approaching almost a years since the ELF-RC leadership walked out of the Addis-Ababa meeting of the ENA and started to create a lot of problems within its own self and within the organization it is leading. It has also been building quite a lot of hindrances between itself and the ENA . There is now a lot of talk, within the ELF-RC leadership itself as well as among its own supporters and sympathizers, whether to rejoin or not to rejoin the ENA.

Though the ENA may have tried several times to approach and even openly and officially invite it to get back to the negotiation table the ELF-RC's leadership is finding all pretexts to delay or refuse to do so, lately accusing the ENA of derailing from the national issues and busying itself instead only with the ethnic, territorial and religious issues. The ELF-RC's leadership however is failing to realise that, for the last nine-and-half months, it has been doing nothing else but only bickering about its own internal affairs, let alone concerning itself with the national, ethnic and religious matters of the Eritrean people. Our first question therefore is whether the absence of the ELF-RC from the ENA is such a big loss that the latter organisation has been unable to carry on with its own diplomatic and military activities aimed at ousting the dictatorial and unjust PFDJ regime of Mr.Isayas Afwerki. Throughout the years 2002/2003, we have heard of a lot of activities carried out by the forces of the Alliance, in both fields as well as on its foreign diplomatic relations with the governments of our immediate (Ethiopia and the Sudan) and across the sea neighbours (Yemen). Whether all those activities with the foreign governments and countries were not regarding the national but only the internal ethnic, religious and territorial issues of Eritrea, the ELF-RC's leadership has a lot of research-work to do to prove it. As for the issues of the Eritrean nationalities, principled in the articles 3&4 of the ENA charter, which have always been the corner-stones of many ENA member-organisations, there are no new matters added to those already agreed upon and established when the ELF-RC itself was an active member of the ENA.

We would even sustain that, had there been new items added or variations and accommodations to those articles made, decided, agreed upon and accepted by the remaining ENA member-organisations, after the "walk-out" of the ELF-RC's leadership from the "5 th Regular Session" of the ENA, such issues and decisions would and should have their binding force and validity as, at that time, the RC's membership had been suspended and therefore its absence would not have been an hindrance to invalidate the decisions taken by those member-organisations. Let us also clearly point out that, the major quarrel the ELF-RC's leadership had with the ENA leadership, which had induced it to leave the meeting, was not because of the "articles 3&4 of the ENA charter", but because of the assumed foreign influence on the election procedures of the ENA chairmanship. Why is then, Mr.Sium Oqbamichael, as the RC's leadership run out of any other reasonable and better excuses to prolong their main mission of standing up for and defending the ethnic, the religious and the territorial rights of their own respective ethic-groups and their members if they even simply thought of reconsidering the "articles 3 & 4 of the ENA's charter" for the sake of the ELF-RC's return.

In an articles titled: " EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE CLARIFIES RC DECISION ON RELATIONS WITH THE ALLIANCE", it is stated that: "while reviewing the changes introduced in the ENA Charter at the 5 th meeting, in particular point 3 and 4 under the section of the Fundamental Principles, the RC concluded that these were paramount national issues that can be decided only through nationally held referenda and that their inclusion in the Charter was wrong and unacceptable". Even if this were true that, the ENA members had if fact decided to make few changes in some matters within their charter, they were entitled and authorized to, as they were in a "Regular" and high level and executive meeting, with the entire leadership members and therefore having all the authority, not only, to make amendments but also to introduce new provisions to meet new demand, either of the ENA itself or of each of its member-organisations. This is in fact how the democratic principles, with equal rights and duties. Though controversial it might have been the suspension of the RC's membership by the Secretariat of the ENA, practically, Mr. S. Ogbamichael and his comrades had asked for and lost their voting rights and voices of objections once they had walked out.

They cannot therefore now be appealing to their past membership rights to consider in retrospect and force the ENA to suspend those articles for the only sake of re-opening its door to the ELF-RC. In their "Executive Committee's" document, they declared: " we are of the strong conviction that reaching an agreement with ENA at removing those controversial provisions will open the door for the resumption of the ELF-RC's membership in the Alliance". First of all, let us make our point clear that, if those articles appear "controversial" to the ELF-RC's leadership, they are not at all so to the members of the ENA who had first discussed, evaluated, accepted and then approved them unanimously. Which and how many of the articles so far included in the ENA's charter have ever been taken as "national issues that can be decided only through nationally held referenda," as the ELF-RC's leadership is requiring? Have all the issues, up to now tackled, rules and regulations established, decisions and actions taken by the ELF-RC's leadership itself, been "decided only through nationally held referenda," with Mr.Isayas Afwerki's PFDJ regime too taking part? How could principles be considered as "wrong and unacceptable" and rejected without even studying and deeply knowing them? The ELF-RC and its chairman, Mr.S.Ogbamichael, would have been much more coherent, consequential, better positioned and perhaps even gained some credibility and support, had they stuck to their original objection to the ENA chairmanship they had accused of having been elected through the foreign influence and therefore, would have demanded it ti immediately resign, as a "sine qua non" precondition to consider their re-entry to the ENA's membership.

Though the ELF-RC leadership's position might appear to be right in the eyes of many ordinary Eritreans who have not had the chance to follow the development of events, started at the Addis meeting of the ENA and ending with a possible disintegration of that leadership itself, there is an obvious deviation from the initial protest "walk-out" and the new obstacles being proposed as hindering the ELF-RC's walk-back in the ENA. There are some obvious distortions and cunningly construed aguments to delay or perhaps even break away from the ENA for good. Our second question in fact is whether the ELF-RC's presence in the ENA is so important and vital that the ENA would not stand or perhaps even rendered unable to act on its own, should the RC remain outside. As already mentioned, the ENA's various military wings, diplomatic quarters and other branches have been and are competently performing their duties, though constantly disturbed and distracted, not only, by external and contrary forces like those of the PFDJ regime, but also by internal forces, apparently being active members of the ENA but yet secretly working against, either as direct agents of or in connection with the regime's interwoven spying networks. The ENA and its sister organisations will surely continue to work and perhaps even more successfully and speedily, no matter whether the ELF-RC is in or out of its membership. The absence of the latter organisation therefore is neither significantly missed by nor is its presence of vital importance for the ENA. As a matter of fact, after almost a year, more than the ENA, it is the ELF-RC leadership itself and its disgruntled members, supporters, followers and sympathisers suffering from the absence and pressing for the return of their organisation to the ENA.

Although internal bickering, conflicts and divisions are not the best ways to heal the malice of an organisation, the ELF-RC's leadership, particularly its chairman, Mr.Ss.Ogbamichael and his close collaborators should realise and understand that if their leadership style is, constantly under a hard criticism and their stubborn resistance to change tactics disappointing and frustrating their own members, from the leadership members to the grass-root levels, they must have lost any touch with the organisation itself and therefore they should just step down and let a younger, dynamic, more democratically-oriented generation, less ambitious in their aspirations and pursuit in only retaining political powers, take over and lead their organisation and people.

Besiders, Mr. S. Ogbamichael and others should stop denigrating their own leadership members, the veteran and experienced politicians like Mr. Ahmed Nasser, Dr. Beyene Kidane and other well interntioned members from within the RC organisation who, seeing the inability of their present leadership and therefore rejecting it and, at the same time, seeing the advantages in rejoining and working together with the ENA member-organisations, are proposing and opting for an immediate return to it and without any kinds of pre-conditions. For the present RC's top-leadership to keep resisting to the pressure coming from the grass-root itself, with the risk of creating further conflicts and divisions, in the long-run, will only play against it and therefore, its peaceful "walk-out" (step-down) even from the ELF-RC's leadership itself, would do the organisation a great service. Feeling falsely and arrogantly proud of one's self and overestimating one's own abilities and importance, regardless of the contra-forces, are attitudes mainly attributed to and nurtured by arrogant people. Such elements would see only themselves as the end-aims of their whole existence and activities.

The various Isayas Afwerkis, Sium Ogubamichaels and their likers are our living examples of such stubborness. If they are unable to evaluate their own selves and their own inability to lead their people competently, they should be at least listening to and pondering on the many voices of antagonism and rejection coming to them from their immediate environments. If they are however even unable to hear those voices, then they are individuals incapsulated in their own selves and see the outside world only as a threat to their own well-being. Eritrea and the Eritrean people need visionary, broad and democratically-minded leaders who see themselves as only "called to serve" their people and not to subjugate them to servitude. If "Sium Harestai," as someone likes to call and describe him, "is a dictator just like Isayas Afwerki, if not worse than him," then the present chairman of the ELF-RC, Mr.Sium Ogbamichael, should gradually see his future, as a political leader, coming to an end and therefore, he should just "call it quit". An honourable exit is always the wisest one.

The RKPHA (July 24, 2003).

width full permission from Secretary General Herui Tedla. We invite our readers to send any questions, comments you may have regarding to this article to