Brigade N’Hamedu Conference, Coventry 11 November 2023

On Saturday 11 November hundreds of Eritreans gathered in Coventry to elect a new leadership for Brigade N’Hamedu.

It was the third time the Brigade had held a conference in the UK and care was taken to ensure the security of the meeting. Only card-carrying members were allowed to vote. The location was revealed only at the last moment, to prevent infiltration of Eritrean government supporters.

Ten people stood, after being nominated by the Eritreans in each of the UK cities that they came from. Three leaders were elected. Each spoke before the vote was taken.

A woman – Tirhas Abriha was overwhelmingly supported, coming in ahead of Robel Asmelash with 317 votes and Habtom Tesfahuney with 297 votes.

Together they will lead the movement in Britain the coming year.

They can build on the successes of the past year when many meetings organised by the regime to raise money and support for its activities were prevented from taking place.

A good deal of money was raised to allow this to continue, to support Eritreans facing challenges and to mobilizing their activities.

The ultimate aim is not to challenge President Isaias’s regime in Europe or the rest of the world, but to end the dictatorship back home. That will, of course, be a difficult task, but it is one that these young Eritreans are determined to tackle.

Their parents died in 30 years of fighting for independence: the struggle for democracy and freedom is now well under way.

Isaias Asfaha, who performed in Bologna in 1990, came to yesterday’s event. Again, his voice thrilled and inspired the audience.