On Saturday, the 2nd November 2024, was the 4th seminar of the Brigade Nhamedu UK held in Coventry with over 900 attendees.

Every year, the Brigade Nhamedu members come together to thank  the leadership team for all their hard work and see them step down for the next elected team to take their place. It has previously been a chance for members from all over the country to unite and be an important part of the movements of Brigade Nhamedu by choosing who would be best to forefront the party for the next year. It has also been a time used to celebrate, enjoy a tasty spread prepared by the mothers and sisters of the movement, and finish off with a party including live bands and Dj’s.

This year was no exception.

Members stared arriving to the venue around midday and by 2pm the hall was full and ready for the seminar to begin. It started off with the 2023-2024 leadership team, which was led by chairman Robel Asmelash, vice chairwoman Tirhas Abraha & secretary Habtom Tesfune, welcoming all guests and providing  a synopsis of the previous year.

All challenges and triumphs were shared with the members followed by an opportunity for Q&A’s.

There were some changes made within the last year, a major one being the BN bylaws. The committee had a review of the previous bylaws and concluded that there were some amendments to be made. These were read out  and explained to the attendees for total transparency and everyone was in agreement that the suggested changes were necessary. As part of this, it was decided that the new elected leadership would run a term of 2 years rather than 1 in order to maintain consistency and allow enough time to make effective decisions and implement them.

Some of the other challenges discussed, also led the committee  to  restrategise its methods which meant  focusing predominately on community engagement and bringing families, youths and new members closer together to better portray the meaning behind Brigade Nhamedu.

In July, the warm weather permitted for each cities members to hold their first annual BBQ which was an absolute hit across the country.

Subsequent to this, a massive football tournament was held throughout the summer where teams were formed from each city, all taking turns to face each other  and play for the title of Brigade Nhamedu football champions 2024. This was won by the Sheffield football team.

Meeting in Addis

An extraordinary triumph that was shared to the conference attendees was a newly formed relationship between Brigade Nhamedu and the Ethiopian government. Selected BN leaders from around the world were invited to meet with government officials in Addis Ababa earlier this year. To represent the UK, our secretary Habtom was chosen to attend  and alongside his global colleagues, he had several successful meetings which resulted in a promising long term relationship in Ethiopia. The hope is that through this method,  Brigade Nhamedu will be able to enter Eritrea and face the long standing dictatorship with the support of Ethiopia. This relationship has given us a lot of hope and encouragement so we are optimistic that the end goal of dethroning the regime in Eritrea is near. The new elected leadership with strengthen the established relationship and help bring us closer to this success.

After the update from the leadership was given at the seminar, it was then time to present awards  to the winning football  team and other  players who were also recognised for their efforts.

Following the awards ceremony, we had a guest speaker who flew into the UK solely to attend our seminar and gave a very powerful and inspirational speech which ended in mass applause and cheering from all members of the Brigade Nhamedu UK.

Then came voting time. Several pre-elected nominees stood on stage and presented their capabilities and future plans to lead the organisation through the next year. The attendees then voted and so we welcomed the new leadership for 2024-2026.

The seminar then ended with live entertainment accompanied with refreshments so the members continued to celebrate and party together until late at night.

It was another successful seminar  and we all anticipate great changes for the upcoming term. We would like to again thank Robel, Tirhas and Habtom for all their efforts of the previous year and for courageously leading the movement to where it is now. We wish the new leaders the very best of luck and are excited for the coming year and what it shall bring to all justice seekers in the UK.