WFDY African Commission Meeting from the Viewpoint of Participants

Last week, from 21st to 23rd January 2015 there have been events where African youth united together and sat under the same roof to discuss matters of mutual concern- WFDY African Commission Meeting that was held in Asmara, Eritrea. The participants of this meeting have shared views about the event and about their stay in Eritrea. Some of the participants poured their views during the presentation of different seminars and others have shared their viewpoints while enjoying cultural performance of the nine ethnic groups of the country by Sbrit cultural troupe in a dinner reception hosted at Asmara Palace in the evening hours of 22nd January, 2014. Below are their views about the meeting and generally about the country.

Representing the Organization of Mozambican Youth (OJM) and also as vice president of WFDY, Mr. Dalfino  Hoster Guila, puts his views as follows:

It has been a great time since we arrived in Eritrea. We would like to convey fraternal greetings from the young people of Mozambique to the Eritrean youth. We would also like to take this opportunity to stress that the Mozambique people stand by your side. We are sure from what we have been witnessing since we arrive to the country that the challenges you have will be going to an end sooner or later as you demonstrated in the past. As African youth at large, we will all stand by your side. As OJM we are ready to strengthen our relations with the NUEYS of Eritrea.

As a federation, Mr. Dalfino said “I would like to thank NUEYS for hosting the meeting; it is a clear demonstration of solidarity you have with the federation. Our presence here is to show the solidarity of world youth with the NUEYS and with the people of Eritrea. The meeting was successful. We have an opportunity to agree on the resolution that we have shared here. There is also another resolution that we went through and that resolution is going to be presented during the celebrations of the 70th anniversary of WFDY due to be held in Namibia. The meeting was really successful. We could have not have been able to reach such a remarkable stand in our struggle without the cooperation of the NUEYS.”

Alma Otto from SWAPO youth league of Namibia on her part said “My first gratitude goes to the organizing committee of the NUEYS. I hope this friendship we are establishing in Eritrea would be strengthened.”

Mr. Awadalla from Sudan is, General Secretariat of Afro Arab Youth Union. He shared his views saying although this is the first time to have been in Eritrea, he has never felt as a stranger. “This is because of the worm welcome we are accorded by NUEYS. When songs were staged at the opening of the program, I realized we have the same music tune in my country. All these tell us that the connection we have with the people of Eritrean and Sudan is very strong. I thank you for the well organized event. So, let’s work together to spread this spirit of brotherhood to the whole continent.” he said.

Another participant is Libyan Fathala.  He is Libyan SINSAD General Secretary. He said “I greet you in the name of Libyan youth and the youth of the sub-Saharan region. Allow me to greet in the name of all of you, African leader, great fighter and leader of the liberation front President of Eritrea Isaias Afwerki. There is a historical connection between Libya and Eritrea for we suffered under the same colonial rule. I am just proud to be here and to be an African. We would look forward to strengthen the relationship we have with Eritrea. I wish victory for the whole Africa and I hope we would succeed.”

Saying I greet you all in the spirit of united Africa, Mr. Edward Kafita from Namibia presented the resolution of WFDY: African Commotion Meeting which stressed that WFDY stands against imposition of sanctions and against any imperialist activity in any part of the world. Mr. Edward said “The federation is very concerned about the waves of mass killings and spread of communicable diseases and the emergence of radicalisms that are impediment to African growth.” He also indicated that Eritrea proved to be a land of internal unity and solidarity.

Mr. Michael Hagos, member of cultural and media activities in the NUEYS and who has been in charge of a chairperson position of Media activities in the WFDY African meeting, is of the idea that the meeting has been organized in a short period of time but it has meet all the requirements that enables the union to host such an event successfully. As a participant and member of the coordinating committee, Mr. Michael said that such a meeting is aimed at enabling all African youth in unison to come towards a common understanding through enabling different youth organizations share the stand of their respective youth organizations in the effort that has been exerted to secure sustainable development and also in the fight against imperialism. Hence, it could be said that the meeting has brought the desired outcome.

Mr. Michael also went on to say that Eritrea has been a center for fighting against imperialism since long period of time. Thus, it is not a new thing to talk about the fight against imperialism, but the meeting was held to share and hear the voice of other participants and thereby to trade the experiences of the Eritrean people and particularly that of the Eritrean youth and its stand against such domination. Therefore, hosting a single event alone is not at all an end. “Since WFDY has a long standing history, we would definitely work to by far strengthen the relationship we have with the federation.” He said.