Arena Packs Mekele Hall for First Meeting

The turnout at the Mekele Municipal Hall for Arena Tigrai for Democracy and Sovereignty's first public meeting surprised even the organizers, who estimated more than 2,500 attended the February 6 meeting. Most appeared to be young.

The party chair, Gebru Asrat, is a former president of Tigrai region and former member of the region's ruling Tigrai People's Liberation Front. However, his party has organized around principles opposed to those of the TPLF. "TPLF is now in a campaign to register the whole Tigrai people under revolutionary democracy without the people's consent," said Gebru.

Local police surrounded the hall with tight security and the organizers hosted a lively discussion. In spite of some apparent efforts to disrupt the meeting, Gebru and the party's officers maintained a free and open political discussion. The people need to see free and fair political discussion among political parties, one speaker said.

Lawyer and party vice-chair Berhanu Berhe raised the issue of the loss of the port of Assab to Eritrea. "We can claim and argue to get right on the port of Assab legally, historically and politically."Arena Tigrai opposes the revolutionary democracy of the nation's ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front with a political system they identify as liberal democracy. Arena detailed its political ideology during the Mekele meeting and entertained dozens of questions from the audience.

Gebru emphasized the need for unity among Ethiopia's political parties and said his party has designed a strategy to cooperate with other opposition parties.