Action Plan to Conduct Eritrean Local Assembly Elections

GLOBAL INITIATIVE TO EMPOWER ERITREAN GRASSROOTS MOVEMENT

(Global Initiative)

Action Plan to Conduct Eritrean Local Assembly Elections

August17, 2016

Ref No: 08/2016/04/001

Mission Statement of Global Initiative

The main mission of Global Initiative to Empower Eritrean Grassroots Movement, (here after Global Initiative) is to pave the way for all Eritreans to actively participate in contributing to the establishment of accountable and sustainable constitutional governance in Eritrea in which all members of the society will have a full say.

Mandate and Scope of Global Initiative

The mandate of the Global Initiative is to function as a facilitating body to enable Eritreans in the Diaspora to establish local regional and global Assemblies/Baitos and elect their legitimate Global Leaders using the bottom-up/Grassroots approach.  Global Initiative - is a cooperative facilitator toward an enlightened and united Global Leadership, and not a competitive entity for power. Global Initiative does not have any intention to duplicate the efforts of others who are already mobilizing the grassroots nor do the members of Global Initiative have any desire to assume leadership positions.

Introduction

Given the increasingly worsening situation in our country, it can affirmatively be stated that there is no Eritrean who is not being tormented and outraged by what is going on in our country.  Yet, so far we have not found a mechanism to channel all that anger and frustration to be a force for positive changes in our country.

The Global Initiative is meant to pave the way for all Eritreans in the Diaspora to be actively involved in ending the suffering of the Eritrean people in the shortest possible time.

We have to admit that what is hindering Eritreans in the Diaspora from being actively engaged in bringing about positive changes in our country is the lack of united people/citizen institutions and democratically elected legitimate leadership that will represent all Eritreans in the Diaspora and coordinate our activities to save our country. We need grassroots institutions and leaders who can unleash the tremendous energy and resources that we have as Eritreans in the Diaspora.

Eritrean People/Grassroots Movement

The Eritrean Grassroots Movement (here after The Grassroots Movement) is citizen based movement of justice seeker Eritreans. Its goal is to pave the way for each and every justice seeking Eritrean, using the bottom up approach, to play an active role in the salvation and smooth transition of Eritrea to democratic and constitutional governance.  Justice seeking Eritrean citizens in their respective localities are the foundation of The Grassroots Movement. Thus the fundamental formation of The Grassroots Movement is the local assembly – Baito Adi of all justice seekers residing in the locality/city. Local Baito Adi in a region/country are connected at a region level and establish regional Baito of The Grassroots Movement. All regions are united and connected globally by establishing Global Baito (Alemlekawi Hizbawi Baito Eritrawyan). The Global Baito will draw a grand strategy and a winning roadmap of salvation and smooth transition to democratic governance and elect an executive body with full powers of execution and implementation of the grand strategy. 

The Role of Global Leadership

The Global Leadership is expected to chart an effective operational strategy, to remove the dictatorial regime and prepare the ground work and a blue print for transitioning the country to democracy, in collaboration with the Eritrean Political Parties and forces of change inside Eritrea.   The responsibility of the Global Leadership will be to gain the recognition and support of the International Community and the Eritrean people both at home and in the Diaspora. Given that the Global Leadership is elected to represent Eritreans in the Diaspora, it will have the legitimacy to speak, to act and to represent Eritreans in the Diaspora in any forum.  Through an effective and intensive diplomacy and lobbying, this leadership group should be able to persuade the International Community to apply intensive pressure that will cripple the dictatorial regime and give moral and logistical support to elements inside the country to bring fundamental changes.

The Process of Establishing the Baitos and Electing Global Leaders

The process of establishing the three level baitos and electing executive global leaders consists of two important phases:  Mobilising and Organising.

Phase I: Mobilising all justice seeking Eritreans in the Diaspora: 

The Global Initiative along with all grassroots – bottom up approach, will mobilise Eritreans everywhere to rise and be part of the grassroots movement for democratic change in Eritrea.  Using an effective action plan and deploying functional teams, the Global Initiative will mobilise Eritreans in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, Middle-East, North America and South America. The mobilising activities will include coordinated efforts of preparing and publishing documents and articles for grassroots public education, conducting seminars and conferences in major cities and using electronic mass communication and an effective media strategy of information dissemination and communication using available mass communication mediums.

Phase II: Organizing the Peoples Baitos and electing Global Executive Leaders: 

A.    The basic and fundamental Baito of The Grassroots Movement is the Baito Adi.  The concept of Baito Adi is derived from our own heritage of Baito Adi of a typical Eritrean village.  Justice seeking Eritrean adults of every locality/city are eligible to be members of local Baito Adi.   Baito Adi brings all justice seeking Eritreans in a locality/city and unites them for a common cause of justice, democracy and freedom.  Moreover, it creates a platform for them to be active owners of their destiny and active participants in the decision making and implementation of national issues. The long term goal of Baito Adi is to win all Eritreans to the side of the people and to defeat the dictatorial regime of PFDJ. The Local Baito Adi will adopt a program of activity and internal bylaws for its locality based on the broader framework of the Grassroots Movement and elect the following:

a.       A speaker for the local Baito Adi, Executive Board members and Monitoring Board members. The number of Executive Board members and the Monitoring Board members will be determined by each locality.

b.      Representatives of the locality/city (Baito Adi representatives) to Regional Baito and Global Conference.

B.     Regional Baito: Once Eritreans in every corner of the world elect their local representatives, the next step is for these elected representatives to meet and elect their country representatives which in turn will elect their regional representatives at a continent level. The main purpose of the regional Baito is to coordinate the various local Baito Adi in its region.  The Regional Baitos will coordinate The Grassroots Movement activities at the regional level and work to defeat PFDJ activities in their region. 

C.     Global Baito: The final step is to conduct a global conference of Eritreans representatives from every corner of the world: Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, Middle-East, North America, South America and other places to elect the Eritrean Global Assembly or Alemlekawi Baito Eritrawyan than will appoint an executive body. Global Assembly or Alemlekawi Baito Eritrawyan is the global organ of Eritrean Grassroots Movement, where justice seeking people/citizens of Diaspora Eritrea unite their voices and resources to defeat tyranny and establish democratic governance in Eritrea.  The elected Global Leadership will draw a grand strategy and winning roadmap for salvation and smooth transition of Eritrea to democratic governance and elect an Executive Leadership with full power of execution and implementation of the grand strategy.     

Technical Details of Mobilising and Electing Local Baito Leaders

1.      Wherever there is a critical mass of Eritreans anywhere in the world, a highly publicized general meeting of ALL Eritreans in the locality should be called.  This requires an intensive campaign to reach out to all Eritreans in every locality.  A serious effort shall be made to invite ALL Eritreans particularly those from minority groups who may not have access to the Internet or the Eritrean radio programs.  The call for a general meeting and seminars of all Eritreans in a given locality will be written in Arabic, English, Tigrigna, Tigre or any other appropriate language widely used in the local Eritrean community.  The announcement will be disseminated in written form through phone messages, websites, radio programs, seminars and workshops and widely distributed in places frequented by Eritreans, such as churches, mosques, community centres, restaurants and bars.  It is not enough to call a general meeting; people should understand why their participation is important to save our country.

2.      All Justice Seeking Eritreans 18 years of age and above who subscribe to the mission statement of Global Initiative are eligible to be members of Baito Adi. However, officers and elected representatives of Baito Adi should be free from conflict of interest. If a person is actively leading or representing a political party or a political organization, there will be a direct conflict of interest in becoming an officer/representative of Baito Adi and at the same time leading or representing a political party.     

3.      Every local Baito Adi should elect members to participate at the Regional Baito and Global conference/Baito. The number of candidates for the regional and global assemblies will be determined by proportional representation on the basis of the number of registered members in every locality

4.      Global Initiative will establish Eritrean Global Grassroots Elections Committee (here after Elections Committee) whose major charge is to facilitate the process of electing officers of Local Baitos, Regional representatives and those who will participate at the Global Conference/Global Baito. The Election Committee will be composed of individuals from the signatories of the “Urgent Call to All Eritreans World-Wide” and others who have expressed interest in joining the Global Initiative.

5.      The role of the Election Committee:

•  To assist cities with critical mass of Eritreans in planning, organizing and conducting elections in collaboration with local activists who support the mission of the GLOBAL INITIATIVE.
  
  
• To prepare publicity material that will be posted on Eritrean websites, radio programs, and for distribution in places frequented by Eritreans such as Mosques, Churches, Community centres, restaurants, bars, etc.
  
  
• To verify the qualification of individuals who are nominated or who volunteered to stand for election.
  
  
• To determine the number of elected members who will participate at the Regional and Global conferences.
  
  
• To monitor free and fair elections.

6. Signing “Memorandum of Understanding”.   Every Eritrean who offers himself/herself as a candidate for election and everyone who elects has to sign two copies of the  “Memorandum of Understanding” with his/her  full name, address, telephone and e-mail address on it (See the appendix below).  One copy will be kept with the secretary of the local election committee and the other copy will be sent by fax, e-mail or post to the central office supervising the elections.

7. Timeline.  It is very important that everything is done at the local and international levels to expedite the elections to be completed before the end of 2016.