The Eritrean Youth Forum that took place in Debre Zeit, Ethiopia, July 7th–17th, agreed on the need to form an Eritrean Global Youth Association to facilitate democratic change in Eritrea.

The meeting reached a unanimous decision on the need for such an organization, and spent considerable time talking about methods to make it inclusive and legitimate. The UN Special Envoy for Sudan and South Sudan, Haile Menkorios, spoke at the meeting to share his experience. The Forum chose Dr. Bereket Birhane Weldeab as its president, Mr. Kalid Abdu as vice-president and Ms. Luwam Tewelde as secretary-general, and the meeting chose an executive committee of seven members.

Participants saw the forum as particularly important as it gave the youth of Eritrea, unable to meet in any similar way in their own country, the opportunity to discuss the future of Eritrea. It was unanimously welcomed as providing the sort of discussion which could help the youth of Eritrea formulate suggestions for ways to strengthen efforts to bring about democratic change in Eritrea. --MFA