Pursuant to the resolution passed at the Third Congress of the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Party, held in the year 2001, to work for bringing its former members back into the organization, the EPRP has been strenuously working to reach out to as many of its former members as possible. Public calls were made and other means of communication utilized for the purpose of getting in touch with the former members. Although different approaches and methodologies are needed and used inside the country, the aim is one and the same, i.e. to get in touch with all former members who have not betrayed the ideals and objectives we stood for, and blatantly sided with the tormentors and oppressors. It is to bring all those that are retrievable back into the movement so as to intensify the ongoing struggle.

The EPRP Third Congress resolution was born out of the realization that there is a great potential in the former EPRP members that, if tapped, could contribute significantly to the current struggle for democracy, durable peace, social and economic justice, … in our country. Since the involvement of capable men and women is crucial for the success of any endeavor, our strenuous effort both inside and outside the country, to get as many of these high caliber Ethiopian patriots as possible, is believed to be necessary. Among current EPRP members there is a clear realization that the huge reservoir of capable, experienced, patriotic, knowledgeable manpower should be brought together to serve the Ethiopian people once again. That generation of the Ethiopian youth to which most of the earlier EPRP members belong has been idealistic, inspired, daring, and patriotic. Its readiness to make sacrifices for any cause that it believed worthwhile was and remains to be unsurpassed. It goes without saying that it had its failings too. A whole segment of a generation could not have been faultless while plunging itself head on in those uncharted waters and in those daring circumstances.

Those who joined the EPRP have had their shares in all those positive attributes of their generation and in those that are now identified as failures, with hindsight. It is undeniable that the generation that joined the EPRP had and to a large extent still has immense love for the Ethiopian people as a whole. It definitely had a vision for a better Ethiopia. The task that section of the Ethiopian youth had begun was indeed gargantuan. United in the EPRP all those who joined the party had made a solemn promise to bring a better tomorrow for all Ethiopians. Indeed the Ethiopian people deserve better than the current abominable conditions of survival. Unfortunately though, Ethiopians have yet to see a better day, and those of us who began the arduous journey to bring such a day, have unaccomplished tasks waiting ahead of us. All surviving members of that generation will have to come to grips with the past and present realities of the country. Those of us who persevered in the EPRP believe that we should not shirk our responsibilities or falter mid-way.

It is with such realization of the grim and frightening current conditions of Ethiopia, and the urgent need to change these realities that the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Party,extends its clarion call to all those former members of the party, including those who were supporting the party through their participation in the various mass organizations that were aligned with the party, to fight for those lofty ideals and to carry out the common tasks that we have all begun together but have yet to accomplish, all be it in different ideological settings. Undeniably, we have all very much in common. Besides, the tremendous love we have for our proud, dignified and gallant people of all ethnicities, and the ancient country that we all identify with, we have written a common history through the struggle we made with much toil and great sacrifice. This history should be placed on the proper pedestal, and the writing of it will have to be completed with our involvement, as well as the current younger generations, by our collective actions to liberate and empower the people. We certainly have a common responsibility to transfer the knowledge and the crucial experience we have so far accumulated both from our successes and from our failures to the next generation of patriots. They should not be left to grapple in the darkness any longer.

The North American region being one of those areas where many former members of the EPRP do reside, has formed a special task force to plan and execute the essential tasks and thus prepare the groundwork for the convening of a Conference in the region. Its authority derives from the Party’s Third Congress resolutions. Despite the great efforts of the task force, however, quite a good number of the former EPRP members in the said region might not have been contacted up to now. Hence the need for a much invigorated media campaign to reach as many of those not approached so far. The task force is now officially launching the collective drive to reach out to as many of the party’s past members and supporters; so that they could come together and bring to fruition the vision of the party that they all had joined voluntarily and had sacrificed a lot struggling under its banner.

A conference, meant to provide a forum for the party’s former members, is being scheduled to take place sometime in July 2005 in Atlanta (Georgia). The actual date and exact place of the conference will be communicated later to those who indicate their interest to participate at the conference, at least two weeks before the actual event. All those interested former members, who have not yet been contacted, can call the telephone number or send a written request using the email address provided at the end of this public announcement and seek clarifications.

The purpose of the conference is three-fold:

1) To honestly address our “differences”, learn from them, and create an amicable political and social environment, which would mend the bridge between the party and its former members;

2) To fully grasp the present and future of Ethiopia’s political conditions and the dilemmas facing the country and the opposition as a whole; and

3) To create the conditions under which former members could rally behind their party so as to intensify the struggle, and triumph.

The purpose of the conference is NOT to point fingers at each other for past problems, but to learn from them and move on. The general active membership has addressed this issue through various discussions and is very cognizant of this fact. Like wise, we expect that all those former comrades who come to the conference would come with an open mind, a soft heart and, above all, with the clear purpose of renewing their allegiance to the Ethiopian people, determined to bring to fruition the struggle in which tens of thousands of their comrades have paid the ultimate sacrifice for. Come, discuss and invigorate the party that
you have helped built, to make a real difference in the struggle ahead. You are all cordially invited as long as you are not presently allied with the government in power.

We do hereby request all readers of this message to pass it on to other former members of the EPRP that they might have known. Let us come together and complete the historic march that we have begun together!!

Former Members’ Coordinating Taskforce