April 2, 2012
The Eritrean Movement for Democracy and Justice (EMDJ), a new political organization founded by Eritreans exiled to Ethiopian refugee camps, is convening its first congress in a camp near Shire, Ethiopia, close to the Eritrea-Ethiopia border.
The organization, which claims it has an armed wing operating inside Eritrea was founded in April 2011.
The members of the organization are drawn from the Eritrean refugee camps in Ethiopia and they are mostly escapees from Eritrea’s forced labor and indefinite conscription.
The organization’s political programme calls for the removal of Eritrea’s ruling party, the People’s front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ) and the establishment of a “popular, democratic, federal government” which respects the rights of Eritrea’s “nations and nationalities.” One of these rights is the right to “self-autonomy without restriction.” The similarity between the name of the organization and that of the ruling party carries to slogans: EMDJ’s is “Victory to the masses—in practice!”
EMDJ came to the attention of the Eritrean opposition for the first time in November 2011 when its representatives introduced their organization to the conferees of the Eritrean National Conference for Democratic change (ENCDC) in Hawassa, Ethiopia.
In an emotionally charged evening, a few attendees celebrated the introduction of the group, seeing great hope in its newness and claims that it has sympathetic Eritrean youth throughout the world.
Major officials of the Ethiopian government who deal with the Eritrean opposition have all traveled to attend EMDJ’s congress. But unlike other congresses, none of the known Eritrean organization, EDA or ENCDC leaders or delegates, were invited to attend the opening ceremony.



