ADDIS ABABA (AFP) — An Eritrean opposition alliance on Tuesday threatened to resort to violence to topple President Issaias Afeworki's regime if Asmara continued to reject its demand for a transitional government.
The Eritrean Democratic Alliance, a coalition of 13 opposition groups, will devise a constitution and elect its leadership in a meeting in Addis Ababa in March, a leader of one of the opposition movements also said.
"We had invited the government to participate in a transitional government but they refused, they don't even recognise the existence of opposition groups. If all options fail, we will switch to violent means," Adhanom Gebremariam, chairman of the Eritrean People's Movement, told AFP.
Adhanom said support for the opposition was increasing, as resentment over Asmara's failure to implement a constitution as well as allegedly spiralling rights abuses had forced thousands of Eritreans to flee their country.
"The present Eritrean government is on the verge of becoming a failed state, the main demand is to transform the country from one-party rule into a state with democratic governance and implementation of the constitution," he added.
"The people are living in terror, they want someone to save them. Since the main enemy of the people is the regime, they support the opposition."
Eritrean officials could not immediately be reached for comment but the authorities generally charge that opposition movements meeting in Ethiopia have no legitimacy and are nothing more than stooges of the regime in Addis Ababa.
Eritrea broke away from Ethiopia and obtained independence after a protracted conflict in 1993. The two foes remain locked in a tense border standoff following a 1998-2000 war that left over 70,000 people dead.
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