YPFDJ-UK held UK-wide youth gathering; bringing young Eritreans from different parts of UK. The theme of the event was “taking ownership and control of our destiny”. The main programs of the day-long event were seminars and information on important topics of the youth movement and Eritrea. Discussions on Eritrean youth movement, YPFDJ, at a global and in particular at UK level - YPFDJ-UK’s extended outreach to every city, town and village of UK as well as to all age groups of young people living in the UK and on issues of identity and culture.

The opening speech of YPFDJ, delivered by Daniel Berhane on behalf of YPFDJ, welcomed every one and expressed a great gratitude to the young people - who came from different cities of UK including Sheffield, Leeds, Gloucestershire – traveling for many hours.

Simply defining YPFDJ as being all about “Eritrean identity and values” and further describing the Eritrean identity as “the Eritrean identity that we paid so much sacrifice for generations and still continue to maintain and strengthen through the long held Eritrean values.”

The speech went on to further highlight the objective of YPFDJ as “to create a strong relation amongst young Eritreans - help and look out for each other- maintain strong Eritrean identity through learning about our glorious history, nurturing our deeply rooted culture and values in our consciousness and deeds that would allow us to challenge the problems we face living in foreign countries and the fundamental objective the solution to most of our problems that is building Eritrea, the land of our ancestors.”

Highlighting the attempt of a propaganda campaign that are targeted at the youth with the aim “to confuse and to neutralize the youth that is for the youth to stop caring and taking stand about their identity, values and culture by employing different methods” was stated as a challenge that is being overcome through the rapid progress of YPFDJ all over the world.

The main elements of the programs of the event were short seminars, the first one that was delivered by Beserat Zerezghi and Yodit Tekeste, was "Leadership qualities for the 21st century: Implications for the Eritrean Youth in the Diaspora" that was based on Bitsay Dr. Tesfay Aradom’s lecture that was given at the Training of Trainers (TOT) in Geneva, Switzerland in October 2009. The topic focused on major topics, the wider meaning of leadership, different styles of leadership and the determinate factors and issues emotional intelligence in relation to the youth movement.

The second seminar that was given by Sirak Bahlbi (based on lecture given Bitsay Daniel Ghezae) titled “What YPFDJ can learn from EPLF/PFDJ Leadership”. Bitsay Sirak described in detail the main qualities of EPLF/PFDJ leadership that served the Eritrean people.

EPLF/PFDJ has been outstanding in understanding the nature, culture, social makeup and requirement of the Eritrean people and it enabled the organization to clearly set-out its goals and draw a clear policy which is practical and can be implemented by relying on its own resources and people.  YPFDJ groups can benefit tremendously to learn and adopt the values of the Popular Front and apply them to the 21st century challenges by clearly defining its goals that can be achieved practically.

The third seminar was on the unjust UN Security Council Resolution 1907/2009 that was imposed on Eritrea on Wednesday the 23rd December 2009, which was given by Musie Tesfai. Bitsay Musie highlighted the issue in historical perspective and looked at all the unsubstantiated accusations and the devious ways the sponsors of the resolution employed to get it approved.

The occasion was also used to provide information on one of the activities of YPFDJ, the 6th YPFDJ Conference that is to be held in Germany in April. Yonathan Haile gave a presentation explaining the background information of the conference and the organizational aspects of the upcoming conference. Information in regards to the conference can be found on youngpfdj.com or by emailing to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Following the seminars and presentations, it was time for one of the main parts of the program, group discussion. Divided into groups, the discussion looked at issues of identity, culture, the role of YPFDJ at individual, society in the UK and Eritrea, and the greater outreach of YPFDJ geographically as well as to all age group of young Eritrean living in the UK. The group discussion - that was action orientated with follow up and action plan - was very heated and went on for a few hours adopting several measures.

The event was also attended, by the Eritrean ambassador to the United Kingdom and Ireland Mr. Tefamicael Gerahtu, Ms. Haregu Tesfamariam Head of Public affairs at the Embassy of Eritrea in UK, leaders of NuAus Chenfer and members of PFDJ. Bitsay Ambassador Tefamicael Gerahtu gave a speech highlighting the roles and responsibilities of the youth movement. Members of PFDJ, giving very uplifting messages, also expressed their happiness to see the rapid progress of youth movement, YPFDJ, and their readiness to support the movement in any way. The day-long event was concluded with dinner and entertaining programs.