At the opening of the meeting, the Committee's head of public relations and former chairman, Ato Zewdalem Kebede, welcomed the members and introduced the new chairman Ato Leul Qeskis and the other officials.

The 20-member council's first meeting focused on discussing its mission and objectives. The members, who came from several cities in Europe and North America, also introduced each other and shared their ideas on how to rally Ethiopians in the Diaspora around the organization and mobilize humanitarian support to the families of EPPF fighters, according to the Committee's Head of the Press Office Ato Demis Belete.

Ato Leul Qeskis, on his part, briefed the members about EPPF's latest activities in the field, including recent military actions against the Woyanne junta in Ethiopia.

The chairman, Ato Leul, and Ato Assefa Haile, head of political affairs, had spent over three months in the field with the EPPF fighters before the leadership sent them to Europe recently to reorganize and lead the International Committee.

Both Ato Leul and Ato Assefa are elected members of parliament from Gondar and Wollo regions of northern Ethiopia. They joined EPPF after witnessing the barbaric killing of unarmed civilians and mass detention of pro-democracy protesters by the Meles regime following the May 2005 elections. Before being elected to the parliament, Ato Leul had served as head of the Coalition for Unity and Democracy Party (Kinijit) in Gondar. Ato Assefa was a Kinijit organizer in Wollo.

Ethiopian Review will interview Ato Leul on Sunday, Nov. 16, about EPPF's current activities and future plans, particularly its effort to organize Ethiopians in the Diaspora.

The interview will be broadcast live via Ethiopian Review Radio starting at 3:00 PM.

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