British-Eritreans in Brent East meet Sarah Teather and Yasmin Quereshi

Action Group for Eritrea – Press

(Web: www.eritrea.co.uk)

 

On Saturday 16 April, British-Eritrean constituents of Brent East in North London met with Sarah Teather of the Liberal Democrats, former MP of the constituency and Yasmin Querishi, Labour Party candidate in the coming general election due to be held on May 5 2005.

 

Following the announcement of the election date by Tony Blair and the subsequent dissolution of parliament on April 11, both Sarah Teather – standing for re-election – and Yasmin Quereshi will be contesting the Brent East seat.

 

Held at Willesden Green Library, the meeting was organised by Action Group for Eritrea (AGE), an Eritrean interest group working, amongst other things, for the unconditional implementation of the EEBC ruling.

 

The meeting was intended to give the candidates a chance to explain their respective party policies and in turn, present British-Eritreans in Brent East with an opportunity to raise some of their community concerns.

 

 

Sarah Teather was the youngest MP when she won the Brent East seat in the by-election held in September 2003. She is keen on addressing local issues such as the reduction of crime and hospital waiting lists; scrapping council tax, tuition fees; cleaning up the streets and fighting against post office closures.

 

Sarah Teather, Liberal Democrats candidate (right) and Simon Marcos

 

Talking about her campaign priorities, Ms Teather stated that the three main themes driving the Liberal Democrats throughout the election were freedom, fairness and trust. Beyond local issues, she said she had been opposed to the Iraq war and wants to see as much involvement by the UN in the effort to rebuild Iraq.

 

Regarding the increase in crime in certain parts of Brent East, she insisted that the £3 billion the incumbent Labour government may be spending on the introduction of ID cards could be spent on recruiting more police officers to tackle street crime.

 

Taking some questions about the Eritrean Ethiopian border decision and Ethiopia’s rejection of the ruling, Ms Teather acknowledged the fact that a final and binding decision should be taken as such. If elected, she promised she would raise that matter with her party and the government as a matter of principle.

 

 

Yasmin Qurseshi, who is a Barrister by profession, became the official Labour candidate for Brent East in February 2005. She is also the human rights adviser to Ken Livingston, the Mayor of London.

 

Ms Qureshi opened her discussion by stressing on the importance of highlighting both the positive achievements of the labour party in Brent East as well as some areas for improvement.

 

 

Yasmin Qureshi, Labour Party Candidate for Brent East

She went on to add that during the tenure of Labour in Brent East, the constituency saw much improved schools; an increase in health practitioners with 581 more doctors and 2,631 more nurses and the opening of a new hospital; safer streets with an increased number of beat officers; improved council homes that saw much refurbishment; an improved life for pensioners with pension credit and winter fuel payment.

 

Yasmin Qureshi pledged that if elected, she would work hard to uphold Labour’s commitment to public services for a clean, safe and green Brent East.

 

She added that where the government’s foreign policy was concerned, there were many areas for improvement. If elected as Labour MP, she vowed that she would push for a labour Party that will defend international law and support international organisations such as the UN.

 

Asked about Ethiopia’s rejection of the EEBC decision, Ms Qureshi emphasised the importance of international law for a stable and peaceful world. As someone who at one time worked as the Head of the Criminal Legal Section of the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), she said she understood the frustration that may be felt by both the Eritrean and Ethiopian people at the failure of the international community to ensure the implementation of the EEBC decision.

 

 

The audience included the young and old of the Eritrean community in Brent East

Ms Quereshi vowed to do her very best to inform her Labour Party colleagues about the situation in Eritrea and Ethiopia. She also agreed that it was of crucial importance the British government stood on the right side of international law and pushed for the implementation of the Eritrean and Ethiopian border decision.

 

Finally, Ms Qureshi pledged that if elected she would visit Eritrea as a Labour MP to learn more about the country.

 

In his concluding remarks, after thanking both candidates and meeting attendees, Simon Marcos, chairman of Action Group for Eritrea, said that AGE would do everything it can to encourage Eritreans to go out and vote on May 5.