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The Commander Has The Upper Hand
The rivalry between Mr. Mustapha Nurhussein, governor of Gash-Barka and Major General Filipos Woldeyohannes, Commander of the 1st Military Operations Zone (which comprises Gash-Barka and Anseba regions) is escalating.
Two weeks ago, General Filipos arrested several members of Mr. Mustapha Nurhussein’s administration including Mr. Mohammed Osman, Secretary of Gash-Barka Regional Assembly as well as member of the National Assembly; Mr. Idriss (no last name given), the Chief Engineer of Gash-Barka, as well as scores of Agordat town administrators and officials.
Mr. Mustapha Nurhussein took his case to Asmara and complained to President Isaias Afwerki that General Filipos’ actions have crippled his administration. Upon his return to Barentu, however, he found out that more arrests had taken place in his absence, including that of his brother, who is a farmer, his uncle (on his mother’s side) and his housemaid, the latter under the pretext of not fulfilling the compulsory national service.
The marginalization of Eritrea’s so-called civilian administration began last year with the establishment of four military operations zones and naming of four commanders (Filipos Woldeyohannes, Teklai Habteselasse, Gerezgheir “Wuchu”Andemariam and Haile “China” Samuel) who are considered highly loyal to the president. Since then, the "civilian" administrators (governors), who are all, like the commanders, veterans of Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF), have had their powers diminished.
In addition to structural changes at the top, the base of the administrative zones has also been militarized: most of the sub-regions have been abolished and replaced by military clusters known as “desks.”
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