Alamin Sheikh Saleh, Governor of Northern Red Sea Region, was relieved of his responsibilities as governor effective last week. Meanwhile, Maj. Gen. Haile Samual (China), commander of the Fourth Military Operations Zone, which includes both Northern Red Sea and Southern Red Sea Regions, assumes the functions of governor. It is not known yet who will ultimately replace the ousted governor. It has been sometime now since it was first rumored that the governor had fallen out of favor with both the General and the President.

As with all other Regions, Maj. Gen. Haile Samuel was already the de facto governor of both regions, ever since the now-all-powerful Operations Zones were first instituted in 2002.  Even before the reassignment of the governor, Mr. Haile Samuel already possessed the power to assign or recommend personnel (from within his military subordinates) to most senior positions in the regional governments – including the important post of Executive Director (“Akayadi SraH”). He had also been exercising great authority in firing and assigning port officials in both Massawa and Assab. 

Alamin Sheikh Saleh was among the 19 PFDJ Dissenters who were reduced to 15 and later became known as the “G-15.”  He withdrew his name at the last moment, from the list of signatories of the final “Open Letter to All Members of the PFDJ.”