Mr. Mohammed Saeed Barih, a veteran EPLF leader, died today in Asmara, Eritrea, after a long stretch of sickness. 

Born in Keren, he was in his early 60’s.  

Mohammed’s contribution to the Eritrean revolution started with the ELF in the late 1960s, when he was in his 20s.  

In 1971, he left the ELF and joined a splinter group known as Obeleen. The Obeleen formed an alliance with two other splinter groups – PLF, which was led by Osman Saleh Sabbe, and Selfi Natsnet or PLF-II—and called themselves PLF-III. The alliance, which was formed in Beirut in 1972, split in 1976 into the Osman Saleh Sabbe-led group (which had its first congress in May 1976 and renamed itself ELF-PLF) and the Isaias Afwerki-led group (which held its congress in January 1977 and renamed itself EPLF.)  

Most of the Obeleen, including Mohammed Saeed Barih, joined the EPLF.  

Over the years, Mohammed held a variety of posts with the EPLF, including as a member of its Politburo and its Central Committee. After Eritrea’s independence in 1991, he served as the first foreign minister of the transitional government and, later on, as the governor of Anseba.

Mohammed is survived by his wife and four children: three sons and a daughter.