Click here for PART II - Land Reform

By Kjetil Tronvoll
Norwegian Institute of Human Rights
University of Oslo

The Journal of Modern African Studies, 36, 3 (1998), pp. 461-482
Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom

(Excerpts - see above article for full text)

INTRODUCTION:

The PFDJ-dominated National Assembly has passed several laws and regulations over the last four years to eradicate remnants of so-called colonial rule in the country, in order to establish a new capable and efficient administration of sovereign Eritrea.

Although the government expresses an economic rationale for reform, the new development policies have also been made with the intention of enhancing the national unity created during the war - to imbue a sense of nationhood among the citizens of the nascent nation-state. In its effort to sustain national congruity through macro policy planning, the government appears to have paid little attention to the ways in which such policies will impinge on the traditional customs and livelihood of the peasants and the strong sentiment of local integration in the rural areas.

Taking the new policies on regional administrations and land tenure as examples, this article attempts to illuminate certain characteristics of the Eritrean government's development ideology, in order to throw some light upon the emerging contours of how political authority and decision making in this phase of nation-building are administered in the country.

ESTABLISHING NEW REGIONS: THE ABOLITION OF OLD IDENTITIES?

Although the final form of the new politico-administrative system of Eritrea remains to be seen, emerging structures provide some ideas of its shape. A resolution passed by the Third Congress of the EPLF/PFDJ in 1994 rejected the old administrative divisions of the country - loosely based on ethnicity and historical kinship entities dividing the country into nine provinces (awraja) - as a tool of the colonial powers in a policy of divide and rule.

The new overall administrative structure of Eritrea divides the country into six new administrative areas, criss-crossing ethnic and kinship boundaries.

THE NEW STRUCTURE OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT

The establishment of an executive line of command from the president's office all the way down to the village/area level…is also a new arrangement within the field of local government. The administrators at each level are accountable for the conduct of their office to their immediate superior - and not to their constituencies.

The only remaining peoples' assembly, the baito zoba, is left without any authority or mandate to decide on or implement development policies of their own choice, and is left only with the mandate of recommendation.

To safeguard against any possibilities that the baito zoba might recommend or suggest anything which went against national priorities and planned strategies, the government appoints regional administrators vested with the "power to suspend the Baito's resolutions and recommendations until the minister of local government decides on them, if he thinks the policies and regulations of the central government are violated." (Article 20.B2). To avoid utilising such radical measures, however, the regional administrator attends all meetings of the baito where he/she "givers recommendations and advises the Baito on matters related to the central government's policies, regulations, and programmes before the Baito passes resolutions and recommendations" (Article 20.B.1).

It appears that the new structure of local government in Eritrea reflects the idea that only a few individuals at the top of society should be entrusted with the power and duty to decide what is the optimal strategy of development for Eritrea and its citizens….a power seemingly without checks and balances. No counterpoised power which emanates from, and is accountable to, its constituency exists as an integral part of the new system of local government.

In this manner, the decisions of the village/area administrator - which are based on directives from above - appear incontestable (according to proclamation).

Click here for PART II - Land Reform