Last Thursday's governorate shuffle held few surprises, reports Gamal Essam El-Din On 17 April, nine days after the municipal elections in which the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) swept the polls, President Hosni Mubarak has reshuffled provincial governors, issuing a presidential decree appointing 12 new governors and creating two new governorates, Helwan and Sixth of October. Egypt now has 28 provincial governorates, the highest number in its modern history. Security considerations are believed to be behind the move. Out of total 28 governors 16 now come from an army or security background while the remaining 12 are university professors, chairmen of public sector authorities or else judges. Out of the 12 newly-appointed governors eight are either police or army major- generals. Topping the list is Ahmed Diaaeddin, deputy interior minister for legislative affairs. Following the parliamentary elections of 2005, Diaaeddin was appointed Interior Ministry spokesman in the People's Assembly and Shura Council where he responded on behalf of Interior Minister Habib El-Adli to Muslim Brotherhood and opposition attacks against security policies, especially on the sensitive issues of torture and human rights abuses. Diaaeddin also took part in drafting controversial legislation, including the stiffening of penalties in the new draft traffic law. Diaaeddin is now governor of Minya, where he replaces Fouad Saadeddin, a former police officer. Abdel-Hamid Ali El-Shinnawi, a police major-general who was formerly the security chief of the Delta governorate of Daqahliya, becomes governor of Gharbiya, replacing El-Shafei El-Dakrouri, an engineer whose time in office has been marred by industrial unrest in the town of Mahala Al-Kubra. Though predominantly rural, Gharbiya includes some of the region's largest industrial complexes, including Mahala, Samanoud and Kafr Al-Zayat, which employ a total of two million workers. El-Dakrouri told the press that "Gharbiya is expected to see more labour unrest" and "tackling such protests requires economic and administrative solutions rather than a security confrontation". He dismissed charges that he had failed to contain labour unrest or defuse food riots in Mahala, pointing out that, "it is the role of the governorate's security chief to deal with such riots." In Gharbiya's densely-populated neighbour Daqahliya, police Major-General Samir Sallam, a former chairman of the Interior Ministry's Department of Prisons, is now governor. Major-generals from the army now dominate Egypt's border governorates. Major- General Mohamed Abdel-Fadil, deputy chief of the Border Guard, replaces Major-General Ahmed Abdel-Hamid, who has served as governor of North Sinai since 1999. Abdel-Hamid faced a number of crises during his term as governor, the most recent being the influx of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip in January. Arish, the capital of North Sinai, has also been in a chronic state of security tension in the aftermath of attacks in Taba and Dahab in 2004 and 2006. Pundits agree that Abdel-Fadi's appointment is an attempt to tighten control of Egypt's borders with Gaza. Cairo has been criticised by both the US and Israel for allegedly turning a blind eye to weapons smuggling across the border. In the extreme west of Egypt Major- General and former chief of the Third Army Saad Khalil was appointed governor of Marsa Matrouh, taking over from Abdel-Hamid El-Shahhat, a former army general, while in the south Major-General Mustafa El-Sayed is the new governor of Aswan. Major- General Mustafa Abdel-Latif takes over as governor of Port Said from Mustafa Kamel, while in Giza Major-General Sayed Abdel-Aziz Shehata now heads the governorate. Remaining in position are the governor of Assiut and former security chief of Cairo Nabil El-Ezabi, the governor of Alexandria and former police investigation ( mabaheth ) officer Adel Labib and the governor of Beheira and former police officer Mohamed Shaarawi. Army major-generals retaining their posts include Abdel-Gilil El-Fakharani (Ismailia); Mohamed Seifeddin Galal (Suez); Mohamed Hani Metwalli (South Sinai); Mohsen El-Noamani (Sohag); Magdi Ayoub (Qena); Ahmed Mokhtar Salama (Al-Wadi Al-Gadid), and Magdi Qobisi (Red Sea). New civilian governors include professor of engineering Ahmed Zaki Abdeen in the Nile Delta governorate of Kafr Al-Sheikh; professor of engineering Sami Emara in the Delta governorate of Menoufiya; former university dean Galal Mustafa Said in Fayoum and former university dean Ezzat Abdallah in Beni Sweif. Civilian governors left in their positions are Adli Hussein, a former judge in Qalioubiya; Abdel-Azim Wazir, a university professor, in Cairo and Fathi El-Baradei, a professor of architectural engineering in Ain Shams University, in Damietta. President Mubarak also ordered that Major-General Samir Farag remain in post as chairman of the tourist city of Luxor. Government and NDP officials defended the reshuffle, arguing that it aimed to decentralise local administration and improve public services, while it was attacked by opposition MPs in the People's Assembly who claimed it was inspired solely by security and business concerns.
