Afwerki handpicks and appoints the top religious leaders in the country himself, including the mufti of the Eritrean Islamic communities and the Orthodox Christian patriarch. By doing so, he undermines the institutions' influence and disconnects the religious leaders from the general public, while delegitimizing them in the eyes of their followers.
For instance, in 2004, the Holy Synod and representatives of all dioceses in Eritrea jointly elected Abune Antonios, as the third patriarch of the Eritrean Orthodox Church. After the patriarch's call for the release of political prisoners and his refusal to 'excommunicate the 3,000 parishioners who opposed the government' in 2007, he was detained and Afwerki replaced him with Bishop Dioscoros of Mendefera.
As a result, the Orthodox Church's supporters have become divided into two antagonistic groups: those who are for and the rest who are against the unlawfully appointed patriarch.
Not only has Afwerki divided the Orthodox Church's supporters into such two opposing groups, but also, he has instilled distrust and enmity between them, to prevent them from forming a united and organised opposition against their common enemy, who is no one else other than the diabolical paranoid butcher and his totalitarian oppressive and repressive regime.
