VILLAGERS DEMAND ANSWERS FROM THE GSE ABOUT

C O N F I D E N T I A L ASMARA 000491

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

LONDON FOR AFRICA WATCHERS
PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/07/2016
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PINR PREL SOCI ER
SUBJECT: VILLAGERS DEMAND ANSWERS FROM THE GSE ABOUT
MISSING HUSBANDS

CLASSIFIED BY: AMB Scott H. DeLisi, for reasons 1.4 (b)
and (d).

REFTEL: 05 ASMARA 757


1. (C) Echoing the tactics of the "Madres de Plaza de Mayo"
in Buenos Aires in the late 1970s, an estimated 30 to 50
wives and elders from the Debub region came to Asmara last
week to inquire of the Office of the President about their
missing husbands. The women and elders sought information
about their husband who were arrested following their
children's disappearance from Eritrea to either avoid
national service requirements or to desert from current
service in the army. As previously reported, the GSE began
in fall 2005 arresting the parents of such individuals who
fled Eritrea(reftel) and now require families pay at least
50,000 nakfa (3333 USD) to ensure their release. In the
case of these families who came to Asmara last week, the
husbands remain incarcerated months after the families paid
the bail monies.


2. (C) On the morning of Tuesday, May 30 the women and
elders appeared at the Office of the President in downtown
Asmara to ask about the situation of their husbands. They
did manage to gain access to the presidential compound
where a member of the presidential staff met with them.
The staff reportedly told the women they should take their
complaint to the Zoba(region) administrator. The women
responded, they had been complaining to the administrator
for months with no result and wanted an answer. There are
also reports that they claimed that even during the most
repressive days of the Mengistu regime when Eritrea was
still part of Ethiopia, the government did not arrest
parents when their children disappeared to join the
ELF/EPLF(Eritrean struggle).


3. (C) When the women insisted on clarification and none
was provided, they reportedly demanded to be given an
answer or be arrested. The GSE complied with their request
and 4 police trucks carried the women and elders to Police
Station Number 5 in Asmara. A police contact has told us
that seven elderly women have been released but that at
least 22 remain incarcerated and may have been transferred
to Mai Serwa, a prison in the outskirts of Asmara
administered by the military.


4. (C) Post became aware of the incident on Tuesday, May
30 when a staff member witnessed the gathering of women
near the Office of the President, but did not know the
details of the event. PolOff heard additional details of
the story from an Eritrean contact the next day, and we
have confirmed the incident from other sources as well,
including an Amcit who witnessed the arrest of the women
and shared it with the RSO. The Ambassador raised the
incident on June 6 with the MFA Director of the Americas
and the UN Ghirmai Ghebremarian, voicing his concerns but
noting our desire to hear the GSE's version of events if
there was one. Ghirmai professed to have no knowledge of
the incident.


5. (C) Comment: The arrest of family members of deserters
and escapees is not new and, obviously, continues.
Although there is no law, proclamation or regulation to
support this, that does not bother the GSE for which this
unfortunate form of extortion has become common practice.
While some Eritreans privately express discontent and anger
at current GSE practices there are neither media outlets
nor opposition groups through which their unhappiness can
be expressed. In this environment then, the coordinated
action of the wives and village elders comes as something
of a surprise and suggests that levels of frustration and
dissatisfaction may be greater than assumed. So far,
however, that possibility does not seem to daunt the GSE
which not only continues detentions of family members and
youth round-ups, but has recently advised the public that
they should welcome starvation as "martyrdom for the cause"
if that is the end-result of the GSE's new push for self-
reliance. Although the Eritrean public may as some point
say enough is enough, the GSE seems confident that that
point is still far away. End Comment.


DeLisi