Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06ASMARA751
2006-09-20 13:13:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Asmara
Cable title:  

NIGHTCLUB GOERS ARRESTED DURING ROUNDUPS IN ASMARA

Tags:  PHUM PGOV PINR ER 
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VZCZCXYZ0015
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHAE #0751/01 2631313
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 201313Z SEP 06
FM AMEMBASSY ASMARA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8423
INFO RUEHDS/AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA PRIORITY 5958
RUEHDJ/AMEMBASSY DJIBOUTI 2843
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 1202
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 1377
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHDC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RHMFISS/CJTF HOA
C O N F I D E N T I A L ASMARA 000751 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

LONDON, PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/19/2016
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PINR ER
SUBJECT: NIGHTCLUB GOERS ARRESTED DURING ROUNDUPS IN ASMARA

REF: ASMARA 694

Classified By: CDA Jennifer McIntyre, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L ASMARA 000751

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

LONDON, PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/19/2016
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PINR ER
SUBJECT: NIGHTCLUB GOERS ARRESTED DURING ROUNDUPS IN ASMARA

REF: ASMARA 694

Classified By: CDA Jennifer McIntyre, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary: While few would describe Asmara as the
dance hotspot of the Horn of Africa, many club goers may have
wished they stayed home during the weekend of September 16.
Eritrean authorities conducted simultaneous late-night raids
in the nightclubs throughout town as part of what appears to
be roundups seeking draft dodgers. Eritrean authorities
detained over 2000 people over the weekend. With a lack of
government transparency, having a complete understanding of
the motivations behind the roundups is difficult; the
weekend's roundups may signal a turn to regular and more
harsh roundups or may just be an upswing in an established
cyclical pattern. End Summary.

ERITREAN TWO-STEP: DANCE & ARREST, DANCE & ARREST
-------------- --------------


2. (U) According to one eyewitness at the Warsa club(which is
owned by the Canadian Honorary Consul),the police surrounded
the club, entered, instructed the staff to turn off the music
and began checking IDs. They reportedly worked through the
crowd two or three times, arresting specific men and women in
the crowd. Then, evidently abandoning this strategy, police
arrested everyone in the club approximately 250 individuals.
Using sticks and threats to keep the crowd quiet and in line,
the police forcibly marched these individuals for about 1/2
kilometer, including Italian, German and Dutch dual
nationals, to Police Station No. 5.


3. (U) An Eritrean who witnessed the roundups at Mocumbo, a
club in downtown Asmara, said it felt as if there were a
police officer for every person in the club. The police
surrounded the dance floor within the club and the streets
were closed off in a block radius around the club. He
managed to get out and head accross town to the Expo
fairgrounds where a number of other nightclubs operate. Upon
arriving at the Expo, he observed the police had completely
surrounded the fairgrounds. At that point he decided to go
home. He too explained that the police took everyone from
the clubs to Police Station No. 5.



4. (U) At the police station, one detaineed Eritrean observed
nearly 2000 detainees who had been picked up at clubs such as
the I-bar and Mocumbo. The male detainees were put in 8x8
cells, with at least 16 to a cell. Lacking enough cell
space, the women were forced to sleep outside in the center
courtyard without shelter. There were rumors that some
police officers sexually harassed the women in custody.
While some detainees reportedly were released during the
following two days, post has been unable to obtain reliable
information on how many were released, how many transferred
to other facilities and how many remain at the police station.


5. (U) Day-time round-ups also occurred during the weekend in
Asmara. Police surrounded a meat market and hauled in at
least 2 truckloads of individuals, approximately 150-200
people. These individuals were reportedly taken to a local
prison, Adi Abeito.

REPORTS FROM PRIOR ROUNDUPS
--------------


6. (C) Reports from the roundups of a few weeks ago continue
as individuals released share their stories (Reftel). A US
Embassy guard was detained on August 29. While on his way to
the store, he witnessed a large gathering of people and
inquired as to what was going on. He was told by an onlooker
that, during a roundup, some young men had fought back and
beaten up some of the police. The guard responded that it
served the police right. Unfortunately a nearby plainclothes
police man overheard his comment and arrested him. He was
released two days later.


7. (C) A household staff member of a U.S. Embassy employee
experienced beatings at the hands of the police during his
detainment the weekend of August 26. The individual, a former
member of the Eritrean Air Force who was officially
demobilized from military service and in possession of a
release card, he tried, while detained, to unsuccessfully to
argue his case. He was officially released from detention
after several days upon presenting a letter from the Air
Force supporting his claim to demobilization.

THE POLICE AND THE DETAINEES: WHO ARE THEY?
--------------


8. (C) Most of the police conducting the round-ups in Asmara
are uneducated Eritreans, predominantly from the Naru tribe
in western Eritrea. Often very poor, these men are usually
illiterate and just glad to have a roof over their head, a
hot meal and a small income. Playing on long-standing ethnic
tensions between the poorer and more isolated tribes of the
west and the more privileged and urban Tigrinya ethnic group,
the GSE encourages the Naru during roundups to aggressively
approach the Asmarinos, many of whom are Tigrinyan. While
they have reportedly been told not to shoot, the police have
brutally beaten detainees during round-ups. An Eritrean
recently told the RSO that the "don,t shoot" command is
common knowledge around town and many individuals are now
fleeing from the police during roundups.


9. (C) Comment: This weekend's roundups were the largest and
most coordinated government effort to crack down on draft
dodgers since November 2005. An unprecedented number of
individuals were detained, including women in significant
numbers. Post is hearing anecdotally that more and more
people are trying to avoid national service and attempting to
depart the country. As the GSE seems to be conducting these
large-scale round-ups primarily in Asmara, post believes the
GSE has focused its efforts on controlling the more educated,
youthful population of Eritrea,s main urban area -- i.e. the
population most likely to express disenchantment with the
regime. If individuals continue to run from the police, post
wonders whether the "don,t shoot" order will remain in
place. Treatment of detainees during the roundups is already
severe; post foresees potentially greater violence if the
government continues its stepped-up tactics. End Comment.
MCINTYRE