GSE ALLOWS UK DIPLOMAT TO DEPART ERITREA, BRITISH

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ASMARA 000617

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

LONDON, PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/12/2017
TAGS: PREL KREC ASEC ER
SUBJECT: GSE ALLOWS UK DIPLOMAT TO DEPART ERITREA, BRITISH
COUNCIL EMPLOYEE STILL IN DETENTION

REF: ASMARA ER 581 (IIR 6 908 0340 07)

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


1. (C) SUMMARY: A British technician and diplomatic passport
holder finally departed Asmara on the evening of July 11.
The Government of the State of Eritrea (GSE) had refused
permission for his departure since July 1. The diplomat, who
was on temporary duty assignment in Eritrea from his
permanent station in Ethiopia, had been providing technical
communications support to the British Council. On June 27,
he was noticed by a neighbor on the roof of the British
Council with a GPS and camera conducting a survey for
upgrading the Council's satellite. Since June 27, the GSE's
internal security department, under the guise of a security
investigation, has detained, questioned and released one
British Council local employee, and taken into custody the
acting Director of the British Council (another local
national). Days of efforts by the UK Ambassador to obtain
permission from the GSE to allow the technician to depart
were unsuccessful. On July 11, the international and London
press picked up the story. The diplomat was permitted to
leave that evening, although the UK Embassy does not believe
the press coverage was the catalyst for the GSE's decision.
The acting Director of the British Council remains in
detention and incommunicado. END SUMMARY.


2. (C) On June 27, a visiting British technician,
diplomatically accredited to the UK Mission in Addis Ababa,
was conducting a survey for the British Council for an
upgrade to the Council's communications link. The survey
included taking a GPS reading and photographs of the
satellite dish on the roof of the Council's building. While
on the roof, the technician was seen by an Eritrean in a
neighboring building who shouted for him to come down. Later
in the day, two Eritreans who identified themselves as
internal security, came to the British Council and questioned
a local national employee there about the activities of the
"white man" on the roof. Internal security returned on the
following day and questioned the employee again. On June 29,
the employee was taken into detention. He was released on
July 1. He relayed to UK Ambassador Nick Astbury that he was
not physically abused while in detention and was only
interrogated once, again to ask what the "white man" had been
doing on the roof of the Council building.


3. (C) On July 1, the British technician was scheduled to fly
out of Eritrea. Anticipating trouble, Ambassador Astbury
accompanied the visitor to the airport. Airport officials
refused to allow the technician to depart. The same day,
internal police returned to the British Council and arrested
the acting Director of the British Council (an Eritrean
national). The acting Director has been in detention at
Police Station 1 (located near the UK Embassy) since then and
the UK Embassy denied access to visit him. The UK Ambassador
reports that the British technician was not directly
approached, questioned or harassed by any government official
during his time in Eritrea, (other than not being permitted
to leave the country for 10 days.)


4. (C) From July 1-11, the UK Ambassador met repeatedly, and
unsuccessfully, with the MFA's Director for Protocol as well
as requesting assistance from the MFA's Director for European
Affairs and Presidential Advisors Yemane Ghebremeskel and
Yemane Ghebreab to obtain permission for the British
technician to depart. In a July 9 meeting, the Protocol
Director finally told the UK Ambassador that "internal
security" was conducting an investigation into the matter and
the British technician would not be allowed to depart until
the investigation concluded. The Ambassador's request to the
MFA for a meeting with internal security officials was never
granted. In pursuit of another avenue to resolve the matter,
the Ambassador and British technician also met, at their
request, with an official from the Ministry of Communication,
hoping that by providing a technical explanation for the
technician's activities, GSE suspicions would be allayed.
The UK Ambassador wryly noted the meeting was not
constructive as the Ministry of Communication representative
only wished to speak about the VSAT located at the UK Embassy
compound, which he claimed the UK was operating illegally and
for which, the official claimed the Embassy owed the GSE a
registration fee. (Comment: The GSE's quest to make

ASMARA 00000617 002 OF 002


diplomatic Missions register and pay fees for their satellite
dishes is an issue that arises periodically and has been
consistently rebuffed by the resident Missions. End
Comment.)


5. (C) On July 11, the UK Ambassador told Charge that the UK
Embassy and the British Council in London had been contacted
by reporters from the Telegraph and Guardian. The story was,
in fact, released in the international press the same day.
The British technician was finally permitted to depart
Eritrea by air that evening. The UK Ambassador said he did
not believe that the press coverage had influenced the GSE's
decision as he had been called into the MFA earlier in the
day (and prior to the story's release) and informed that the
technican would be allowed to depart that evening. The
government-controlled, Tigrinyan language newspaper Hadas
Ertra contained an article July 12 noting that a British
diplomat had been involved in activities other than his
official duties but had been allowed to depart Eritrea after
conclusion of an investigation. Post has seen no reports yet
in the GSE's English language media.


6. (C) Comment: The UK Embassy and London FCO view the
incident very seriously, as should we. The refusal to allow
a diplomatic passport holder to leave the country reflects
yet another slide down a slippery slope in the GSE's
harassment of the diplomatic missions. Post notes that
although the GSE claimed it was conducting a security
investigation, the UK Embassy was never granted a meeting
with the still faceless "internal security" officials. Nor
did the GSE ever request at any point to see either the
photos from the digital camera or GPS that the technician had
with him on the roof. The UK Ambassador told us that London
does not consider the issue closed and the Embassy is sending
a diplomatic note to the MFA demanding the immediate release
of the British Council employee. He added that London is
also considering "sterner measures", which among other
actions, could affect the arrival of the new Eritrean
Ambassador to London, who has agrement and his visa and is
scheduled to depart for London next week. One immediate
fallout from the incident was the "delay" in the UK Embassy
issuing visas to prominent party leader Abdallah Jabir and a
cultural group making them unable to travel this week to the
UK to conduct fund-raising activities with the diaspora. End
Comment.
MCINTYRE