Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07ASMARA870
2007-11-08 08:00:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Asmara
Cable title:  

ERITREANS NOTIFIED OF RELATIVES, DEATHS AT W,IA

Tags:  PGOV ER 
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VZCZCXRO1192
PP RUEHROV
DE RUEHAE #0870 3120800
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 080800Z NOV 07
FM AMEMBASSY ASMARA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9244
INFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 1500
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 1677
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RUEPADJ/CJTF-HOA J2X CAMP LEMONIER DJ
RUMICEA/JICCENT MACDILL AFB FL
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHDC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
C O N F I D E N T I A L ASMARA 000870 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

LONDON, PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/07/2017
TAGS: PGOV ER
SUBJECT: ERITREANS NOTIFIED OF RELATIVES, DEATHS AT W,IA


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

C O N F I D E N T I A L ASMARA 000870

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

LONDON, PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/07/2017
TAGS: PGOV ER
SUBJECT: ERITREANS NOTIFIED OF RELATIVES, DEATHS AT W,IA


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


1. (C) Beginning in September, Government of the State of
Eritrea (GSE) officials began notifying parents and spouses
in Asmara of the deaths of their relatives during the past
three to six months in the W'ia military training camp.
Going from family to family, GSE military representatives
have been telling parents and spouses that their child/spouse
died on unspecified date of heat exhaustion. The GSE has
informed approximately 100 families of their relatives,
deaths during this recent round of notifications. One
Eritrean mother told Emboff she became worried when she had
received no news of her daughter for nearly six months. On
her own initiative she traveled in September to W'ia a
full-day journey by bus, with the intention of visiting her
twenty-something daughter who is fulfilling her required
military service. Family members are required to receive
pre-approval from their region administrator prior to
visiting family members at military installations, such as
W'ia and Sawa. The mother did not receive permission to
visit W'ia prior to her departure from Asmara, and was
arrested by the military upon arrival and detained for two
days. During the afternoon of the third day, they forced her
to return to Asmara, without providing her any information
about her daughter's status. To date, the mother has
received no information about her daughter. Another Eritrean
who works as a medic at W'ia informed Emboff separately that
the woman's daughter had died many months ago.


2. (C) Comment: W'ia is located in the Southern Red Sea
region of Eritrea, on the edge of the Danakil depression one
of the hottest, most inhospitable places on the planet.
Despite temperatures in the summer that regularly exceed 110
degrees Fahrenheit, those assigned to W'ia are often forced
to survive on less than half a liter of water per day. A
military training camp in name that can hold thousands and
thousands of people, the location serves both as a training
site for the military, particularly the newly conscripted,
and a detention facility for those who have evaded national
service or are being persecuted by the GSE for other reasons,
such as membership in an unregistered church. Sadly, deaths
at W'ia are a common occurrence, as are long delays in the
notifications to family members of deaths. In July,
meningitis reportedly swept through camp resulting in many
deaths. The medic told Emboff that because of the weather
conditions in W'ia returning the body to the families is
almost impossible, as decomposition begins immediately.


3. (C) Comment con't: The poor conditions at military
training camps and detention facilities in Eritrea are well
known and frequently discussed among the Eritrean population.
W'ia does stand alone in its extreme conditions and the
severity of the weather. Post has received reports in the
past that the individuals assigned to, or detained, at W'ia
are forced into hard labor in the hot mid-day sun with poor
nutrition and little water. In addition, Post has also been
told that W'ia is frequently overcrowded and the facilities
themselves can not support the population held there. All
water and food must be brought in and shortages are
reportedly a regular event. End Comment.
MCINTYRE