Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08ASMARA313
2008-06-12 11:07:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Asmara
Cable title:
ASSAB - ERITREA'S USELESS PORT
how-toVZCZCXRO7418 RR RUEHROV DE RUEHAE #0313 1641107 ZNY CCCCC ZZH R 121107Z JUN 08 FM AMEMBASSY ASMARA TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9734 INFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC RUMICEA/JICCENT MACDILL AFB FL RUEPADJ/CJTF-HOA J2X CAMP LEMONIER DJ RUEKDIA/DIA WASHDC RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
C O N F I D E N T I A L ASMARA 000313
SIPDIS
DEPARTMENT FOR AF/E,
LONDON AND PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/11/2018
TAGS: EWWT ECON PINR PGOV ER
SUBJECT: ASSAB - ERITREA'S USELESS PORT
REF: 07 ASMARA 615
Classified By: Ambassador Ronald K. McMullen for Reason 1.4 (d)
C O N F I D E N T I A L ASMARA 000313
SIPDIS
DEPARTMENT FOR AF/E,
LONDON AND PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/11/2018
TAGS: EWWT ECON PINR PGOV ER
SUBJECT: ASSAB - ERITREA'S USELESS PORT
REF: 07 ASMARA 615
Classified By: Ambassador Ronald K. McMullen for Reason 1.4 (d)
1. (C) UNMEE Chief of Mission Support Maurice Critchley
(protect) informed Emboff the port of Assab may be unusable.
In the course of his duties with UNMEE, Critchley has
transited Assab numerous times when traveling by UN flights
between Eritrea and Ethiopia. (Note: UNMEE's flight between
Eritrea and Ethiopia routinely stopped in Assab. End Note.)
He commented he has never seen a container ship in port.
While Critchley noted the docks' cranes are all vertically
erect and appear to be undamaged, he has never seen them
operate or observed any maintenance being performed on them.
He added that the captain of an Indian cargo vessel carrying
UNMEE supplies to Assab two years ago had expressed grave
reservations about bringing his ship into harbor, claiming
the presence of significant silting. Critchley also observed
that the Eritrean government had instructed UNMEE several
months ago to ship the UN's vehicles and cargo overland from
Assab to the operational port of Massawa, rather than
utilizing the seemingly more convenient port in Assab.
2. (C) IMF statistics show a sharp decrease in cargo entering
the port of Assab since the border war with Ethiopia in 1998.
Prior to 1998, Assab served primarily as Ethiopia's main
port for importing goods by sea. When this market was lost,
Assab became, in effect, useless, given its remoteness from
the rest of Eritrea and the lack of a secondary market in
country. As a result, Eritrea's port of Massawa, closer to
Eritrea's population centers, has become the logical port of
choice for Eritrean shipping. Given the cash-strapped
Eritrean government's need to make hard choices among
competing funding priorities, the Eritreans have clearly
chosen not to invest in Assab, at least until such time that
relations and trade will normalize with neighboring Ethiopia.
MCMULLEN
SIPDIS
DEPARTMENT FOR AF/E,
LONDON AND PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/11/2018
TAGS: EWWT ECON PINR PGOV ER
SUBJECT: ASSAB - ERITREA'S USELESS PORT
REF: 07 ASMARA 615
Classified By: Ambassador Ronald K. McMullen for Reason 1.4 (d)
1. (C) UNMEE Chief of Mission Support Maurice Critchley
(protect) informed Emboff the port of Assab may be unusable.
In the course of his duties with UNMEE, Critchley has
transited Assab numerous times when traveling by UN flights
between Eritrea and Ethiopia. (Note: UNMEE's flight between
Eritrea and Ethiopia routinely stopped in Assab. End Note.)
He commented he has never seen a container ship in port.
While Critchley noted the docks' cranes are all vertically
erect and appear to be undamaged, he has never seen them
operate or observed any maintenance being performed on them.
He added that the captain of an Indian cargo vessel carrying
UNMEE supplies to Assab two years ago had expressed grave
reservations about bringing his ship into harbor, claiming
the presence of significant silting. Critchley also observed
that the Eritrean government had instructed UNMEE several
months ago to ship the UN's vehicles and cargo overland from
Assab to the operational port of Massawa, rather than
utilizing the seemingly more convenient port in Assab.
2. (C) IMF statistics show a sharp decrease in cargo entering
the port of Assab since the border war with Ethiopia in 1998.
Prior to 1998, Assab served primarily as Ethiopia's main
port for importing goods by sea. When this market was lost,
Assab became, in effect, useless, given its remoteness from
the rest of Eritrea and the lack of a secondary market in
country. As a result, Eritrea's port of Massawa, closer to
Eritrea's population centers, has become the logical port of
choice for Eritrean shipping. Given the cash-strapped
Eritrean government's need to make hard choices among
competing funding priorities, the Eritreans have clearly
chosen not to invest in Assab, at least until such time that
relations and trade will normalize with neighboring Ethiopia.
MCMULLEN