Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08ASMARA575
2008-12-04 11:11:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Asmara
Cable title:  

HOW TO ESCAPE FROM ERITREA

Tags:  PGOV PHUM PREF KTIP ER 
pdf how-to read a cable
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FM AMEMBASSY ASMARA
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INFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RUMICEA/JICCENT MACDIALAAFB FL
RUEKBIB/DIA WASHDC
RHRMDAB/COMUSNAVCENT
RUEPADJ/CJTF-HOA J2X CAMP LEMONIER DJ
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ASMARA 000575 

C O R R E C T E D C O P Y (SIGNATURE)

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR AF/E,

LONDON AND PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/03/2018
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREF KTIP ER
SUBJECT: HOW TO ESCAPE FROM ERITREA

ASMARA 00000575 001.2 OF 002


Classified By: CDA Matthew D. Smith for Reason 1.4 (d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ASMARA 000575

C O R R E C T E D C O P Y (SIGNATURE)

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR AF/E,

LONDON AND PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/03/2018
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREF KTIP ER
SUBJECT: HOW TO ESCAPE FROM ERITREA

ASMARA 00000575 001.2 OF 002


Classified By: CDA Matthew D. Smith for Reason 1.4 (d)


1. (C) SUMMARY: All young Eritreans have "a plan" for
getting out of the country. Those who must leave illegally,
however, face potential capture by Eritrean police and
military from the early planning stages up to when they cross
the border. Post compiled information from numerous sources,
including people planning to leave Eritrea and the relatives
of people who fled (both successfully and unsuccessfully),to
gain insight on how people leave Eritrea illegally. END
SUMMARY.

NATIONAL SERVICE ) A LIFETIME COMMITMENT
--------------


2. (C) Eritrean 20-somethings experience an extremely hard
life. The GSE conscripts the majority of Eritrea's youth
into military service and gives them little hope for eventual
demobilization, while the lucky ones receive training at one
of Eritrea's technical schools. After graduation, technical
school graduates must enter into open-ended civil service
jobs at one of the government ministries or para-statal
companies, where the Eritrean government pays them between $3
and $30 per month. Until Eritreans complete their national
service requirement, the GSE will not allow them to obtain a
passport or exit the country legally. The unending service
requirement, lack of opportunity, slave wages, basic
commodity shortages, and general feeling of hopelessness lead
many young Eritreans to leave the country illegally in search
of a better life.

MAKING ARRANGEMENTS WITH FACILITATORS
-------------- Q-Q --------------


3.
(
) Fleeing Eritreans must first find a facilitator to
make the arrangements. The GSE is very keen to break these
human smuggling rings and dispatches agents to pose as
potential customers. Other agents pose as facilitators,
making all of the supposed smuggling arrangements prior to
having the unsuspecting person arrested. Several Eritreans
told Emboff about friends apprehended by GSE police shortly
before attempting to escape. The GSE jailed these people

from several months up to two years. The police usually send
AWOL soldiers back to their units where they are often
severaly beaten, according to many Embassy contacts. After
finding a facilitator, a person waits for several weeks while
the smuggler makes the final arrangements. One Embassy
contact told Emboff that Eritreans living in Uganda and Sudan
often act as go-betweens, in an effort to compartmentalize
the ring's operations.

COST OF SERVICE
--------------


4. (C) The smugglers charge a non-negotiable price that has
increased substantially over the past several years. The
most expensive and reliable service costs $4,000/person, and
includes front-door service from Asmara to the Sudanese
border. A less expensive ($1,000/person) but more dangerous
smuggling route originates in Tessenai, near the Sudanese
border. GSE soldiers tightly control the roads leading to
Tessenai, and Eritreans unable to prove completion of
national service are usually not allowed near the city.
Passage from Mendefera (30 miles south of Asmara) to Ethiopia
costs $1,000 to $1,300/person. Eritreans living abroad often
pay the fee for their relatives' escape in hard currency to
banks outside Eritrea. Other Eritreans directly pay either
the facilitator or the driver in local currency.

ONE SMUGGLING ROUTE EXPLAINED
--------------


5. (C) An Eritrean recently told Emboff about her sister's
escape from Eritrea. A driver picked up the woman and gogk
her to a oaoe house in Asmara, where she was later joined by
fifteen other people. After several days, a different driver
drove all fifteen people to another safe house in the small
coastal town of Tio (150 miles southeast of Asmara). The
smugglers issued the males Eritrean College of Marine Biology
student identity cards, and instructed the men to present the
IDs at checkpoints. The smugglers said the females did not
need false IDs. After several days, a different driver drove
the passengers north to Karora, a Rashaida village on the
Eritrea/Sudan border. Along the route, the Eritrean military
stopped the vehicle numerous times, where they checked and
accepted the male passenger's fake ID cards.

ASMARA 00000575 002.3 OF 002




6. (C) The passengers waited in Karora for several days until
30 more smuggled Eritreans arrived. During this time, the
villagers demanded money for the passengers' care and
feeding, and implied they would inform GSE officials if they
were not paid. A Rashaida villager eventually guided all 46
smuggled Eritreans across the Eritrea/Sudan border on foot.
The guide left the Eritreans a few miles from the refugee
camp, but told them to "walk toward the lights." The
Eritreans said they encountered Sudanese police while walking
to the camp, but they seemed strangely uninterested in the
Eritreans' presence. All Eritreans making this particular
journey arrived safely at the refugee camp.

SMITH