Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09ASMARA192
2009-06-22 13:58:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Asmara
Cable title:
ETHIOPIA REPORTEDLY BACKS AFAR REBELS
how-toP 221358Z JUN 09 FM AMEMBASSY ASMARA TO SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0334 INFO CIA WASHDC DIA WASHDC NSC WASHDC SECDEF WASHDC CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL JICCENT MACDILL AFB FL CJTF-HOA J2X CAMP LEMONIER DJ HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE COMUSNAVCENT
C O N F I D E N T I A L ASMARA 000192
DEPARTMENT FOR AF/EX AND AF/E
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/22/2019
TAGS: PINS PGOV PREL MOPS ER ET DJ
SUBJECT: ETHIOPIA REPORTEDLY BACKS AFAR REBELS
REF: ASMARA 183
Classified By: Ambassador Ronald K. McMullen for reason 1.4(d)
C O N F I D E N T I A L ASMARA 000192
DEPARTMENT FOR AF/EX AND AF/E
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/22/2019
TAGS: PINS PGOV PREL MOPS ER ET DJ
SUBJECT: ETHIOPIA REPORTEDLY BACKS AFAR REBELS
REF: ASMARA 183
Classified By: Ambassador Ronald K. McMullen for reason 1.4(d)
1. (C) Ali Dato Mohamed, the Djboutian CDA in Asmara, is an
ethnic Afar with good contacts in Eritrea's Afar community.
He told post June 16 that the Red Sea Afar Democratic
Organization (RSADO) operates from Ethiopia and has lately
stepped up small-scale guerrilla attacks in Eritrea's
Southern Red Sea administrative region (ref). Eritrean
authorities have recently begun arresting family members of
suspected RSADO rebels in Afambo and other Afar-dominated
towns of Eritrea's southwestern panhandle, Dato reported.
2. (C) Dato said that the RSADO and the Democratic Movement
for the Liberation of Eritrean Kunama are the only active
anti-Isaias opposition groups operating in Eritrea. He said
both are supported by Ethiopia, adding that senior Afar and
Kunama rebels met in the capital of Ethiopia's Afar Region
two weeks ago to coordinate further attacks. The Djiboutian
CDA claimed there are about 10,000 Eritrean Afar refugees in
Ethiopia and another 5,000 in Yemen. He has voiced
criticisms to Afar elders of the RSADO's sole focus on
military action while ignoring economic and social aspects of
Eritrea's impoverished Afar community. Dato commented that
General Karikare, head of the Eritrean navy, is an Afar and
that Foreign Minister Osman Saleh, an ethnic Saho, also
speaks Afar.
3. (C) COMMENT: The Afar, who straddle both the
Eritrean-Ethiopian and Eritrean-Djiboutian borders, are
apparently being used by Eritrea and Ethiopia to stir up
trouble in Afar regions of Djibouti and Eritrea,
respectively. While Eritrea's Afar are few in number and
live in isolated communities, a growing Afar insurgency would
threaten Eritrea's access to one of the country's most
important (if dormant) assets, the port of Assab. END
COMMENT.
MCMULLEN
DEPARTMENT FOR AF/EX AND AF/E
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/22/2019
TAGS: PINS PGOV PREL MOPS ER ET DJ
SUBJECT: ETHIOPIA REPORTEDLY BACKS AFAR REBELS
REF: ASMARA 183
Classified By: Ambassador Ronald K. McMullen for reason 1.4(d)
1. (C) Ali Dato Mohamed, the Djboutian CDA in Asmara, is an
ethnic Afar with good contacts in Eritrea's Afar community.
He told post June 16 that the Red Sea Afar Democratic
Organization (RSADO) operates from Ethiopia and has lately
stepped up small-scale guerrilla attacks in Eritrea's
Southern Red Sea administrative region (ref). Eritrean
authorities have recently begun arresting family members of
suspected RSADO rebels in Afambo and other Afar-dominated
towns of Eritrea's southwestern panhandle, Dato reported.
2. (C) Dato said that the RSADO and the Democratic Movement
for the Liberation of Eritrean Kunama are the only active
anti-Isaias opposition groups operating in Eritrea. He said
both are supported by Ethiopia, adding that senior Afar and
Kunama rebels met in the capital of Ethiopia's Afar Region
two weeks ago to coordinate further attacks. The Djiboutian
CDA claimed there are about 10,000 Eritrean Afar refugees in
Ethiopia and another 5,000 in Yemen. He has voiced
criticisms to Afar elders of the RSADO's sole focus on
military action while ignoring economic and social aspects of
Eritrea's impoverished Afar community. Dato commented that
General Karikare, head of the Eritrean navy, is an Afar and
that Foreign Minister Osman Saleh, an ethnic Saho, also
speaks Afar.
3. (C) COMMENT: The Afar, who straddle both the
Eritrean-Ethiopian and Eritrean-Djiboutian borders, are
apparently being used by Eritrea and Ethiopia to stir up
trouble in Afar regions of Djibouti and Eritrea,
respectively. While Eritrea's Afar are few in number and
live in isolated communities, a growing Afar insurgency would
threaten Eritrea's access to one of the country's most
important (if dormant) assets, the port of Assab. END
COMMENT.
MCMULLEN