Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09ASMARA40
2009-01-30 08:40:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Asmara
Cable title:
ERITREAN MUSLIMS NOT EXEMPT FROM GSE ABUSE
how-toVZCZCXRO8896 RR RUEHROV DE RUEHAE #0040 0300840 ZNY CCCCC ZZH R 300840Z JAN 09 FM AMEMBASSY ASMARA TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0130 INFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC RUEKDIA/DIA WASHDC RUMICEA/JICCENT MACDILL AFB FL RUEPADJ/CJTF-HOA J2X CAMP LEMONIER DJ RUZEFAA/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE RHRMDAB/COMUSNAVCENT
C O N F I D E N T I A L ASMARA 000040
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR AF/E AND DRL/IRF
LONDON AND PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS
DS/IP/AF, DS/TIA/ITA, AND DS/IP/SPC/SO
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/27/2019
TAGS: PGOV KIRF PHUM ASEC SOCI ER
SUBJECT: ERITREAN MUSLIMS NOT EXEMPT FROM GSE ABUSE
Classified By: Ambassador Ronald K. McMullen for reason 1.4(d).
C O N F I D E N T I A L ASMARA 000040
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR AF/E AND DRL/IRF
LONDON AND PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS
DS/IP/AF, DS/TIA/ITA, AND DS/IP/SPC/SO
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/27/2019
TAGS: PGOV KIRF PHUM ASEC SOCI ER
SUBJECT: ERITREAN MUSLIMS NOT EXEMPT FROM GSE ABUSE
Classified By: Ambassador Ronald K. McMullen for reason 1.4(d).
1. (C) Mohammed Salih (protect),an Eritrean working as the
information officer for a UN agency in Asmara, provided
insight on the government's recent spate of Muslim arrests.
According to Mohammed, the Eritrean government is using the
threat of radical Islamism to justify a country-wide sweep
and arrest of influential Muslims, though there is little
evidence to suggest Eritrea's well-off Muslims are Islamist.
However, there have been reports of an emerging group of
Muslims who have broken away from the mainstream Muslim
community and have been carrying out sectarian murders. The
group may have been responsible for the recent shooting of a
Christian taxi driver outside of Keren. Mohammed said he did
not know if the group was Islamist in nature, but the
government is taking advantage of the apparent threat to
crack down on the community, arrest affluent Muslims, and
confiscate their assets. He said more than 60 Muslims had
been arrested in Asmara over the past month. He believed the
July 2008 death of Mohammed Saleh Hagos, the former owner of
the Omo Soap Factory, who died under mysterious
circumstances, was a prime example of the government's
paranoia of successful Muslims. With Hagos' father, who
owned 50% of the soap factory, now deceased, Mohammed thought
the government would soon take over the factory.
2. (C) Mohammed also said Deputy Mufti Salem Ibrahim is
deathly afraid of the Saudi presence in Eritrea, believing
that it intends to corrupt the Eritrean Muslim community. As
a result, Mohammed explained, the Mufti's office has taken
charge of all aspects of Muslim life in Eritrea, including
schools and community programs. He said three of the 60
Muslims recently arrested have been local employees at the
Embassy of Saudi Arabia.
MCMULLEN
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR AF/E AND DRL/IRF
LONDON AND PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS
DS/IP/AF, DS/TIA/ITA, AND DS/IP/SPC/SO
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/27/2019
TAGS: PGOV KIRF PHUM ASEC SOCI ER
SUBJECT: ERITREAN MUSLIMS NOT EXEMPT FROM GSE ABUSE
Classified By: Ambassador Ronald K. McMullen for reason 1.4(d).
1. (C) Mohammed Salih (protect),an Eritrean working as the
information officer for a UN agency in Asmara, provided
insight on the government's recent spate of Muslim arrests.
According to Mohammed, the Eritrean government is using the
threat of radical Islamism to justify a country-wide sweep
and arrest of influential Muslims, though there is little
evidence to suggest Eritrea's well-off Muslims are Islamist.
However, there have been reports of an emerging group of
Muslims who have broken away from the mainstream Muslim
community and have been carrying out sectarian murders. The
group may have been responsible for the recent shooting of a
Christian taxi driver outside of Keren. Mohammed said he did
not know if the group was Islamist in nature, but the
government is taking advantage of the apparent threat to
crack down on the community, arrest affluent Muslims, and
confiscate their assets. He said more than 60 Muslims had
been arrested in Asmara over the past month. He believed the
July 2008 death of Mohammed Saleh Hagos, the former owner of
the Omo Soap Factory, who died under mysterious
circumstances, was a prime example of the government's
paranoia of successful Muslims. With Hagos' father, who
owned 50% of the soap factory, now deceased, Mohammed thought
the government would soon take over the factory.
2. (C) Mohammed also said Deputy Mufti Salem Ibrahim is
deathly afraid of the Saudi presence in Eritrea, believing
that it intends to corrupt the Eritrean Muslim community. As
a result, Mohammed explained, the Mufti's office has taken
charge of all aspects of Muslim life in Eritrea, including
schools and community programs. He said three of the 60
Muslims recently arrested have been local employees at the
Embassy of Saudi Arabia.
MCMULLEN