REUTERS REPORTER RESTRICTED TO ASMARA

C O N F I D E N T I A L ASMARA 000403 SIPDIS DEPT FOR AF/E AND DRL LONDON AND PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/17/2019 TAGS: PREL PROP PGOV ER SUBJECT: REUTERS REPORTER RESTRICTED TO ASMARA REF: 08 ASMARA 430 Classified By: CDA Melinda Tabler-Stone for reason 1.4(d). ¶1. (C) After nine weeks in country, Reuters correspondent Jeremy Clarke (protect) predicts he may serve his entire time in Eritrea without ever being allowed to leave the capital. Clarke has had early success thus far, interviewing President Isaias only weeks after his arrival (his predecessor was not granted an interview until after two years),and is on a first name basis with Minister of Information, Ali Abdu. Beneath the accommodating facade, however, Clarke admitted to poloff the Eritrean government (GSE) is actively working to control what information the reporter has access to. So far, Clarke has been denied permission to a European Commission sponsored film festival in Keren and to the Bisha mining site via helicopter. Both permit requests were accompanied by letters of invitation from the EC and the mining companies, respectively. (NOTE: The mining companies have by far the best access to travel permits, with the EC in a distant second. END NOTE). Nonetheless, the Ministry of Information called Clarke both times to inform him he would not be allowed to travel. ¶2. (C) Clarke believes the GSE's overall strategy is to allow him access to just enough information to print a story, such as a basic overview of the mining companies, without being able to learn enough to criticize the GSE. The plan entails keeping Clarke isolated in Asmara, where poverty is less pronounced than in the surrounding rural areas. Clarke currently has a travel request to visit the economic free zone in Massawa, and doubts the GSE will grant the permit for similar reasons. He confided that he feels he is a token that the Isaias regime will trot out to prove a "free press" exists in Eritrea. ¶3. (C) Reuters is the only news agency in Eritrea to have a reporter. Al-Jazeera is known to have a presence in country, but has not reported anything in recent months to Post's knowledge. Both Deutsche Welle and Voice of America (VOA) have Eritrean stringers in Asmara, however the GSE warned the VOA stringer to stop reporting in 2008 (reftel). Eritrea is considered "the world's biggest prison for journalists" by Reporters Without Borders. ¶4. (C) COMMENT: The GSE has been on an internal public relations drive as of late, printing headline stories denying food shortages in Eritrea and playing up the hardships of living in industrialized societies. Confining the sole international reporter to Asmara allows the GSE to continue its lie-and-deny approach. As the situation on the ground continues to deteriorate, keeping Reuters off the scent will be of increasing importance to the GSE. Tabler-Stone