INCREASED CORRUPTION WITHIN THE ERITREAN POLICE

C O N F I D E N T I A L ASMARA 000083 DEPARTMENT FOR DS/IP/AF, DS/TIA/ITA, DS/IP/SPC/SO, AF/E, LONDON AND PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/05/2029 TAGS: ASEC PGOV ER SUBJECT: INCREASED CORRUPTION WITHIN THE ERITREAN POLICE Classified By: Ambassador Ronald K. McMullen for Reason 1.4 (d) ¶1. (C) Corruption within the Eritrean police continues to increase as economic conditions within Eritrea worsen. The police are conscripts who are paid between $5-$30 per month and many are forced to live in barracks. These police officers are unable to support their families, pay their rent, or buy food and are increasingly turning to crime to survive. A reliable embassy source told RSO the police are increasingly taking bribes to let people out of jails in Asmara, are stopping people on the street and demanding money in order to avoid being arrested, and are robbing houses and businesses during the nighttime hours. This source told RSO many Eritreans are talking about this increase in corruption. In one instance, two police officers recently went to a video store and asked the merchant to duplicate a video tape. Upon returning for their tape, they told the merchant the tape was pornographic, which is illegal in Eritrea, and told the merchant she could only avoid being arrested by paying them $600. There are also increasing reports of sexual assaults being carried out by police officers and soldiers in Asmara. Thus far, the assaults have been limited to Eritrean women during the nighttime hours in poorly lit areas. ¶2. (C) This criminal behavior is increasingly being condoned by the rank and file police officers and seen as the only way they can survive the tough economic conditions in Asmara. Thus far, the police have been unable to stop this increasing corruption and have responded by transferring officers caught committing crimes or imprisoning them for short amounts of time. ¶3. (C) Comment: The police have been unable to stop the recent increase in crime in Asmara and are plagued by a severe lack of resources. They have been unresponsive to embassy requests for investigative assistance and have refused to prosecute any persons caught committing crimes against embassy personnel. In emergency situations the only way they will respond is if the mobile patrol picks them up and brings them to the scene of the emergency. The police do not patrol embassy neighborhoods and are a poor deterrent to crime during these current economic hardships. To date, there have been no reports of Eritrean police soliciting bribes or committing crimes against any Westerners or diplomats. MCMULLEN