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C O N F I D E N T I A L ASMARA 001001 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
LONDON FOR AFRICA WATCHERS, PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/28/2016 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV ER
SUBJECT: GSE DETAINS ERITREAN JOURNALISTS 
 
 
Classified By: AMB Scott H. DeLisi, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
¶1. (C) Summary: Since the beginning of November, the 
Government of the State of Eritrea (GSE) has detained at 
least nine employees of the Ministry of Information (MOI). 
Both the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists and 
Reporters Without Borders have picked up the story and 
publicly commented on the detentions.  According to Embassy 
sources, the individuals remain in detention under suspicion 
that they were planning to defect from Eritrea.  With these 
arrests, the GSE continues its pattern of harassment of 
journalists and the media begun in 2001; however the 
detention of Eritrean journalists working for the 
state-controlled media suggests that "in-house" loyalties are 
not enough to protect them from GSE suspicions. End Summary. 
 
------------------------------------------ 
NINE MOI EMPLOYEES REPORTEDLY IN DETENTION 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶2. (C) On November 22, Reporters Without Borders claimed that 
nine employees of Eritrea's Ministry of Information had been 
arrested by the government.  The press release quoted a local 
source who said "those arrested were taken to a detention 
center at Agip (5 km south of Masawa)."  The details of the 
arrests and detentions remain hazy.  Post has confirmed the 
detention of five of the nine individuals.  When questioned 
by the resident AFP stringer, Minister of Information Ali 
Abdu was dismissive, commenting that "he" had not been 
arrested; that it "was a routine investigation"; and that the 
individuals "were released".  (Comment: Despite Mr. Abdu's 
statement, post confirmed that at least five of the 
individuals remain incarcerated. End Comment.) 
 
¶3. (C) While the reasons for the arrests remain unexplained 
by the GSE, the Asmara rumor mill alleges that some or all of 
the employees were planning to defect from Eritrea.  Local 
reports maintain that the GSE believed that the detainees 
were involved in or aware of the defection plans and hoped to 
elicit details from them while in custody. 
 
¶4. (C) The rumor mill speculation links to reports that since 
October a number of MOI employees have reportedly sought 
asylum abroad. According to the source cited in the Reporters 
Without Borders press release, "the government is in a state 
of maximum alert following the recent defections of a number 
of veteran journalists holding key posts within the 
information ministry."  Post is aware of one confirmed case 
of recent defection.  In October 2006, the Director of the 
English Desk at the MOI, Temesgen Debessai, failed to return 
from his trip to Bahrain.  According to the British Embassy 
in Asmara, he filed a request with the British Embassy in 
Bahrain for family reunification to join his wife, who 
previously had received asylum in the UK.  A well-respected 
and praised journalist, Debassai's defection is rumored to 
have upset many in the GSE. 
 
¶5. (C) MOI employees face additional scrutiny by the GSE 
because of their public visibility. The resident Reuters 
stringer told poloff that MOI employees have told him that 
they are afraid.  These MOI employees were apparently told by 
a fellow worker that the GSE was monitoring their phone 
conversations and activities over the past few months.  The 
Norwegian Charge, a long-term diplomat in Asmara, told poloff 
that even journalists who are family members of high level 
government officials are not exempt from detention. 
According to the Charge, Weini Ghebrezgiabhier, a well-known 
journalist and the wife of Yemane Ghebreab (the political 
chief of the People's Front for Democracy and Justice and a 
key presidential advisor) has been detained at least twice in 
the past 18 months. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
HARASSMENT OF JOURNALISTS ... OLD NEWS IN ASMARA 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶6. (C) The GSE's dislike of journalists and free media is 
well-known.  Eritrea has the dubious distinction of being 
regularly ranked in the bottom five worst countries for free 
press by various human rights and free press watchdog 
organizations.  In 2001, when the GSE infamously arrested and 
detained the G-11 (eleven government ministers who expressed 
opposition to the GSE), the GSE also clamped down on the free 
press.  Over the course of several months in late 2001, all 
of the private media outlets were shut down and at least 15 
journalists arrested, including the Swedish-Eritrean 
journalist Dawit Issak.  Since 2001, the GSE has continued to 
commit egregious human rights violations, including the 
arbitrary arrest, detention and torturing of citizens and has 
placed severe restrictions on freedom of speech and the 
press. Public allegations of these human rights violations 
and other negative actions of the GSE generally only come to 
light after an individual has successfully escaped from 
Eritrea and can make these charges from the safety of a third 
country. 
 
¶7. (C) In October, the GSE granted permission for the entry 
of two foreign national reporters, a British citizen working 
for Agence France-Presse(AFP) and a U.S. citizen working for 
Reuters.  These are the first foreign journalists who have 
been permitted in-country since the departure of the previous 
AFP and Reuters stringers in July.  The previous Reuters 
reporter, a British national, was "frozen" and told he could 
not report for nearly seven weeks in May and June following 
an article on food security.  He told poloff that he 
estimated that during the 18 months in country, he was 
"frozen" three times for various lengths of time.  Despite 
the GSE's clear discomfort with his presence in-country, when 
he subsequently requested permission to depart Eritrea 
permanently, the GSE would not approve his exit visa, thereby 
delaying his departure for nearly three weeks.  The GSE 
expelled another Reuters reporter in December 2004 after he 
wrote a negatively perceived article on human rights. Since 
2001, the GSE has accused most of the foreign journalists 
based in Eritrea of spying for the United States and have 
periodically prevented them from reporting. 
 
¶8. (C) Comment:  The arbitrary arrest of Eritrean citizens by 
the government is an on-going practice, however the targeting 
of such a large number of employees of a specific government 
Ministry is a new turn of events.  In these cases, we suspect 
that the GSE may be particularly concerned that further 
defections from the GSE's own journalist corps may "release" 
too many articulate and credible voices capable of sharing 
with the diaspora and international community the "rest of 
the story".  End Comment. 
DELISI