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FM AMEMBASSY ASMARA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8627
INFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE
RUEHKH/AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM 0208
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 1278
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 1457
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RUEPADJ/CJTF-HOA J2X CAMP LEMONIER DJ
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHDC
RUEHRN/USMISSION UN ROME 0003
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0593

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ASMARA 000016 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
LONDON, PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/04/2017 
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM ER
SUBJECT: WFP EXPATRIATE ILLEGALLY DETAINED BY UNIDENTIFIED 
GSE OFFICIALS 
 
ASMARA 00000016  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
Classified By: AMB SCOTT H. DELISI FOR REASONS 1.4(B) AND (D). 
 
¶1. (C) Summary:  On December 17, a Belgian national working 
for the UN World Food Programme (WFP) was threatened and 
arrested by unidentified GSE authorities while taking 
photographs of street scenes in downtown Asmara.  He was 
detained at a police station overnight before being released 
the following day.  During his detention, he requested and 
was refused telephone contact with WFP and the Dutch Embassy. 
 On December 26, the UNDP Resident Representative protested 
the detention to the MFA's Chief of Protocol.  The incident 
has been reported to the UN Security Office in New York.  The 
detention underscores a range of problems that the 
international community regularly faces in dealing with the 
Government of the State of Eritrea (GSE) to include:  blatant 
disregard for international protocols including immunities 
for personnel covered under the Vienna Convention and host 
country obligations to notify the responsible Embassy in the 
case of arrest of foreign nationals; unlawful detention and 
absence of due process; difficulties in locating responsible 
GSE authorities after-hours; and the seemingly autonomous 
authorities of the secretive National Security apparatus. 
End Summary. 
 
¶2. (C) On December 29, the UNDP Resident Representative and 
Humanitarian Coordinator outlined to DCM the details of the 
December 17-18 detention of a Belgian national working for 
the UN's World Food Programme.  According to the UNDP 
representative, the WFP employee was taking pictures of 
street scenes and people in downtown Asmara with a newly 
purchased digital camera on Sunday morning, December 17.  He 
was approached by two men in street clothing who demanded to 
know why he was taking pictures.  While he was talking with 
the two men, two uniformed men with guns joined them and also 
demanded to know what the Belgian was photographing and told 
him to present his identification.  (Comment: There are 
government office buildings in the general neighborhood where 
the WFP employee was photographing.  However, the buildings 
are not marked or otherwise clearly identifiable as 
government offices and there are no signs indicating that 
photography is prohibited in the area.  The armed men were 
presumably soldiers serving as guards for these buildings, 
although none of the men ever clearly identified himself. End 
Comment.) 
 
¶3. (C) The WFP employee presented his UN identification. 
Regardless, the uniformed men informed him that he would have 
to "come with them".  At this time, an unmarked van, 
presumably called by one of the four men, pulled up.  The WFP 
employee started to walk away from the men, at which point 
the uniformed men told him that if he continued to move, they 
would shoot him.  He reported that he was then forcibly 
shoved into the van and taken to Police Station No 1.  The 
WFP employee also told the UNDP representative that he was 
very relieved when he arrived at a bona fide police station, 
as he did not know where his unidentified arresters were 
taking him.  The men refused to provide him any information, 
except to accuse him of "spying". 
 
¶4. (C) At the police station, the WFP employee's camera and 
cellphone were confiscated and the station officials ignored 
his requests to telephone WFP co-workers or the Dutch Embassy 
(which has responsibility for Belgian citizens in Eritrea). 
At no point during his initial "arrest" did anyone look at 
the pictures on his camera.  The WFP employee was then told 
that he would have to wait for the Officer-in-Charge who 
would handle his case.  He was locked in a small cell 
occupied by two other Eritreans.  During the day, eleven 
other Eritreans were brought to the same, cramped cell.  He 
was kept in the cell overnight with the 13 other detainees. 
As the cell had no beds, he and the other detainees slept on 
the floor.  No blankets were provided by the authorities, 
despite the coolness of the night; however, he apparently was 
able to borrow a blanket from one of his fellow detainees. 
The WFP employee noted that he was offered food but chose not 
to eat, fearing that he might get sick. 
 
¶5. (C) On Monday, December 18 around 3 PM, the WFP employee 
was taken from his cell to meet with the police 
 
ASMARA 00000016  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
Officer-in-Charge.  The Officer-in-Charge explained that he 
had "been away" until that afternoon and would be responsible 
for resolving his case.  After viewing the digital pictures 
on the camera, the Officer-in-Charge said that he saw nothing 
sensitive in them and commented that the WFP employee should 
not have been detained.  He added that the soldiers would not 
have shot him, despite their warning, as they "are not 
authorized to do so."  The WFP employee was released around 
4:30 PM.  His camera (with all pictures intact) and cellphone 
were returned and he was able to call the WFP office to 
inform them of his whereabouts.  (Note:  Until his call, WFP 
had no idea what had happened to him, only that he had not 
shown up to work on Monday morning.  End Note.) 
 
¶6. (C) On December 26, the UNDP representative met with MFA 
Chief of Protocol Fesseha Ghebrehiwet to protest the 
illegality of the detention and provide him with a memorandum 
laying out the facts of the case.  Ghebrehiwet seemed 
genuinely surprised to learn of the detention and speculated 
that the detention likely occurred because some passerby on 
the street was unhappy with having his/her picture taken and 
complained to the authorities in the area.  Ghebrehiwet said 
he would look into the facts of the case (although he made no 
mention of discussing the issue again with the UNDP 
representative after his inquiry).  He also said that he 
would reissue a memorandum to all police stations reminding 
them that personnel with diplomatic and UN identification 
could not be summarily detained. 
 
¶7. (C) The UNDP representative told DCM that he had informed 
the UN,s Security Office in New York of the detention.  He 
believed that the Security Office planned to take follow-on 
action, possibly a protest to the Eritrean delegation to the 
UN.  The UNDP representative also speculated that the men who 
arrested the WFP employee were likely National Security 
employees, and not police. He further opined that the 
incident was likely fueled by the repetitive anti-UN and 
anti-western rhetoric which has become commonplace and 
increasingly strident in the GSE-controlled media over the 
last few months.  Any white foreigner with a camera, he 
commented, could have been an equally likely target for 
accusations as a spy. 
 
¶8. (C) Comment:  The WFP employee almost certainly would have 
been released much earlier if the arrest had occurred on a 
normal workday when the Officer-in-Charge would have been on 
duty.  The difficulty in reaching appropriate authorities to 
handle emergency requests during weekends and holidays is a 
common, recurring problem within Eritrea.  The detention does 
underline serious problems the international community and 
the Eritrean citizenry face in dealing with the GSE,s 
increasingly dictatorial and closed regime, including its 
clear disregard for its obligations as a hosting nation to 
diplomatic organizations and a distressingly casual approach 
in trampling on human rights through summary arrests and 
absence of due process. 
 
¶9. (C) Comment, Cont:  The incident also raises the recurring 
question as to the structure and authority of the shadowy 
National Security organization and its relationship to the 
other GSE ministries.  It is likely that Ghebrehiwet and the 
MFA were not, in fact, aware of the detention until the UNDP 
representative's protest.  While the National Security 
apparatus is regularly cited by local citizenry as the entity 
responsible for the bulk of human rights violations within 
the country (to include the frequent round-ups of youth for 
national service duty and secret detentions), the most basic 
details about the department remain murky.  No one seems to 
know for sure how the department is organized or how many 
people (and who) work for National Security.  The elusive 
National Security department chief, General Abraha Kassa 
does, however, work within the operational framework of the 
Office of the President and we believe, as do many others, 
that he reports directly to the President.  Regardless of how 
the inner workings are managed, the National Security 
department's apparently autonomous authority to run 
rough-shod, at will, over the local citizenry, the 
international community and other GSE ministries remains 
unfortunately clear to Eritreans and expatriates alike. 
 
ASMARA 00000016  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
DELISI