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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ASMARA 000617 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
LONDON, PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/12/2017 
TAGS: PREL KREC ASEC ER
SUBJECT: GSE ALLOWS UK DIPLOMAT TO DEPART ERITREA, BRITISH 
COUNCIL EMPLOYEE STILL IN DETENTION 
 
REF: ASMARA ER 581 (IIR 6 908 0340 07) 
 
Classified By: CDA Jennifer A. McIntyre for reasons 1.4(b) and (d). 
 
¶1. (C) SUMMARY: A British technician and diplomatic passport 
holder finally departed Asmara on the evening of July 11. 
The Government of the State of Eritrea (GSE) had refused 
permission for his departure since July 1.  The diplomat, who 
was on temporary duty assignment in Eritrea from his 
permanent station in Ethiopia, had been providing technical 
communications support to the British Council.  On June 27, 
he was noticed by a neighbor on the roof of the British 
Council with a GPS and camera conducting a survey for 
upgrading the Council's satellite. Since June 27, the GSE's 
internal security department, under the guise of a security 
investigation, has detained, questioned and released one 
British Council local employee, and taken into custody the 
acting Director of the British Council (another local 
national). Days of efforts by the UK Ambassador to obtain 
permission from the GSE to allow the technician to depart 
were unsuccessful.  On July 11, the international and London 
press picked up the story.  The diplomat was permitted to 
leave that evening, although the UK Embassy does not believe 
the press coverage was the catalyst for the GSE's decision. 
The acting Director of the British Council remains in 
detention and incommunicado.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (C) On June 27, a visiting British technician, 
diplomatically accredited to the UK Mission in Addis Ababa, 
was conducting a survey for the British Council for an 
upgrade to the Council's communications link.  The survey 
included taking a GPS reading and photographs of the 
satellite dish on the roof of the Council's building.  While 
on the roof, the technician was seen by an Eritrean in a 
neighboring building who shouted for him to come down.  Later 
in the day, two Eritreans who identified themselves as 
internal security, came to the British Council and questioned 
a local national employee there about the activities of the 
"white man" on the roof.  Internal security returned on the 
following day and questioned the employee again.  On June 29, 
the employee was taken into detention.  He was released on 
July 1.  He relayed to UK Ambassador Nick Astbury that he was 
not physically abused while in detention and was only 
interrogated once, again to ask what the "white man" had been 
doing on the roof of the Council building. 
 
¶3. (C) On July 1, the British technician was scheduled to fly 
out of Eritrea.  Anticipating trouble, Ambassador Astbury 
accompanied the visitor to the airport.  Airport officials 
refused to allow the technician to depart.  The same day, 
internal police returned to the British Council and arrested 
the acting Director of the British Council (an Eritrean 
national).  The acting Director has been in detention at 
Police Station 1 (located near the UK Embassy) since then and 
the UK Embassy denied access to visit him.  The UK Ambassador 
reports that the British technician was not directly 
approached, questioned or harassed by any government official 
during his time in Eritrea, (other than not being permitted 
to leave the country for 10 days.) 
 
¶4. (C) From July 1-11, the UK Ambassador met repeatedly, and 
unsuccessfully, with the MFA's Director for Protocol as well 
as requesting assistance from the MFA's Director for European 
Affairs and Presidential Advisors Yemane Ghebremeskel and 
Yemane Ghebreab to obtain permission for the British 
technician to depart.  In a July 9 meeting, the Protocol 
Director finally told the UK Ambassador that "internal 
security" was conducting an investigation into the matter and 
the British technician would not be allowed to depart until 
the investigation concluded.  The Ambassador's request to the 
MFA for a meeting with internal security officials was never 
granted.  In pursuit of another avenue to resolve the matter, 
the Ambassador and British technician also met, at their 
request, with an official from the Ministry of Communication, 
hoping that by providing a technical explanation for the 
technician's activities, GSE suspicions would be allayed. 
The UK Ambassador wryly noted the meeting was not 
constructive as the Ministry of Communication representative 
only wished to speak about the VSAT located at the UK Embassy 
compound, which he claimed the UK was operating illegally and 
for which, the official claimed the Embassy owed the GSE a 
registration fee.  (Comment:  The GSE's quest to make 
 
ASMARA 00000617  002 OF 002 
 
 
diplomatic Missions register and pay fees for their satellite 
dishes is an issue that arises periodically and has been 
consistently rebuffed by the resident Missions.  End 
Comment.) 
 
¶5. (C) On July 11, the UK Ambassador told Charge that the UK 
Embassy and the British Council in London had been contacted 
by reporters from the Telegraph and Guardian.  The story was, 
in fact, released in the international press the same day. 
The British technician was finally permitted to depart 
Eritrea by air that evening.  The UK Ambassador said he did 
not believe that the press coverage had influenced the GSE's 
decision as he had been called into the MFA earlier in the 
day (and prior to the story's release) and informed that the 
technican would be allowed to depart that evening.  The 
government-controlled, Tigrinyan language newspaper Hadas 
Ertra contained an article July 12 noting that a British 
diplomat had been involved in activities other than his 
official duties but had been allowed to depart Eritrea after 
conclusion of an investigation.  Post has seen no reports yet 
in the GSE's English language media. 
 
¶6. (C) Comment:  The UK Embassy and London FCO view the 
incident very seriously, as should we.  The refusal to allow 
a diplomatic passport holder to leave the country reflects 
yet another slide down a slippery slope in the GSE's 
harassment of the diplomatic missions.  Post notes that 
although the GSE claimed it was conducting a security 
investigation, the UK Embassy was never granted a meeting 
with the still faceless "internal security" officials.  Nor 
did the GSE ever request at any point to see either the 
photos from the digital camera or GPS that the technician had 
with him on the roof. The UK Ambassador told us that London 
does not consider the issue closed and the Embassy is sending 
a diplomatic note to the MFA demanding the immediate release 
of the British Council employee.  He added that London is 
also considering "sterner measures", which among other 
actions, could affect the arrival of the new Eritrean 
Ambassador to London, who has agrement and his visa and is 
scheduled to depart for London next week. One immediate 
fallout from the incident was the "delay" in the UK Embassy 
issuing visas to prominent party leader Abdallah Jabir and a 
cultural group making them unable to travel this week to the 
UK to conduct fund-raising activities with the diaspora.  End 
Comment. 
MCINTYRE