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C O N F I D E N T I A L ASMARA 000553 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
LONDON FOR AFRICA WATCHER 
PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHER 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 6/27/2006 
TAGS: PGOV ECON EIND PINR ER
SUBJECT: CONTROLLING THE MARKET, CONTROLLING THE PEOPLE: 
HIDRI TRUST TAKES ALL 
 
 
CLASSIFIED BY:  AMB Scott H. DeLisi, for reasons 1.4 (b) 
and (d). 
 
Reftel: A) 2004 Asmara 193; B) 2005 Asmara 165 
 
¶1. (C) Summary: Taking its ideological cue from the 
centralized economies it so admires, the GSE, acting 
through the Peoples Front for Democracy and Justice, 
established the Hidri Trust in 1994 with the intent of 
helping society.  Hidri, meaning a promise or pact, is, 
however, an entity shrouded in mystery here.  The Trust 
serves as a corporate umbrella for numerous party-owned 
businesses, such as Red Sea Trading Corporation, Housing 
and Commerce Bank, Red Sea Bottlers(Coca Cola), Segun 
Construction, and Asmara Wine and Liquor Factory. 
Conveniently, the President and other government leaders, 
who are also top party officials and reportedly Hidri 
trustees, are able to encourage and orchestrate GSE 
policies to severely restrict those private businesses 
that compete with Hidri-owned entities.  In fact, 
government actions over the past few years have 
essentially sidelined the private sector and virtually 
all the nation's commercial operations are consolidated 
under the PFDJ's Hidri Trust. 
 
¶2.  (C)  Government officials thus have a cozy deal, able 
to ensure both that GSE contracts go to Trust businesses 
and that Trust resources are available for off-the-books 
activities that may include weapons procurement and 
advancing GSE objectives, some of which may be contrary 
to USG interests, in the region.  Moreover, given that so 
few in Eritrea know what the Trust does and fewer still 
have even a rudimentary understanding of its workings, it 
seems an elite few who wear government, party and Hidri 
Trust hats interchangeably, have little or no 
accountability to the masses they purport to serve.  End 
Summary. 
 
WHO IS THE HIDRI TRUST? 
----------------------- 
 
¶3.  (C) Owning nearly every significant business in 
Eritrea and being a major shareholder of others, the 
PFDJ, through the Hidri Trust effectively controls all of 
Eritrea's markets.  Through Trust subsidiaries they own 
the Red Sea Trading Corporation, the only entity 
permitted to engage in significant imports of 
construction supplies and basic food supplies.  The Trust 
also owns the beer factory and the liquor factory, the 
Coca Cola plant, the major large scale construction 
firms, the largest book publisher, the Intercontinental 
Hotel, a significant percentage of the largest technology 
service provider and the Housing and Commercial bank, the 
only bank in Eritrea not officially government-owned. 
(Note: Post also suspects that the Eritrean Naval Forces 
private sector arm, Harat, is similarly owned by the 
PFDJ.)  Further, given that the PFDJ and the GSE are 
merely different faces of the same entity, and given that 
the President and other GSE officials are also believed 
to be Hidri Trustees, the incestuous nature of the 
relationships is striking.  Equally striking, at least to 
outsiders, is the inappropriateness of Hidri companies, 
which are in essence government entities, "competing" 
for, and invariably winning, government tenders. 
 
¶4.  (C) In addition to these companies dominating the 
competition for government contracts, including major 
infrastructure projects, they are also able to use their 
advantages to control inflows to the market significantly 
enough to affect market prices.  For example, if the 
price of coffee, an Eritrean staple, becomes too high for 
the government's (or party's) liking, the Red Sea Trading 
Corporation can increase market supply and thus bring 
down the consumer price.  Given the large volume of 
business done by the Hidri Trust companies, they are able 
to operate on an economy of scale that makes it nearly 
impossible for any other business to compete. 
THE EPLF ROOTS OF THE HIDRI TRUST 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (C) The Hidri Trust was initially founded with the 
assets of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front, and the 
funds it raised overseas during the struggle.  According 
to the infamous letter of the G-15 submitted to party 
leadership in the summer of 2001 the PFDJ established the 
trust to administer PFDJ businesses at the third and 
fourth sessions of the Central Council of the PFDJ in 
August 1994 and 1995.  During these sessions, the council 
determined that PFDJ and government assets should be 
separated and that PFDJ businesses would "aim toward 
helping the disadvantaged in society and strictly obey 
trade laws and the laws of the market."  In conversations 
with Berhane Hiwet Ghebre, General Manager of the Housing 
and Commerce Bank (strictly protect), the PFDJ 
established the Hidri Trust in order to generate revenue 
to support the families of the martyrs of the struggle. 
According to Berhane, Hagos Ghebrehewit, the Chief 
Economic Advisor of the PFDJ oversees the Hidri Trust. 
 
¶6. (C) Given that Hidri-owned entities dominate or have 
monopolies in so many sectors of the economy (including 
construction, one of the few expanding sectors) most 
observers believe that these businesses have to be 
extremely profitable.  Yet, Berhane told Poloff, to the 
best of his knowledge none of these large scale 
businesses, including the Housing and Commerce Bank, ever 
paid dividends to the Hidri Trust or declared a profit. 
Nor, Berhane added, has the Hidri Trust to his knowledge 
ever made payments to the families of the martyrs. 
 
CONSTRUCTING A PROFIT 
--------------------- 
 
¶7.  (C) No matter what Trust-owned entities' books say, 
it requires a considerable stretch of imagination to 
believe that these companies are not profitable.  The 
operations of the Segun Construction Company are a case 
in point.  Segun is almost certainly the largest 
construction company in Eritrea, constructing many 
government infrastructure projects, government buildings, 
and private homes in Asmara.  In Asmara, Segun sells 
private homes it has constructed to the diaspora 
community at prices beginning at over 120,000 USD and 
going as high at nearly 500,000 USD.  Diasporan buyers of 
these homes must pay in hard currency.  Nearly all of the 
construction supplies must be imported, and given the 
volume of business done by Segun they have: the ability, 
the government ties, the links to other Hidri-owned 
importers, and a sufficient company infrastructure to 
manage the importation of supplies at prices far lower 
than those encountered by private sector competitors. 
Combined with the access to hard currency and the labor 
provided by national service workers at nearly zero cost, 
Segun Construction projects' expenditures are 
significantly lower compared to the few private 
construction companies left in business. 
 
¶8.  (C)  These advantages have, in turn, allowed Segun to 
dominate the market and force out any significant private 
competition while setting the retail price of these homes 
at whatever level it wishes.  One Eritrean contact who 
constructed a home two years ago, before the increase in 
market control and the closure of imports, told Poloff 
Segun's prices seem out of line with what true market 
price might be and are nearly double what he paid for the 
construction of his home.  It is hard to see how Segun 
can be anything but profitable.  The question is instead, 
how are the profits handled and where do they go?  A 
question that might be asked of many of the Hidri 
companies. 
 
FOLLOW THE MONEY: THE SHELL GAME OF ERITREAN BUSINESS 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶9. (U) Another classic example of the shell games being 
played by the PFDJ and the GSE is the National Insurance 
Corporation of Eritrea (NICE,) which may or may not be a 
Hidri-owned entity but which fits within the model.  In 
theory, NICE has been declared by the GSE to have been 
converted into a private share company with over 5 
million shares.  Yet in its published audit statement of 
2005, the shareholders are the Ministry of Finance 
(61.25%), the Ministry of Labor & Human Welfare (30.02%), 
a sole individual (3.26%) and others 5.47%.  Moreover, it 
appears that in 2005 NICE earned gross profits of nearly 
58 million nakfa (3.8 million USD) and paid nearly 40% of 
those gross profits to the GSE as taxes in 2005. The GSE 
wins twice; both with the taxes collected and with 
government ministries, as the majority shareholders, 
benefiting from NICE's profits.  Who regulates the 
insurance industry?  Requires companies or individuals to 
purchase various forms of insurance?  The GSE.  Who 
governs NICE operations?  The GSE.  Who then determines 
what happens to the more than 2 million USD equivalent 
left of NICE profits after taxes? No one can answer. 
 
PERCEPTION ECHOS THE REALITY 
---------------------------- 
 
¶10.  (C) When attempting to learn more about the Trust, 
Poloff encountered various versions of the "truth," all 
shared in hushed tones.  The common thread, however, was 
the theme of government control.  One private business 
owner cautiously relayed her understanding of the Hidri 
Trust as a market intervener, serving to provide 
subsidized food to the people.  She noted that the GSE- 
run food distribution sites are called Hidri and 
suggested that the Trust is also a tool for marketing, 
and making profits on, items that the GSE compels 
businesses to buy through regulatory mechanisms.  A law 
professor who has a background in finance law, perhaps 
came closer to a de facto if not de jure explanation when 
he maintained that the Hidri Trust was "solely owned" by 
the government.  He seems to have hit the target even 
more precisely when he concluded "they control the 
economy."  That sentiment was shared as well by a young 
Eritrean who explained to Poloff, "people believe the 
Hidri Trust, as run by the party and thus the government, 
own everything, including the women who braid hair" 
(considered to be one of the most menial jobs in Eritrean 
society).  The secrecy surrounding the Trust adds to the 
mystery and confusion but the fact that the Trust is a 
force to be reckoned with seems crystal clear. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶11. (C) Comment:  With the lack of clear boundaries 
between the PFDJ and the GSE, given that President Isaias 
is the head of the government, head of the party and 
apparently a senior (some claim sole) Hidri Trustee, it 
is hard to view the Hidri Trust as anything but a 
parastatal operation.  And, with its unquestioned control 
over much if not most of the economy, Hidri and the 
select few who run it, wield enormous power and 
influence.  As long as the Hidri Trust benefits from 
government proclamations that restrict the private 
sector, has special access to hard currency to support 
trade this elite group will continue to do so.  And, with 
no public review or oversight, these individuals have a 
ready source of funding for any off-the- books activities 
they want to pursue, from weapons procurement to support 
for insurgent groups in Ethiopia, Somalia, and elsewhere. 
Funding for any such activity potentially could be passed 
through, and effectively buried in, the Hidri Trust.  It 
is clearly a potent and potentially dangerous tool in the 
wrong hands.  End Comment. 
 
DeLisi