VZCZCXRO2124
RR RUEHROV
DE RUEHDJ #0551/01 1411125
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 211126Z MAY 09
FM AMEMBASSY DJIBOUTI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0428
INFO IGAD COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/CJTF HOA
RUEHDJ/AMEMBASSY DJIBOUTI

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DJIBOUTI 000551 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
DEPARTMENT FOR AF/E, PRM/AF, DRL 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 2019/05/21 
TAGS: PREL KPOW PBTS PHUM PGOV ICRC ER DJ
SUBJECT: ICRC ON ERITREAN POWS IN DJIBOUTIAN CUSTODY 
 
REF: DJIBOUTI 307 
 
DJIBOUTI 00000551  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: J. Swan, Ambassador; REASON: 1.4(B), (D) 
 
¶1.  (C) SUMMARY.  According to the International Committee of the 
Red Cross (ICRC), about half of the 19 Eritrean prisoners of war 
(POWs) captured by the GODJ during June 2008 hostilities along the 
Djibouti-Eritrea border have said that they do not/not want to 
return to Eritrea.  A regional ICRC representative told Ambassador 
that while the POWs enjoyed good treatment and conditions, they 
were subject to increasing psychological stress over the 
uncertainty of their situation.  Eritrea has flatly refused to work 
with ICRC or to acknowledge the existence of Djiboutian POWs.  ICRC 
has nevertheless reminded the GODJ of its unilateral responsibility 
to release and repatriate the Eritrean POWs; but does not expect 
movement in this direction in the absence of any response at all 
from Eritrea.  GODJ officials have fully cooperated with the ICRC 
to provide access to the POWs.  END SUMMARY. 
 
 
 
¶2. (C) Nairobi-based ICRC Head of Regional Delegation Christoph 
Luedi spoke with Ambassador May 20, during a three-day Djibouti 
visit.  Luedi reported that the 19 Eritrean POWs at Djibouti's 
Nagad Detention Center were in good condition, but that ICRC had 
some questions about their risk for mental health problems due to 
continuing high levels of uncertainty about their situation. 
Ambassador noted that Congressman Payne, during an April trip to 
Djibouti, had visited the POWs and anecdotally noted that one or 
two seemed to be suffering from social withdrawal or other mental 
health problems (ref A).  During each visit, ICRC allows every POW 
to make one phone call to family members.  During ICRC's initial 
visit to the Eritrean POWs, each was also allowed to send one Red 
Cross Message (RCM); however, Luedi reported that the RCMs were 
still being held by the Government of Eritrea, and had not/not been 
delivered. 
 
 
 
¶3. (C) Luedi said that in individual private interviews with each 
POW, an increasing number had told ICRC on this visit that they 
would not/not want to return to Eritrea.  Luedi estimated that 
about half of the 19 were now expressing the wish to not/not 
return.  Luedi said that he had noticed that POWs with larger 
families remaining in Eritrea were more likely to say they wanted 
to return, and said that he suspected this was due to fears about 
what pressures could be exerted on relatives back home should a POW 
decide not to repatriate. 
 
 
 
¶4. (C) Luedi reported that Eritrea had completely rebuffed all ICRC 
approaches to discuss any Djiboutian POWs in Eritrean custody.  All 
questions, Luedi said, were met not with "yes or no" but with a 
"non-answer."  However, Luedi said that ICRC believed that Eritrea 
was holding some Djiboutian POWs.  (NOTE.  Coincidentally, there 
are 19 Djiboutians missing in action since June 2008 hostilities 
broke out with Eritrea.  END NOTE.)   Despite total lack of 
progress in Eritrea, Luedi said that ICRC continued to remind the 
GODJ of its obligation to move toward release and repatriation of 
Eritrean POWs.  Although he cited good cooperation from the GODJ in 
providing access to the POWs, Luedi told Ambassador that for the 
time being he did not/not expect any "movement" from the GODJ on 
releasing the 19. 
 
 
 
¶5. (C) While Luedi's visit focused primarily on the 19 POWs, he 
said that ICRC had completed its annual comprehensive visit to 
Djibouti's Gabode Prison in early 2009, and would continue to make 
regular spot visits throughout the year.  Luedi said that ICRC's 
initial impressions of the GODJ's newly established prison guard 
service were good.  ICRC provided technical assistance to the GODJ 
to help train the new force, which Luedi said was a step "in the 
right direction."  Luedi said that GODJ prison officials had shared 
with ICRC several ideas for prison improvement projects in the 
works, including plans to build a new cell block for female 
prisoners, and to develop training and education programs targeted 
at incarcerated women and minors. 
 
 
 
¶6. (C) COMMENT.  Resolving the stalemated Eritrea-Djibouti border 
dispute is a central GODJ priority.  Although the GODJ is more 
broadly frustrated by the overall Eritrean unwillingness to move 
toward mediation or even acknowledge that any conflict occurred, 
the unknown fate of the presumed 19 Djiboutian POWs in Eritrean 
 
DJIBOUTI 00000551  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
custody remains a particularly raw Djiboutian grievance.  END 
COMMENT. 
SWAN